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Showing posts from August 24, 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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Five DeFi projects and Kraken tip in $250K each to support Eth2 client teams

The Ethereum Foundation will pass the donations on to open-source developer teams including Besu, Erigon, Geth, Nimbus and Nethermind. A group of DeFi projects and U.S. crypto exchange Kraken have donated $250,000 each to the Ethereum Foundation to support client teams working on the Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 upgrade. On Aug. 24 the Ethereum Foundation announced that the donations were made by Kraken, Compound Grants, Lido, Synthetix, The Graph and Uniswap Grants. The funds will supplement the funding provided by the foundation earlier this year, to support Ethereum execution layer teams. “Ethereum’s diverse client ecosystem is at the foundation of all that we’re building together. This includes both execution-layer and consensus-layer clients, both of which are essential parts of Ethereum’s post-merge future,” the announcement read. The donations totaling $1.5 million will go to open-source developer teams including Besu, Erigon, Geth, Nimbus and Nethermind, who will provide “critical ...
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Coinbase users angry with customer support after funds disappear from accounts

Coinbase customers are venting again in frustration with the lack of customer support from the $65 billion company. Coinbase is under fire for terrible customer service following reports of users accounts being hacked and drained of funds.  According to an Aug. 24 investigation by CNBC , thousands of customers across the country have lodged complaints against the company. The outlet stated that it had interviewed numerous Coinbase customers who claimed hackers had drained their accounts, with the issue exacerbated by the exchange not responding to support requests: Interviews with Coinbase customers around the country and a review of thousands of complaints reveal a pattern of account takeovers, where users see money suddenly vanish from their account, followed by poor customer service from Coinbase that made those users feel left hanging and angry. One Coinbase client, Tanja Vidovic, claimed to have lost nearly all of her $168,000 in cryptocurrency holdings after receiving ...
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Galaxy Digital partners with Alerian to launch eight crypto indexes

Galaxy Digital and Alerian announced the launch of eight passive crypto indexes that are rebalanced monthly and weighted equally. Galaxy Digital Holdings has teamed up with Alerian and S-Network Global indexes to launch eight crypto-focused blockchain indexes. According to an Aug. 24 announcement, the duo have launched two crypto index families named “Alerian Galaxy Global Blockchain Indexes” and the “Alerian Galaxy Global Cryptocurrency-Focused Blockchain Indexes,” which the eight offerings are listed under. The passive indexes offer exposure to “public companies and select investment vehicles” that are actively engaged in the crypto and blockchain sectors, such as crypto miners, companies that hold crypto on their balance sheets, infrastructure tech developers and blockchain researchers. The indexes are rebalanced monthly and equally weighted. "Our goal is to continue to empower investors with seamless, institutional, and innovative access points to the emerging digital ass...
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Philippine regulator tells Axie Infinity players they must pay tax on income from game

The Philippine government is yet to determine whether Axie’s in-game NFTs should be classified as securities or currency. Amid the enormous success of crypto-powered game Axie Infinity in the Philippines, the local Department of Finance has made clear that it wants a cut of profits generated by playing Axie and other play-to-earn games. An August 23 report from Inquirer cites Philippine Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko as clarifying that any profits gleaned through play-to-earn games are subject to income tax. “Cryptocurrency is an asset, so it’s already taxable in the Philippines [...] whoever earns currency from it, it’s income you should report it,” she said. While the official asserted that that play-to-earn gains “are subject to income tax,” Tionko conceded that lawmakers are yet to classify whether Axie’s in-game NFTs or native tokens Smooth Love Potion (SLP) and Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) are deemed to be securities or currencies. She added that the matter should ...
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Bitcoin hashrate triples since June 28 in recovery from China syndrome

Hashrate has now recovered to early June levels indicating that miners are coming back online after China’s crackdown. The hashrate for the Bitcoin network has made a remarkable recovery since it crashed following China’s crypto mining clampdown earlier this year. The Bitcoin hashrate has now topped 150 Exahashes, or one quintillion hashes, per second according to data from analytics provider CryptoQuant. On Aug. 24, the metrics provider reported a hashrate of 152 EH/s which has tripled since it bottomed out this year on June 28 at 52 EH/s. BTC hashrate - CryptoQuant The recovery of the BTC hashrate means that the network is much more secure and harder to attack. The average Bitcoin hashrate — the amount of computing power in the network — hit an all-time high of 197.6 EH/s on May 13 according to Bitinfocharts . Over the six weeks or so that followed, it slumped by more than 65% as mining rigs across China were powered down for the “great miner migration”. The metric is now ...
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OnlyFans boss explains how 'aggressive' banks forced it to drop adult content

Speaking on OnlyFans’ ban on adult content, founder and CEO Tim Stokely explained the banks were the only reason behind the policy change. Tim Stokely, the founder and CEO of OnlyFans has explained how banks had forced it to drop adult content from the subscription-based content platform. OnlyFans is a popular platform connecting online sex workers to subscribers, but the firm recently changed its policy to prohibit “sexually explicit conduct,” starting Oct. 1 — which has caused backlash from both creators and content connoisseurs alike. Speaking about the change of policy with the Financial Times on Aug. 24, Stokely noted that “we had no choice — the short answer is banks,” as he listed three banking giants who refused to provide services to OnlyFans: Bank of New York Mellon, Metro Bank and JPMorgan Chase. Stokely asserts that the banks pulled services from OnlyFans over the “reputational risk” of being associated with a platform that hosts sexually explicit content. The founder...
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Infrastructure bill set for a vote by Sept. 27 with no changes to crypto tax provisions

The House of Representatives will vote on the controversial infrastructure bill without amendments to its cryptocurrency provisions by Sept. 27. The controversial $1 trillion infrastructure bill will see a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives without any amendments to the crypto tax provisions by Sept. 27. The vote was agreed to after the House narrowly approved the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget blueprint in a vote of 220 to 212. Despite some initial pushback from moderate Democrats, the dissident voters were swayed after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi committed to pass the bill before Sept. 27. Pelosi stated : “I am committing to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill by September 27. I do so with a commitment to rally House Democratic support for its passage.” In late July, last-minute cryptocurrency provisions were added to the infrastructure bill in a bid to raise a further $28 billion through expanded tax obligations for the crypto sector. However, the loose language c...
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Powers On... Broker disintermediation and unregulated crypto exchanges cause major concerns

As interest in and use of blockchain accelerates this year, so do regulators’ fears, making them pay more attention to crypto exchanges. Powers On... is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law, where he teaches the course “Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.” More and more, governments are fearing that they will lose control over aspects of their respective legitimate financial systems, including capital raising and trading, to the hundreds of unlicensed, unregulated centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges worldwide. There is a clear rising chorus of alarm in statements by government regulators in the United States, England, China, Southeast Asia and elsewhere, which are focused now more than ever on the unregulated exchanges that offer ...
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Derivatives data shows Ethereum traders positioned to extend the ETH rally

Derivatives data and strong fundamentals back retail and professional traders' bullish stance on ETH price. Ether ( ETH ) price rallied 32% leading up to August 23, and despite testing the $3,000 support multiple times, the level has held firmly. Meanwhile, Bitcoin ( BTC ) could not sustain the $50,000 mark, at least in the short-term. According to Cointelegraph, pro traders are not yet inclined to add bullish positions according to derivatives metrics. Surprisingly, the opposite situation emerges when looking at the sentiment of Ether traders who currently show a reasonable degree of confidence in the current price level. Regulatory pressure and spectacular NFT growth back traders confidence in Ether On Monday, Dawn Stump, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that: "A trading platform that offers derivatives on digital assets to U.S. persons without registering, or in violation of CFTC trading rules, is subject to the CFTC's enf...
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Dogecoin going to help real dogs — Chicago animal shelter now accepts crypto

"We are eager to connect with the growing cryptocurrency community, who can help sustain the future of animal welfare in Chicago and save animals' lives," said PAWS Chicago CEO Susanna Homan. PAWS Chicago, an animal rescue organization in the midwest city aiming to have shelters stop using euthanasia for its resident cats and dogs, is now accepting crypto donations. In a Tuesday announcement, PAWS Chicago said it would be accepting Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ether ( ETH ), Dogecoin ( DOGE ), and other tokens to support its operations ahead of its new hospital for homeless cats and dogs. The organization is hoping to target “a tech-savvy demographic of potential donors,” promoting crypto donations with digital billboards featuring a dog shooting lasers out of its eyes. Source: Redditor  slappy__white According to the organization, crypto donations may be used to further its goals of reducing the number of shelter animals euthanized in the United States by spaying and neuteri...
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Here’s why Bitcoin bulls might trample $50K ahead of Friday’s $2B BTC options expiry

Bitcoin has lost the $50,000 level but derivatives data lays out a few good reasons why bulls might march on the resistance level ahead of Friday’s $2 billion BTC options expiry. $2 billion worth of Bitcoin ( BTC ) options will expire on Friday, Aug. 27. Some analysts argue that a strong call (buy) option buying activity on Aug. 22 was likely the catalyst for the recent $50,000 price test. Digital asset trading firm QCP Capital mentioned in its market update that an entity has been "consistently pushing (option) prices higher in the last few weeks." The activity, which took place during the morning trading session in Asia, aggressively bought bullish options in chunks of 100 BTC contracts each. The report also mentions the exhaustion of regulatory concerns in the near term, as crypto-related decisions from the Senate Banking Committee and regulators are unlikely to bear fruits in 2021. Bears might be analyzing different data However, the most recent "The Week On C...
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MicroStrategy splashes $177M on Bitcoin, now holds almost 109,000 BTC

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings are now worth more than $5.3 billion at the current BTC price. MicroStrategy has once again purchased more Bitcoin ( BTC ), with the company adding 3,907 BTC to its holdings. According to a Form 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission published on Tuesday, the business intelligence upped its Bitcoin holdings by 3,907 BTC between July 1 and Monday, Aug. 23. The SEC filing also revealed that MicroStrategy spent an average of $45,294 to acquire the additional Bitcoin. With its latest purchase, Michael Saylor’s firm now holds 108,992 BTC, which cost the company about $2.918 billion to acquire at an average price of approximately $26,769 per “coin.” With Bitcoin trading above $49,000, the company’s Bitcoin holdings are worth over $5.3 billion. Wednesday's purchase announcement also serves as a fulfillment of earlier promises to continue adding to its Bitcoin position. As previously reported by Cointelegraph , the firm...
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FTX’s Bankman-Fried remains cautious about nascent NFT space

The prominent crypto mogul highlighted the rapid adoption of nonfungible tokens as a potential cause for investor caution. In an interview with CNBC’s Street Signs Asia released Tuesday, Sam Bankman-Fried expressed optimistic caution surrounding the pace of nonfungible tokens’ (NFT) growth over the last year, warning investors that they could become vulnerable to the volatile market dynamics if improperly educated in the space. The 29-year-old crypto entrepreneur and founder of trading company Alameda Research and crypto derivatives exchange FTX intimated that conversions have occurred with his own clients regarding their intent to purchase digital assets, but those same clients can become tentative when challenged on the genuine utility of their new asset. “It’s almost going mainstream faster than the mainstream understands what it is they’re adopting, which is a weird phenomenon,” Bankman-Fried claimed. He continued, “It could lead to just incredibly fast and giant adoption. I...
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Canadian Bitcoin miner Blockstream joins crypto unicorns with $3.2B valuation

Blockstream has secured $210 million in fresh investment from a U.K. private equity firm and crypto exchange Bitfinex’s operator. Canada-based Bitcoin ( BTC ) infrastructure firm Blockstream, co-founded by  cryptographer and cypherpunk Adam Back , has hit unicorn status with its latest valuation at $3.2 billion. The company, which focuses on various Bitcoin-related areas — including operating as a mining service provider and developing renewables-based infrastructure intended to “green” the veteran cryptocurrency — has raised $210 million in its latest financing round, according to Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. Blockstream’s new backers, which join existing investors such as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey , are the United Kingdom-based private equity firm Baillie Gifford and Hong Kong-based iFinex, the operator of crypto exchange Bitfinex .  In a statement about the grounds for Blockstream’s $3.2-billion valuation and the fresh capital investment, Baillie Gifford wro...
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Cardano chalks a bearish wedge as ADA price soars by over 100% in Q3

The bearish outlook appears also as Cardano's daily relative strength index (RSI) reflects overbought sentiments. However, euphoria surrounding Cardano's smart contracts launch and its mild correlation with Bitcoin keeps the upside hopes intact. The latest rally in the Cardano ( ADA ) market has activated a classic bearish pattern that threatens to lower its prices by as much as 15%. Dubbed as Rising Wedge , the textbook pattern forms when the price consolidates between upward sloping resistance and support trendlines. Its occurrence typically prompts a bearish reversal, confirmed by a voluminous break below the lower trendline. The profit target during such a negative move comes to be as below as the maximum Wedge height. ADA/USD currently ticks all the boxes for forming a Falling Wedge pattern, as shown in the chart below. The pair now awaits a negative breakdown below its Wedge support trendline, which may prompt a correction towards the 50-4H exponential moving average...
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Australians lost over $25 million to bogus crypto investments: Report

Bitcoin-related investment scams have already exceeded $18.5 million, an increase of 44% compared to the total loss of nearly $12.8 million in 2020. Investment scams in Australia cost investors more than 70 million Australian dollars ($50.5 million) in the first six months of 2021, with crypto scams contributing to more than 50% of the losses, according to Scamwatch data .  As reported by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Scamwatch data shows a 53.4% increase in investment scam-related reports, which is set to exceed $101 million by the end of this year. Based on the 4,763 reports received in 2021 alone, ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard stated that 2,240 of the complaints were related to cryptocurrency scams, and mainly attributed to Bitcoin ( BTC ). Rickard said that scammers lure investors into using fake trading platforms and celebrity endorsements that promise high profitability. While the trading platforms initially allow investors to withdraw some...
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Bitcoin transactions stay low despite price rally: Data

Bitcoin on-chain activity dropped this low after May 2021’s crypto market crash and hasn’t risen above this level since. Despite Bitcoin ( BTC ) price growing 45% over the past 30 days, cryptocurrency investors are not moving their holdings, according to new data. Blockchain analytics provider Glassnode released  its new “The Week On Chain” report on Monday, noting that Bitcoin has continued rallying to new multi-month highs despite divergence in on-chain activity during the week ending on Aug. 23. The report discovered that Bitcoin on-chain activity like the amount of entity-adjusted transactions has still not responded to the ongoing bullish action, remaining at historically low levels of between 175,000 and 200,000 daily transactions. Bitcoin on-chain activity dropped this low after May 2021’s crypto market crash and hasn’t risen above this level since. The number of Bitcoin transactions was this low only a few times in the past five years, including the 2016 to 2017 bull ...
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Europe prepares for first Bitcoin futures launch amid US ETF stalemate

No sign of an ETF launch approval in the U.S. as yet, with Europe soon to see a pioneering Bitcoin futures product. Europe's first ever Bitcoin ( BTC ) futures will launch next month on the continent's largest derivatives market, Eurex, an announcement confirms. In a press release issued Aug. 24, digital asset-backed securities provider ETC Group said that its Bitcoin ETN Futures product will commence trading Sep. 13. Europe highlights "growing institutional demand" ETC Group already operates the world's first centrally-cleared Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP), known as BTCetc Physical Bitcoin (BTCE). Launched in June 2020 on Deutsche Boerse, there are now several crypto ETPs from the firm, three of which will also begin trading on the Wiener Boerse — Vienna's stock exchange — in future, Cointelegraph reported . The moves come amid increased investor demand for institutional products tied to Bitcoin and altcoins, with Europe traditionally providin...
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Swiss B2B bank InCore launches new tokenization tool using Tezos

InCore Bank also announced the upcoming launch of Tezos custody, staking and trading services targeting financial institutions. Deutsche Boerse-backed digital asset firm Crypto Finance AG and Swiss business-to-business (B2B) transaction bank InCore are launching a new tokenization tool based on the Tezos blockchain. InCore Bank officially announced Tuesday a new collaboration with Crypto Finance AG and Swiss IT consulting firm Inacta to introduce new digital financial products based on Tezos, a decentralized, open-source proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain network. The involved companies have developed a new Tezos token standard for asset tokenization built on the Tezos FA2 standard, a multi-asset interface for Tezos allowing developers to invent token types like nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Using the Tezos FA2, Inacta developed the new DAR-1 token standard, which aims to unlock new smart contracts-enabled functions to support financial markets, including Anti-Money Laundering (AML) ...
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Japanese financial regulator considers imposing stricter crypto rules

The new regulation will be designed to provide better protection to Japanese investors. Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), has started discussions around imposing stricter regulations for cryptocurrencies in an effort to provide better protection to Japanese investors. Back in July, the FSA established a dedicated section, as well as a panel of financial experts to help the government oversee digital and decentralized finance. The agency will also be responsible for keeping track of developments in cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives, as reported by Jiji Press. The financial regulator intends to replace and impose the new crypto regulations by mid-2022. With the new regulations in place, the FSA hopes to bring stability to the crypto market while ensuring no damage to the development and innovation within the ecosystem. FSA had revised a similar law in 2019, which had effectively mandated crypto exchanges within Jap...
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Nifty News: Kobe Bryant NFTs, tokenized baseball stadiums, and more...

Fame Lady Squad is relaunching after its male creators were outed, the MLB issues tokenized stadiums, and rare Kobe Bryant photos are up for auction. The return of Fame Lady Squad The Fame Lady Squad (FLS), a nonfungible token (NFT) avatar project purporting to have been created by an all-female team, is set to re-launch today with a new team after it was uncovered that three Russian men were behind the project earlier this month. SO EXCITING!! pic.twitter.com/V1LKgIU34c — Cadboros (@cadboros) August 23, 2021 The project’s NFTs depict cartoon female avatars, with the tokens having generated $1.9 million worth of total sales since launching on OpenSea Marketplace in mid-July. The FLS website previously listed three team members named Cindy, Kelda and Andrea who all had female avatars. On Aug. 10, Fedor Linnik, the co-creator of NFT project Neural Pepe, tweeted that he had collected “enough proof” to connect three men to the project on Aug. 10, specifically outing the pseudon...
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