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Showing posts from October 9, 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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Court Ruling Threatens 17 Crypto Exchanges in Russia

Another batch of Russian online crypto exchanges in Russia face closure following a recent decision by a regional court. Information published on their websites has been deemed illegal meaning the country’s telecom watchdog can block access to their platforms. Roskomnadzor May Take Down Blacklisted Crypto Exchanges A number of websites providing options to exchange, cash out, and transfer cryptocurrency using various payment methods may be blocked by Russia’s telecom regulator, Roskomnadzor, if their operators don’t delete the illegal web pages. The threat for the online crypto platforms stems from a court ruling recognizing their content as prohibited. In early September, the Kushnarenkovsky District Court in Bashkortostan, a republic of the Russian Federation, confirmed that the information they are disseminating is banned under current law, Forklog reported. The register of banned Russian websites, maintained by the non-government organization Roskomsvoboda, lists 17 sites aff...
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Start-up Raises $2 Million to Pioneer Cryptocurrency Usage in Francophone Africa

A Cameroonian fintech start-up, Ejara, has raised $2 million to pioneer the usage of crypto and investment services in French-speaking African countries. Coinshares Ventures and Anthemis Group led the funding round in which they were joined by Mercy Corps Ventures, Lateral Capital, Lofty Inc Capital, and Netx Fund. Using Crypto to Protect Savings in Francophone Africa According to a report, the start-up, which was founded by Cameroonian Nelly Chatue-Diop, wants to “level this playing field for the average French-speaking African so they can invest as little as $9 (CFA5,000).” In addition, Chatue-Diop hopes that through this start-up, the non-elites from this region can also save and avoid going through the painful experience of losing everything as her family did. “I was really young and we were part of the middle class. Overnight all our savings dwindled and the aftermath was that the government couldn’t even pay salaries. So even at that tender age, I asked myself how we managed ...
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Sri Lanka Appoints Committee to Draft Digital Currency Policy, Seeks Crypto Investments

In preparation to regulate its fintech space, the government of Sri Lanka has established a special committee tasked to formulate the country’s policy on digital banking and crypto-related activities. The committee comprises professionals from the public and private sectors. New Committee to Propose Rules for Blockchain Industry in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan authorities have unveiled the composition of а newly established committee of experts gathered to formulate the nation’s policy in three key areas related to cryptocurrencies, the local Daily Mirror reported on Saturday. The members are expected to present regulations for entities operating in the digital banking, blockchain, and cryptocurrency mining industries. According to an announcement by the Government Information Department, the professionals involved in the project are Viraj Dayaratne, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, Rajeeva Bandaranaike, CEO of the Colombo Stock Exchange, and Dharmasri Kumar...
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CoinSwitch Kuber becomes crypto unicorn, Bitcoin returns to a $1T market cap, and a bullish 2017 Ethereum fractal resurfaces: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 3-9

Coming every Saturday, Hodlers Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber raises $260M Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber closed a $260 million Series C funding round this week at a valuation of $1.91 billion, adding itself to the prestigious unicorn club. The funding round was led by Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, the latter of which has emerged as a leading crypto venture capital firm. Following the $1.91 billion valuation, CoinSwitch Kuber is said to be Indias most valued crypto firm. Speaking of funding, Sky Mavis, the developers of the immensely popular NFT game Axie Infinity, announced a $152 million Series B funding round on Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, Andreessen Horowitz backed the funding round along with partic...
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Navigating the NFT minefield: It should be made easy for first-time buyers

In order to sustain the growth of NFTs, it is important that new buyers aren’t deterred from purchasing NFTs due to high gas fees. Whether it’s baseball players or shiny Pokemon cards, collectibles have been a cultural mainstay in human behavior since the Renaissance. Memorabilia from famous films or items of clothing worn by a celebrity can be auctioned and sold for eye-watering amounts. Take the prototype Batmobile from the 1960s Batman TV show, it was sold for $4.2 million. With collectibles, the concept itself is simple: An item has value based on its scarcity. The less of it there is, the more it’s worth. It is this concept that is the driving principle behind the explosive growth of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Largely bought and sold on the Ethereum blockchain, NFTs are essentially collectibles that have been digitized. Whether it's the insanely popular and limited CryptoPunk avatars or Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet , NFTs are big money and those who managed to nab a ra...
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Edward Snowden Calls CBDCs ‘Cryptofascist Currency’ — ‘Closer to Being a Perversion of Cryptocurrency’

On October 9, whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden published an opinion editorial concerning central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and claimed CBDCs are “the newest danger cresting the public horizon.” Snowden stressed that rather than being an innovation, CBDC’s are “closer to being a perversion of cryptocurrency” and a “cryptofascist currency.” Snowden Stresses CBDCs ‘Are Expressly Designed to Deny Its Users the Basic Ownership of Their Money’ While politicians and the modern banking cartel have been all about central bank digital currencies, a great number of critics believe they are no different than centralized databases. On Saturday, the former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor, Edward Snowden , published an article describing what he thinks CBDCs will bring to society. Snowden is a fan of decentralized crypto assets like bitcoin, ethereum, and zcash. However, when it comes to CBDCs the whistleblower is concerned ...
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Do you still compare Bitcoin to the tulip bubble? Stop!

Crypto is still at an early stage, but with NFTs and DeFi, blockchain is obviously the future of fintech and not just a bubble. To compare Bitcoin ( BTC ) to the Dutch tulip bulb bubble is to perpetuate a fallacy. Technology evolves more rapidly than nature, and decentralized networks have more financial utility than a bouquet. Bitcoin is a technology, tulips are plants, and no discerning person would take the comparison much further. Tulipmania, a 17th-century market bubble in which the price of the flower bulb increased due to speculation by Dutch investors, resulted in a major crash. Prices exceeded the average annual income of the time by six times. The rarest of bulbs became among the most expensive items on the planet. Even though the Bitcoin network has been operating since 2009, its comparison with the tulip bubble continues ad nauseam . Last February, British economist and European Central Bank council member Gabriel Makhlouf, speaking of Bitcoin, reminded us tritely: “Th...
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US Senator Lummis Buys More Bitcoin, Sees BTC as ‘Excellent Store of Value’

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has disclosed her bitcoin purchase worth between $50K and $100K. The senator from Wyoming sees bitcoin as an “excellent store of value” that should be in every investment portfolio. Senator Lummis Buys Bitcoin The pro-bitcoin senator from Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis, disclosed her recent bitcoin purchase in a periodic transaction report (PTR) Thursday. According to the filing, the senator bought BTC worth between $50,001 and $100,000 on Aug. 16. The price of bitcoin was around $45K at that time. The disclosure was made outside of the 45-day reporting deadline set by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. The Act requires members of Congress to disclose every purchase and sale of individual stocks, bonds, and commodity futures valued over $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction. A spokesperson at Senator Lummis’ office told CNBC that the disclosure delay was due to “a filing error,” stating: Once we realized it we worked with the Ethic...
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Shiba Inu is now a top-20 cryptocurrency with SHIB price soaring 300% in 9 days

The Dogecoin spinoff sprinted past popular blockchain protocols like Stellar and Polygon to become an $11 billion crypto project. The run-up in the price of Shiba Inu (SHIB) so far in October pushed the SHIB token to become the 20th largest digital asset by market capitalization. Shiba Inu's circulating market valuation jumped to $11.08 billion earlier this week and is currently above $10 billion, putting it in the top-20 by market cap for the first time. As a result, the Dogecoin-inspired meme cryptocurrency became more valuable than popular blockchain projects like Stellar ( XLM ), Polygon (MATIC), and Tron (TRX). SHIB market cap versus price. Source: Messari The growth in Shiba Inu's valuation came on the heels of a tweet published by Elon Musk . On Oct 4, the Tesla CEO posted the picture of his pet dog—a Shiba Inu breed—with the caption "Floki Frunkpuppy." SHIB jumped by more than 40% an hour after the tweet. Floki Frunkpuppy pic.twitter.com/xAr8T0Jfdf ...
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Bored Ape Yacht Club Records $542 Million in Lifetime Sales — BAYC Creators to Launch Token in Q1 2022

Non-fungible token (NFT) assets have been extremely popular in 2021 and it doesn’t seem like the NFT hype is going away any time soon. A number of NFT collections have propelled the industry to new heights with enormous sales, outpacing some of the most popular auctions selling physical items. One specific NFT project called Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has seen $542 million in lifetime sales between 8,749 traders. Moreover, on Friday, the official BAYC Twitter account announced the project plans to launch a token in the first quarter of next year. Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Collection Captures $542 Million in Lifetime Sales There’s definitely been a few artists that have made millions of dollars selling single NFTs to buyers willing to pay for the cryptographic-backed collectibles. For instance, Beeple is well known for his NFT work, and one of his pieces sold for $69 million at Christie’s. Then there are the NFT collections that have also fueled the NFT craze like Cryptopunks, Art B...
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What Bitcoin correction? BTC price holds $55K despite several bearish indicators

Bitcoin price refuses to pull back despite Bollinger Bands and Fear and Greed pointing to an overheated rally. Experienced analysts and media outlets including Cointelegraph recently highlighted some indicators suggesting that the Bitcoin ( BTC ) price rally could be overextended. Those bearish views include one from Bollinger bands creator John Bollinger, suggesting traders use a trailing stop, as signs of a “top” were building up. However, it is worth noting that Bollinger Bands and the Fear and Greed indicator are backward-looking metrics. Therefore, those will usually flash overbought levels whenever there’s a 30% weekly rally, such as the most recent one. As crypto analyst TechDev_52 correctly questioned, there’s no way to know whether we’re entering a large potential correction or a rally continuation. Now you know why they call it a bear “trap”. It’s damn convincing. How do you know the “trap” from the “peak”? One’s round the other’s pointy. Which does this look like...
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Twitter and TikTok embrace NFTs: mainstream adoption incoming?

Social media giants embracing NFTs could be the start of a new reputation system used in an increasingly digital world. Twitter, which has seen its user base steadily grow to surpass 185 million users last year, is experimenting with NFTs to allow users to display their collections as their profile pictures. According to Mada Aflak, a senior software engineer at Twitter, the microblogging platform is working on new functionality that will let users import their NFT collections from their wallets on the blockchain. The feature would display a verified checkmark based on the blockchain the NFT has been minted on. As promised, here is the first experiment. Feedbacks and ideas are welcome :) https://t.co/TDyhibCXfG pic.twitter.com/2ifru9T2Pa — Mada Aflak (@af_mada) September 29, 2021 Twitter’s verified NFTs may be an answer to a problem that has been plaguing crypto Twitter. After NFTs exploded earlier this year and collections like CryptoPunks started trading for hundreds of tho...
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DRepublic Launches Combinable NFT Platform, ‘MetaCore’ Using EIP-3664

PRESS RELEASE. Blockchain company DRepublic has announced the launch of their innovative combinable NFT platform MetaCore, and NFT product Legoot, using the new EIP-3664 Modularity. Blockchain MMORPG game “Cradles: Origin Of Species” creators DRepublic have now developed the first-ever combinable NFT platform MetaCore, using the new EIP-3664 Modularity. With this groundbreaking new technology, DRepublic has also developed the first combinable NFT product: Legoot, and simultaneously opened up a whole new world of possibilities within both the NFT space and the wider blockchain industry. What is EIP-3664? EIP-3664 is the next infrastructure layer for NFTs and on-chain development, bringing notable functionality improvements on the previous 1155 (multi-token) & 721 (non-fungible token) standards. The most relevant advancement EIP-3664 offers is its disaggregation and assemblage characteristics which enable the arbitrary combination of all NFTs. The most important features of EIP...
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Abkhazia Extends Internet Restrictions for Cryptocurrency Miners

The government in Abkhazia has extended an order prohibiting access to internet sites used by cryptocurrency miners. The measure is part of a wider ban on activities related to the extraction of digital coins that also limits the use of electricity and imports of mining equipment in the breakaway Georgian republic. Authorities in Abkhazia Confirm Ban on Websites Needed by Local Miners Abkhazia’s telecom and media watchdog has extended internet restrictions affecting crypto mining operations in the country. According to an order issued by the State Committee for Communications, Mass Media and Digital Development, access to certain websites used by miners remains prohibited until March 31, 2022. The initial ban adopted in late December expired on June 1 this year. As per the document issued on Oct. 6, internet providers are required to implement the technical measures needed to block the websites that allow miners to conduct their coin minting activities, Forklog reported quoting the...
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Genesis CEO Michael Moro Thinks Mistakes Keep Institutions Away From Defi

CEO of trading firm Genesis, Michael Moro, stated that according to his views the decentralized finance (defi) space is still too risky for institutions to step in. Moro explained that there have been some important mistakes made by high-profile defi protocols that are putting customers’ funds at risk. This is why the space is being still dominated by retail investors, that have more lax risk management policies. Defi Errors Scare Away Institutions Michael Moro, CEO of Genesis , one of the biggest cryptocurrency trading firms in the space, stated his opinion about why defi has failed to entice institutions to invest in these protocols. According to his view, the space is still too risky and this is evidenced by some recent mistakes high-profile entities have made. In an interview with Insider , Moro stated: Errors and mistakes that you’ve seen certainly make institutions shy from doing anything in size, in any particular platform. Hedge funds and proprietary trading firms would ...
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