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Showing posts from September 28, 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...

Pan-African Exchange Yellow Card Raises $15 Million in Latest Funding Round

Yellow Card, an Africa-focused crypto exchange platform, recently announced a capital raise of $15 million from its Series A funding round. The capital raise, which is Yellow Card’s largest, was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures. Square, Coinbase Ventures, and Blockchain.com Ventures also participated in the round. Making Cryptocurrencies Accessible According to the exchange platform’s blog post , part of the funds raised will be used to “ramp up hiring and continue its expansion across the continent.” On the other hand, Chris Maurice, founder and CEO of Yellow Card, said he expects the latest capital raise to help the fintech realize its goal of making cryptocurrencies accessible to everyone. Maurice said: Our mission has always been to make cryptocurrency accessible anywhere and everywhere across the African continent. Now, we have the backing to make that a reality, alongside an amazing team of investors who share our vision. Prior to raising the ...

Thailand’s tourism authority is considering creating its own utility token

The proposed TAT Coin will enable tourism operators to cash in on the popularity of cryptocurrencies. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is considering creating its own utility token to capitalize on the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies. Named after the agency's acronym, the plan to launch TAT coin will have to navigate through Thailand's complex legal framework and regulations before coming to life. The Bangkok Post reported today that the TAT is in discussions with the Stock Exchange of Thailand regarding its ambitions and how the transfer of value can be achieved without introducing the speculative aspects of trading. TAT coin "would involve the transfer of vouchers into digital tokens that could help operators gain greater liquidity," according to the report. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT governor, said he values the potential that technologies like cryptocurrencies have to offer and believes it is a great opportunity for the Thai tourism industry to bo...

Huobi-Backed SocialFi Platform, Torum to Make Social Metaverses a Reality With Avatar NFTs

PRESS RELEASE. Torum is set to launch a pioneering social metaverse and socially integrated Avatar NFTs through a unique SocialFi platform. 29th September 2021, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Torum SocialFi platform has announced that it will be launching a ‘Social Metaverse’ and the world’s first-ever social-integrated Avatar NFT, following a strategic investment from Huobi Ventures back in August 2021. Torum SocialFi Platform The conceptualization and creation of metaverses has been on the rise since the explosion of the NFT market, and Torum is leading the social side of this emerging industry with its Huobi-backed SocialFi platform and ecosystem. The Malaysian-based SocialFi platform has decided to take the lead and build a Social Metaverse within the crypto and blockchain industry. This evolution will kick off from the launch of the world’s first-ever social-integrated Avatar NFT. Meet your Metaverse Identity Powered by Binance Smart Chain , Torum is releasing 21 sets o...

Opposition mounts to Biden’s OCC pick, fears she could ‘regulate crypto into oblivion'

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is among a number of politicians and bankers that are opposed to the nomination of Saule Omarova. Resistance is mounting to U.S. President Joe Biden’s reported plans to tap a staunch banking and crypto critic to run the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The proposed nomination of law professor, Saule Omarova, to head the federal bank regulatory agency has raised eyebrows in political and financial circles as she is widely seen as anti crypto and anti big banks. Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz has become the latest crypto ally to speak out, claiming that her decisions, if nominated, could change the future of the industry in a tweet on Sept. 28. “Not only is Saule Omarova, Biden’s pick to lead the OCC, a threat to our traditional economy, she also wants to regulate crypto into oblivion. Crypto faces future-defining government regulations. This nomination needs to be stopped.” A number of big banks and banking associations are also against t...

China’s Great Firewall Censors Crypto Websites Coingecko, Coinmarketcap, Tradingview

On September 28, reports stemming from social media and crypto-focused forums detailed that China has been blocking a number of cryptocurrency websites. The Twitter handle for 8btc News tweeted that the web portals coinmarketcap.com and coingecko.com have been blocked from mainland China. The ‘Great Firewall,’ as it is often called, has also blocked a number of other sites like tradingview.com as well. Specific Crypto Web Portals Are Currently Inaccessible in China One thing the world knows is that China likes to censor the internet and via the combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by Beijing, the Great Firewall (GFW) exists in full force today. Through the forces deployed by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), alongside the help of SIIO and the Golden Shield Project, many international web domains are inaccessible to Chinese residents. Mainland Chinese internet users cannot access websites like Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and a large quan...

SEBA Bank granted the first Swiss digital asset custody license

The bank will concentrate efforts on building an institutional-grade facility to invest in crypto assets. SEBA Bank AG, a fully regulated Swiss-based institution with a focus on the offering of digital cryptocurrency assets, has today announced the approval of a CISA license from the Swiss Financial Market Authority, or FINMA, to facilitate an institutional-grade custodian service for nation-native collective investment schemes. This announcement enables the bank to become Switzerland’s, and indeed one of the world’s first, digital asset centric banks to gain a custody license. The endorsement will allow the institution to provide greater investment opportunities to professional clientele in the emerging cryptocurrency markets. Founded in mid-2018 advocating a philosophy of next-generation digital banking, the firm soon rose to prominence as a pioneer in the regulated digital asset sector. One year later in August 2019, the bank attained its banking and securities firm licence whi...

Former Bitcoin lead dev predicts demise of BTC network ... with a major silver lining

Bitcoin prices could reach $6 million per coin in forty years’ time, but the whales may eventually pull the plug. A former lead developer for the Bitcoin network has postulated a possible future for the world’s most popular cryptocurrency which includes an epic price prediction. Software developer Gavin Andresen published a recent blog post called “A Possible BTC Future” in which he predicts the demise of the Bitcoin network. Before BTC meets its end, it will reach a price of $6 million per coin in 2061, Andresen predicts . Before you get too excited, he added that $1 million dollars today will be worth $6 million in the next forty years, due to massive inflation. The former Bitcoin client programmer admitted that his predictions were a “little piece of science fiction,” but that the scenario was entirely possible. Transaction fees would cost around $7,500 but most transactions will not occur on the network itself, he added. Instead they’d be on a mirrored chain using wrapped to...

Another Ethereum mining pool forced to close due to China crackdown

Beepool, the fourth largest Ethereum mining pool will shut down operations following Beijing’s anti crypto posture. BeePool, the fourth largest Ethereum mining pool, is closing amid China's crypto crackdown. The China-based Ethereum mining pool announced on Tuesday it will suspend operations "in response to the latest regulatory policies." Effective immediately, the registration of new users and the addition of sub-accounts for existing users will be discontinued, and all mining access servers are expected to stop operating by October 15. The announcement comes just a day after news broke that SparkPool, the second largest Ethereum mining pool , will suspend operations by the end of the month for similar reasons. Between them, BeePool and SparkPool account for more than one quarter of Ethereum’s hashrate. pic.twitter.com/MEZJyIqued — beepool.org (@beepools) September 28, 2021 Following a lull in its crypto crackdown, late last week it became clear the People’s...

Dapper Labs to launch Top Shot for NFL, as FTX signs the Packers' Aaron Jones

Dapper Labs will reportedly become the second-largest source of digital licensing revenue for the NFL Player’s Association as part of a deal to launch tokenized NFL collectibles. Dapper Labs, the creators of NBA Top Shot and top crypto derivatives exchange FTX are both turning to the National Football League as part of their expansion initiatives. Dapper Labs is reportedly working on an NFL collectibles marketplace, while FTX has signed an endorsement deal with star running back Aaron Jones of the Green Bay Packers. Dapper’s latest move comes one week after the firm teased — as part of its latest $250 million funding round announcement — that it would venture beyond its basketball-based NFT project NBA Top Shot and expand into other sporting codes and areas of entertainment. According to Sports Business Journal sources , the new NFL marketplace is expected to launch before the 2022 season begins in January. The NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) will acquire an equity st...

US Senators Introduce Bill Requiring Treasury to Report on Cryptocurrencies and Their Use Globally

Two U.S. senators have introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at improving the oversight of cryptocurrency. The bill requires the Treasury Secretary to submit a report to Congress on cryptocurrencies and their competitiveness globally, including how other countries are using and mining them as well as their impacts on supply chains. New Bill Introduced to Improve Oversight of Cryptocurrencies and Their Uses Globally Senator Maggie Hassan, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Senator Joni Ernst introduced legislation on cryptocurrency Monday. The bill states that its purpose is “To require the Secretary of the Treasury to submit to Congress a report on virtual currencies and global competitiveness.” The senators described that this bipartisan bill aims “to improve oversight of cryptocurrency,” including “mining operations in foreign countries.” Senator Hassan explained: The bill would require the Treasury Department to report to Congress o...

SEC Chair Gary Gensler Says Crypto Will ‘Not End Well’ if It Stays Outside Regulations

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, says that cryptocurrency “is not going to end well if it stays outside the regulatory space.” The SEC has been criticized for taking an enforcement-centric approach to regulating the crypto industry. SEC Chair Says Crypto Will Not End Well Staying Outside Regulations SEC Chairman Gary Gensler talked about cryptocurrency regulation Monday during an interview with former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara at Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California. He explained that the crypto sector in the U.S. has many “trading venues and lending venues” with “not just dozens but hundreds and sometimes thousands of tokens on them.” Noting that “people will be hurt” if cryptocurrency markets are allowed to operate outside the purview of regulators, the SEC chairman warned: This is not going to end well if it stays outside the regulatory space. “To think that a field that’s grown 10-fold in the last 18 months — no...

VORTECS™ Report: This key trading algo spotted bullish altcoin setups even as BTC price fell

Even in a red market, solid gains can be made. Here’s how Cointelegraph’s unique trading tools highlighted the assets with the strongest historical outlook. Last week was challenging for crypto traders, with Sept. 24’s FUD-triggering crypto-ban news out of China wiping out much of the gains investors managed to rake in earlier in the week. Between Sept. 18 and Sept. 25, the top 100 altcoins shed as much as 14.4% of their aggregate value, while Bitcoin ( BTC ) lost 12.5%. The number of altcoins posting double-digit returns was unusually low as well. Data from Markets Pro , Cointelegraph’s subscription-based data intelligence platform, shows that only eight assets out of the hundreds tracked gained more than 10% against the U.S. dollar. While trading is an activity marked by a steady flux of gains and losses, how can investors spot ahead of time the coins that are well-positioned to weather the storm? The top performers of a tough week The table below lists the eight altcoins that...

Verifone Enables Retailers to Accept Cryptocurrencies, Says Merchants’ Appetite for Crypto Payments ‘Has Exploded’

Verifone, a global payment system provider with 35 million devices in 150 countries, is rolling out crypto payment support in the U.S. in partnership with Bitpay. Verifone’s platform processes more than $440 billion annually. The company says, “the appetite for crypto payments has exploded this year.” Major Retailers Will Soon Be Able to Accept Cryptocurrency Payments via Verifone Major payment solution provider Verifone announced Tuesday its partnership with Bitpay “to enable consumer cryptocurrency payments on Verifone’s in-store and Ecommerce Cloud Services platforms in the United States.” Verifone provides “end-to-end payment and commerce solutions to the world’s best-known retail brands, major financial institutions, and directly to more than 600,000 merchants alike,” its website describes. The company’s global platform handles more than 10.4 billion online and in-store transactions annually, totaling more than $440 billion. About 35 million Verifone devices are in operation i...

CFTC hits Kraken with $1.25M in fines over alleged illegal offering

“Margined, leveraged or financed digital asset trading offered to retail U.S. customers must occur on properly registered and regulated exchanges in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations,” said Vincent McGonagle, the CFTC’s acting director of enforcement. The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, is ordering crypto exchange Kraken to pay more than a million dollars in civil monetary penalties related to allegations the exchange is violating the Commodity Exchange Act. In a Sept. 28 statement, the CFTC  said U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken — operating under the name Payward Ventures — has failed to register as a futures commission merchant and is illegally offering margined retail commodity transactions in digital assets. The order requires the exchange to pay a penalty of $1.25 million and “cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act,” the law under which the CFTC derives much of its enforcement power on commodit...

Stablecoin launch and NFT integration back COTI’s rise to a new all-time high

COTI price rallied to a new high after a series of partnerships, exchange listings and a pivot toward NFTs lure new investors to the project. The blockchain ecosystem has evolved significantly over the past decade as smart contract capabilities have moved the industry from being a simple medium of exchange to a bustling ecosystem full of decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible tokens (NFT). One project that has benefited from the increased capabilities of blockchain technology and the recent launch of smart contracts on Cardano is COTI (COTI), an enterprise-grade fintech platform focused on helping organizations create their own payment solutions and digitize any form of currency as a way to facilitate decentralized payments. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since bottoming out at a low of $0.0884 on July 20, the price of COTI has rallied 652% to reach a new all-time high at $0.6665 on Sept. 25 as its 24-hour trading volume surged to a record $9...

World-Famous DJs Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox, Paul Val Dyk Spin and Crossfade Into the NFT Universe

While celebrities and athletes have been jumping into the non-fungible token (NFT) scene headfirst, a large quantity of music acts have also entered the NFT industry. On Tuesday, a lineup of world-famous DJs are being represented in a newly launched NFT collection called Djenerates. The NFT collection is supported by prominent DJs like Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Val Dyk, Benny Benassi, Sven Väth, and Blond:ish. Prominent DJs Featured in NFT Collection In 2021, non-fungible token (NFT) assets have become a billion-dollar industry and it seems everyone is trying to get in on the action. Bitcoin.com News has reported on the swarm of celebrities flocking to NFTs quite a bit this year. Popular hip-hop superstars like Snoop Dogg , Lil Pump, Eminem , Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, and Ja Rule have also been participating in the blockchain and crypto revolution. Now a slew of popular DJs are being featured in a collection of NFTs called the Djenerates. The collection launched on September...

Bears apply the pressure as Bitcoin price revisits the $41K ‘falling knife’ zone

Bitcoin traders say $43,600 needs to be regained to restore the bullish uptrend, but BTC futures and options data are showing signs of distress. "Don't fight the trend" is an old saying in the markets, and there are other variants of the phrase like "never catch a falling knife." The bottom line is that traders should not try to anticipate trend reversals, or even worse, try to improve their average price while losing money. It really doesn't matter whether one is trading soy futures, silver, stocks or cryptocurrencies. Markets generally move in cycles, which can last from a few days to a couple of years. In Bitcoin's ( BTC ) case, it's hard for anyone to justify a bullish case by looking at the chart below. Bitcoin price in USD at Coinbase. Source: TradingView Over the past 25 days, every attempt to break the descending channel has been abruptly interrupted. Curiously, the trend points to sub-$40,000 by mid-October, which happens to be the de...

BlackRock SEC filings show company gained $369K from Bitcoin futures

Larry Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock, said in July that the company was seeing "very little in terms of investor demand" for cryptocurrencies. A filing from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, shows that BlackRock Financial Management has increased the number of its Bitcoin futures contracts since Q1 2021. According to a Tuesday filing with the SEC, the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund included 54 Bitcoin ( BTC ) futures contracts issued through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as of July 31. The contracts, which expired on Aug. 27, were worth $10.8 million, appreciating by $369,137. The gains from the Bitcoin futures represent roughly 0.00138% of the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund, or 8.91 BTC at the time of publication. The company holds $9.5 trillion in total assets under management. The investment comes following BlackRock chief intelligence officer  Rick Rieder saying earlier this year that the firm had “started to dabble a b...

ETH 2.0 moves closer to fruition as devs set Altair upgrade for October

Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake continues, with the first mainnet upgrade of Beacon Chain scheduled for late October. The Ethereum network’s long-planned upgrade to a scalable, proof-of-stake consensus model grows closer as developers set a date for the Altair upgrade.  Altair, which is described as the first mainnet upgrade to the Beacon Chain, is scheduled to take place at epoch 74240, or roughly Oct. 27, according to Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan. Ryan described the technical upgrade as follows: “This upgrade brings light-client support to the core consensus, cleans up beacon state incentive accounting, fixes some issues with validator incentives, and steps up the punitive params as per EIP-2982.” EIP-2982 introduces “punitive parameters” to ensure that the proof-of-stake protocol is economically secure. “Inactivity leak” and “slashing” are the two proposed penalties under the improvement proposal. Ethereum’s London hard fork arrived almost on schedu...

BTC price loses $42K after fresh rejection puts focus on 'worst case' Bitcoin monthly close

It's all to play for as Bitcoin price action lingers above $40,000, but predictions are already in of a dip even lower. Bitcoin ( BTC ) fell below $42,000 on Sept. 28 as the largest cryptocurrency worsened overnight losses. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView BTC bulls run out of steam at $44,000 Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching local lows of $41,670 on Bitstamp. The fall followed a $1,000 hourly loss late Monday, which firmly halted any bullish hopes from the weekend’s high of $44,400. The turnaround was broadly expected. As Cointelegraph reported , analysts were already eyeing levels even below $40,000 as potential floors. On Monday, one trader likewise refused to believe Bitcoin’s strength going into the new week, arguing that levels above $44,000 were simply a liquidity grab before heading lower again. #bitcoin Probably flushing out the late shorts before the next leg down. Idea invalidated above...

Northern Data to obtain 33K ASIC miners through Bitfield acquisition

Northern Data believes the acquisition will position it as a leading mining firm globally. Blockchain and high performance computing firm Northern Data has announced it will acquire Bitcoin miner Bitfield. According to a Sept. 27 press release , all major shareholders signed a binding purchase agreement for the entire Bitfield enterprise to be sold at a value of roughly $460 million. Northern Data will acquire an equity interest of between 86% and 100% in Bitfield as per the agreement. Northern Data claims it has become “a leading global Bitcoin mining company” through the acquisition, with the firm gaining immediate access to 6,600 operational ASIC miners. A further 26,000 brand-new miners are expected to be deployed primarily at sites in Canada and the U.S. by the start of Q2 2022. “With this acquisition, we add Bitcoin mining to our three existing businesses – Bitcoin hosting and services, Altcoin mining and Cloud Computing” said Aroosh Thillainathan, founder and CEO of Norther...