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Showing posts from August 12, 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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New funding round sees Reddit gain $4B in valuation since February

Speaking on the latest funding round which sees Reddit at a valuation of $10 billion, Steve Huffman, co-founder and chief executive stated tentative plans for the firm to go public. Popular social media platform Reddit has gained $4 billion in value since its last funding round earlier this year in February. Six months ago the firm raised $250 million in Series E funding at a valuation of $6 billion. In the latest move, Reddit announced a Series F funding round on Aug. 12 — which is being led by Fidelity Management and Research Company LLC and is expected to close at around $700 million with a post-money valuation of $10 billion. According to the New York Times, investment in the funding round has reached $410 million so far, with Reddit stating that it expects further financing from existing investors to reach the $700 million target. The true valuation of Reddit is hard to gauge as the firm is yet to go public. On that subject, Steve Huffman, Reddit’s co-founder and chief exe...
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FreeTON Unveils TON Swap 2.0

Broxus, a leading developer of the FreeTON project, has unveiled the second version of their FreeTON DEX, TON Swap. The update consists of a reworking of existing features, an expansion of functionality and available information and the addition of key new features. The FreeTON project has been busy this summer, expanding the offerings it has for users, working to bring in and support promising, fledgling projects, and making inroads throughout the DeFi industry. The latest update, consisting of an overall of the Broxus -powered TON Swap DEX, is perhaps the most significant due to the enhancements that have been made to the exchange’s user experience and the groundwork that has been laid for the platform to grow into a launchpad for other projects in DeFi. FreeTON started just over a year and a half ago when work on the Telegram Open Network was halted by a court order. A community of people that had studied the technology developed by the Durov brothers decided that, rather than...
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Crypto Data Firm Dune Analytics Raises $8M — Series A Round Led by Union Square Ventures

The team behind the platform that allows users to track data on the Ethereum blockchain, Dune Analytics, announced the firm has raised $8 million from strategic investors like Union Square Ventures. Dune Analytics detailed the firm plans to leverage the new financing in order to hire more help and monitor other blockchains. Crypto Metrics Provider Dune Analytics Raises $8 Million Crypto data services and analytics has seen massive demand in 2021 as everyone wants to gather factoids on their favorite crypto assets. Bitcoin.com News recently reported on the crypto firm Messari raising $21 million in a financing round. Furthermore, the crypto analytics company Skew was acquired by Coinbase this year and Coin Metrics recently raised $15 million with Goldman Sachs leading the round. Dune Analytics is a set of data tools that users can leverage for free in order to gather insight on Ethereum and decentralized finance (defi) analytics. Last September, Dune Analytics raised $2 milli...
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Are NFTs being used for money laundering? Yes they are claims Mr. Whale

NFT’s could be a vehicle to legitimize ill-gotten gains for the crypto elite. The nonfungible token space has been a hive of activity over the past month or so but there could be more going on than meets the eye as concerns emerge over the sector’s involvement in money laundering and tax evasion. Crypto investor and uber-bearish crypto commentator Mr. Whale has drawn attention to the darker side of the burgeoning NFT space. In a blog post earlier this week, the Bitcoin early adopter attributed the popularity and notoriety of NFTs to their ability to facilitate money laundering and tax evasion for the wealthy . “Behind the facade of a bunch of bored rich dudes buying digital artwork at insanely high prices lays a sinister and twisted money laundering scheme for crypto’s ultra-rich elites to make their illegal profits look legal.” He argues that because art is so subjective and in the eye of the beholder, NFT’s often do not face scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators. This aspect o...
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Jordan Peterson wraps his divisive giga-brain around Bitcoin

Jordan Peterson published a podcast titled “Bitcoin: The Future of Money?” this week that hosted Bitcoiners including John Vallis, Der Gigi, Richard James and Robert Breedlove. Controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson appears to have turned onto Bitcoin in the latest episode of his podcast. On Aug. 10 Peterson published a podcast titled “Bitcoin: The Future of Money?” which hosted a panel of Bitcoiners including John Vallis the host of the Bitcoin Rapid-Fire podcast, Bitcoin coder Der Gigi, film creator Richard James, and Robert Breedlove, ex-hedge fund manager and host of the “What is Money?” show. In the video, Peterson — who claims to have an IQ around 150 — puts forward a succinct description of the innovation from which Bitcoin derives its value from: “It's a very interesting idea that in some manner, Bitcoin provides an incorruptible language of value preferable to gold.” Throughout the episode, the 59-year-old author prompted his guests to provide their view...
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Chainlink launches data oracles on Arbitrum One's Ethereum scaling solution

Chainlink’s data oracles are now live on Arbitrum One, with the team also planning to soon launch its Proof of Reserve and Verifiable Random Function on the layer-two. Leading data oracle provider Chainlink has announced its successful launch on Arbitrum One — the beta mainnet deployment of layer-two Ethereum scaling solution, Arbitrum. Announced August 12, the launch will allow developers building on Arbitrum One to access financial market data directly on-chain, providing enhanced functionality to decentralized exchanges, algorithmic stablecoins and other advanced DeFi products on the Arbitrum One network. Chainlink is now live on @Arbitrum One, providing hundreds of smart contract applications direct access to #Chainlink 's decentralized services, starting with high speed, low-cost Price Feeds and expanding to more off-chain computations. — Chainlink - Official Channel (@chainlink) August 12, 2021 Many leading DeFi protocols have already expressed an intention to use C...
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Didi Taihuttu Discusses Hiding His Cold Storage Wallets After Selling Everything for Bitcoin 3 Years Ago

Over three years ago, a Netherlands native made headlines when he told the world he and his minimalist family sold everything for bitcoin. At that time, Didi Taihuttu and his family sold their home, valuables, and vehicles in order to accumulate the digital asset. Taihuttu recently discussed how things have been after three years, explaining that 74% of his crypto holdings are currently held in cold storage. Taihuttu Family Keeps Six Cold Storage Stashes Hidden Across Several Nations Didi Taihuttu and his family are doing quite well in 2021 living like digital nomads and hidden hardware wallets all over the world, according to a recent interview with CNBC. Bitcoin.com News reported on the Taihuttu family on October 10, 2017, as Didi Taihuttu told the press he and his wife sold everything for bitcoin ( BTC ). In his latest interview, Taihuttu told CNBC that the family safeguards a total of six hardware wallets hidden across several nations. Photograph of Didi Taihuttu back in 201...
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Members of Congress lobby Nancy Pelosi and others to amend crypto tax definition

Anna Eshoo has urged the House to amend the language in the controversial infrastructure bill. A Californian congresswoman has written to Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing concerns about the controversial new mandate for crypto tax reporting. Anna Eshoo, who represents California's 18th Congressional District, penned a letter to the Democratic party speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, on Aug. 12. In it, she urged Pelosi to amend the cryptocurrency broker definition in the Senate’s controversial infrastructure bill. Eshoo claims that miners, validators, and developers of wallets would be unable to comply with the crypto tax reporting requirements. Today I urged Speaker Pelosi to amend the cryptocurrency broker language in the Senate’s infrastructure bill. The legislation imposes new reporting requirements on miners, validators & developers of wallets who would be unable to comply with these requirements. #DontKillCrypto pic.twitter.com/TSm...
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President of Argentina open to Bitcoin and a CBDC but central bank says no

Argentina’s president is open to the idea of central bank digital currency but the country’s central bank head has rejected the idea. Argentina President Alberto Fernandez has indicated support for digital assets, asserting there is no reason to push back against the emerging asset class. During an interview with local media outlet, Caja Negra, on August 12, Fernandez responded to a question about whether he would consider exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC), or even recognize Bitcoin as legal tender as El Salvador did earlier this year. “I don’t want to go too far out on a limb [...] but there is no reason to say ‘no’,” Fernando stated, adding: “They say the advantage is that the inflationary effect is largely nullified.” Inflation was a defining issue for the administration of Argentina’s previous president, businessman Mauricio Macri. Government data indicates that 100 Argentine pesos from when Macri left office in 2019 would be worth the equivalent of 661 pesos ...
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Happy 21st crypto ETF filed for 2021 with Kryptoin’s ‘Ethereum ETF Trust’

The Kryptoin Ethereum ETF Trust plans to issue its common shares on the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s (Cboe) BZX, and will value them based on the CF Ether-Dollar U.S. settlement price. Delaware-based Kryptoin Investment Advisors has joined a score of other crypto ETF hopefuls by filing for an Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The crypto investment firm previously tried and failed to get a Bitcoin ETF greenlit back in 2019. The firm came back with another attempt this April, filing for a Bitcoin ETF that was set for a verdict by July 27 but is still under review by the SEC. According to an Aug. 12 filing, the “Kryptoin Ethereum ETF Trust” plans to issue its common shares on the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s (Cboe) BZX Exchange under a ticker that will be announced before the commencement of trading. The ETF will hold Ethereum (ETH) via custodian Gemini Trust Company, LLC and will value its shares daily as determine...
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Nancy Pelosi Urged to Amend ‘Harmful’ Cryptocurrency Provision in Infrastructure Bill

U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo has asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to amend the crypto provision in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that the Senate passed this week. She urged the House to adopt the bipartisan amendment supported by the Treasury Department that provides a solution. Rep. Eshoo Asks Pelosi to Amend ‘Harmful Language’ on Crypto in Infrastructure Bill Congresswoman Anna Eshoo from California announced Thursday that she is fighting “to fix potentially harmful language on cryptocurrency in bipartisan infrastructure bill.” Eshoo wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday “to express concern regarding the tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrency brokers in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure legislation recently passed by the Senate,” the announcement details, adding: The legislation uses a broad definition of ‘broker’ that could encompass miners, validators, and developers of wallets who are unable to comply w...
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Shanghai Man: Hack of little-known Poly Network highlights East-West crypto divide

This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong attempts to curate the industrys most important news, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape, and enterprise blockchain integrations. After ThorCHAIN and Chainswap were exploited, its safe to say that hacking cross-chain bridges seems to be the style of the season. This week, it was local project Poly Network that was fleeced of $615 million before leading the crypto community on a dramatic witch hunt to track down the attacker. While most news outlets have covered this story extensively, there are still a few points worth dissecting. Who are these projects? The first point is that most western DeFi users had never heard of Poly Network despite them amassing over $600 million in total value locked. Dovey Wan of Primitive Capital covered this on Twitter when she noted that the, Chinese crypto community always have their own version to utilize the same blockchain infra, for good ...
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Ethereum price drops below $3K, but ETH options data reflects optimism

$430 million in ETH options expire on Friday and derivatives data shows that bulls are in control and planning to push prices higher in the short term. Ether's ( ETH ) 81% rally over the last three weeks caught professional traders off-guard, and this week's upcoming options expiry reveals that of the $430 million in contracts set to expire, only 7% of the neutral-to-bearish put options will be available if Ether holds above $3,200 on Aug. 13. Ether price in USD at Coinbase. Source: TradingView Curiously, the crypto market is holding its recent strength despite the Senate's 'crypto-critical' infrastructure deal that recently passed. Although the $1 trillion infrastructure bill may encounter some lengthy hangups in the House of Representatives, the approved version did not clarify what constitutes a cryptocurrency broker, and this is expected to harm the industry in the future. Institutional investors were likely behind the recent rally Institutional invest...
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Switzerland’s Leonteq Offers Crypto Assets to Investors in Germany and Austria

Swiss fintech firm Leonteq has introduced its digital asset products in two neighboring jurisdictions, Germany and Austria. The company is launching its crypto offering with the help of a Frankfurt-based bank and in response to interest from institutional and private investors. Leonteq Provides German and Austrian Investors With Exposure to Major Cryptocurrencies Leonteq is presenting an extensive range of products to investors in Germany and Austria after a successful expansion in its home market, Switzerland. It offers exposure to a total of 18 crypto assets, including bitcoin ( BTC ), ethereum ( ETH ), bitcoin cash ( BCH ), and litecoin ( LTC ), which can be traded in securitized format in the three countries, the fintech announced Thursday. Tracker certificates on these crypto assets are now available for investors as listed products on Börse Frankfurt Zertifikate AG (Open Market), Leonteq detailed in a press release. The company also revealed it’s collaborating with ICF Bank ...
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Stronger crypto regulations in US won't necessarily help prevent fraud, says Okcoin CCO

Megan Monroe said an "incubator" approach might be one possible solution to the current “patchwork of financial regulations” in the United States. Though Okcoin chief compliance officer Megan Monroe said that there are still certain grey areas over cryptocurrencies in the United States, further regulation may not be the best solution. In a statement to Cointelegraph, Monroe said current U.S. regulations are sufficient to police cryptocurrency exchanges, token issuers and custody wallet providers, but “jurisdictional boundaries of these federal financial regulators are neither clear nor collaborative.” Rather, she advocated for a framework with greater clarity to determine which crypto firms should be subject to regulation and let investors know which protections are available. “A clear regulatory framework with established jurisdictional boundaries, flexible compliance standards and open communication channels with registrants (as well as with state regulators) would be a...
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Top Derivatives Exchange Bitget Releases Its Latest Operation Data

Currently, derivatives exchange Bitget has released its global market penetration plan on Twitter , and at the same time, they published their latest globalization data. Data shows that up to now, Bitget’s global registered users have exceeded 1.6 million, and the user base has extended to 48 countries and regions around the world. Among them, Korean users account for a relatively large number of more than 28%, and the proportion of English-speaking areas has increased significantly, exceeding 21%. This means that Bitget’s globalization strategy has achieved significant results, and its user volume and transaction volume have fully led the derivatives market. We will move to a world of digital currency. Most of the digital currency derivatives trading take place on exchanges, in the form of futures contracts, perpetual contracts, and options. Perpetual contracts are also an alternative to swap products. According to Coingecko’s statistics, the world’s top seven futures exchanges ar...
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Central Bank of Argentina President Hints at Possible Regulation of Bitcoin in Payment Systems

Miguel Pesce, president of the Central Bank of Argentina, hinted at some kind of regulation coming for bitcoin transactions soon. Yesterday, In a digital financial conference, Pesce also stressed that the bank was working to find effective ways of warning novice investors about the dangers of putting their savings behind cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Central Bank of Argentina Hints at Regulating Bitcoin Transactions Miguel Pesce, the current president of the Central Bank of Argentina, hinted at a possible regulation for bitcoin and bitcoin transactions in a digital financial conference organized by the Argentine Institute of Finance Executives (IAEF). Yesterday, Pesce stated on the issue it was very important to them to avoid linking bitcoin with the traditional exchange market. Pesce stated: We are going to regulate the intersection of Bitcoin with the payment system and the exchange market. To Pesce, Bitcoin is not a financial asset because it fails to be backed by any asset...
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