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Showing posts from October 14, 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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Blackrock CEO Agrees With JPMorgan Boss Jamie Dimon About Bitcoin, Sees ‘Huge Role for Digitized Currency’

The chief executive officer of the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, says he is “more on the Jamie Dimon camp” when asked whether he thinks bitcoin is worthless. However, the executive says he is fascinated by people’s interest in crypto and sees “a huge role for a digitized currency.” Blackrock’s CEO Sides With JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon on the Value of Bitcoin Larry Fink, the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager with $9.5 trillion in assets under management, Blackrock, answered some questions about cryptocurrency, particularly bitcoin, in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. He was asked whether he was “still in the Jamie Dimon’s category of ‘bitcoin is worthless'” or whether he saw value in the cryptocurrency. Dimon, the CEO of global investment bank JPMorgan, said earlier this week: “I personally think that bitcoin is worthless.” He also questioned the limited supply of the cryptocurrency. The Blackrock executive replied: I am probably more on the Jamie Dimon camp....
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Bitcoin hits $60K for the first time since April after reports of imminent ETF approval

Bitcoin has recaptured the $60k position after a six month period of ups and downs. Bitcoin has surpassed the $60,000 mark briefly for the first time since April 2021. The price has been boosted by reports suggesting a Bitcoin futures ETF is likely to begin trading in the United States as early as next week.  Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro indicate that Bitcoin prices have been on a slow grind upward since the beginning of this month. Before the upward price action began, prices had hovered around $42,000 from Sept. 20 to Oct. 1. The $60,000 mark was first breached on Bitstamp exchange just after 5 AM (UTC), and Bitcoin is now just 7% away from reclaiming its Apr. 14 all-time high of $64,804. The price has since eased slightly and at the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $59,500. Bloomberg reported earlier today that sources familiar with the matter had issued positive indications that the Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to approve several Bitcoin ...
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ANZ bank settles debanking case with Aussie Bitcoin trader

Allan Flynn won a settlement with ANZ for debanking him and is headed to the tribunal to take on Westpac next week. Bitcoiner Allan Flynn has settled his first complaint with the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) over being unilaterally debanked in 2018 due to his occupation as a Digital Currency Exchange (DCE).  The settlement comes 20 months after the Canberra resident first filed complaints with the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal against ANZ. In the settlement , the ANZ noted that it closed his accounts due to the risk of money laundering and terrorism funding (ML/TF) that it perceives among exchanges. It also acknowledged that the act of unbanking Flynn could “have amounted to unlawful discrimination contrary to sections 7(1)(p) and 20 of the Discrimination Act 1991.” However ANZ denied any liability saying that if it had “discriminated against Mr. Flynn by closing his accounts, that discrimination was reasonable in the circumstances and thus lawful."...
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Half of unique active crypto wallets played a blockchain game in Q3

In-game NFTs have generated $2.3 billion in sales over the past three months and Axies are the top sellers. The number of crypto wallets participating in blockchain games has surged in recent months according to new research. According to DappRadar’s Q3 ‘Blockchain Game Report ’, unique active wallets connected to gaming decentralized applications reached a total of 754,000 for the period. This represents almost half of the industry’s activity with the blockchain industry registering 1.54 million daily unique active wallets on average over the three-month period. The unique active wallet metric refers to unique addresses that interact with a given smart contract, so it does not necessarily translate to daily active users. The increase in gaming activity has been largely driven by the play-to-earn movement and in-game nonfungible tokens. These in-game NFT collectibles generated $2.32 billion in sales during Q3, the research stated, adding that this represents 22% of the total NFT t...
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Dreamr App Signups Grow 1600% Month-Over-Month Following DMR Governance Token Listing on Bittrex Global

Dreamr Labs flagship product, the Dreamr app, continues to gain momentum in new user signups one month after the DMR token launch. Roadmap is being accelerated to meet consumer demand for dreamr technologies. Dreamr (Ticker: DMR ) is the community-driven platform created for users to pursue their personal and entrepreneurial dreams. The platform helps people to build a supportive tribe around their declared dream, features an encrypted messenger, and has decentralized financial tools in its roadmap to help users overcome the inevitable monetary obstacles that get in their way . Users can earn DMR tokens by using the dreamr app to declare their dream and connect with others on the platform pursuing their own ambitions and goals. The DMR token has utility in the form of platform governance, which gives token holders a real say in making changes to the dreamr development roadmap. Dreamr has also disclosed plans in its white paper to turn user’s dream content and stories into NF...
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SEC likely to allow Bitcoin futures ETF to trade next week: Reports

The long-awaited launch of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund could finally arrive on Monday. The long wait for a Bitcoin exchange-traded product could soon be over according to sources reported by financial media giant Bloomberg. Citing “people familiar with the matter” Bloomberg has reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to approve the first Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds in the country. The anonymous sources said : “The regulator isn’t likely to block the products from starting to trade next week.” A futures product is likely to be the first one approved since they are viewed more favorably by regulators. Futures are governed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and require investors to put down cash on margin to trade them. Bloomberg senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, is confident that the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF could be the first one launched as the decision deadline is Oct. 18. The Invesco Bitcoin Strategy ETF may be approved th...
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ASIC targets pump and dump Telegram groups

“Coordinated pumping of shares for profits can be illegal. We can see all trades and have access to trader identities,” said ASIC in a message to the ASX Pump Organization on Telegram. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is going after pump and dump groups on Telegram. On Monday an account under the name “ASIC” posted a message in the “ASX Pump Organization” on Telegram to warn around 300 members of the group that “we’re monitoring this platform and we may be investigating you.”: “Coordinated pumping of shares for profits can be illegal. We can see all trades and have access to trader identities. [...] You run the risk of a criminal record, including fines of more than $1 million and prison time.” Many of the group’s members assumed the account to be fake, however ASIC confirmed the validity of the now-deleted message to The Australian newspaper. While some members of the community have laughed off the message from ASIC, others have vented their frustrati...
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Morgan Stanley CEO Says Bitcoin Is Not a Fad, Crypto Is Not Going Away

The chief executive officer of global investment bank Morgan Stanley says that cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, is not a fad. Noting that they are not going to go away, he said: “We’re watchful of it, we’re respectful, and we’ll wait and see how the regulators handle it.” Morgan Stanley’s CEO Says Bitcoin and Crypto Aren’t Going Away Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency during the bank’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts Thursday morning. Emphasizing that crypto is not going to go away, he said: I’ve said it publicly before, I’ll say it again. I don’t think crypto’s a fad. I don’t know what the value of bitcoin should or shouldn’t be, but these things aren’t going away. He added: “The blockchain technology supporting it is obviously very real and powerful.” Morgan Stanley was among the first major banks to embrace bitcoin. In March, the bank revealed that it had begun offering bitcoin funds to clients. In April, the bank added bit...
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Uniswap taps former Obama campaign spokesperson to handle comms

The Washington insider will help the company navigate through increasingly turbulent regulatory waters. Decentralized exchange Uniswap has been making some interesting hires, the latest being a communications expert with close ties to the U.S. Democrat party. Former senior spokesperson for Barack Obama , Hari Sevugan, has joined the Uniswap Labs team according to protocol founder Hayden Adams who welcomed him aboard on Oct. 14. The hire may be part of the team’s ongoing effort to prepare for stormy regulatory weather ahead in the United States. The Washington insider was well known for his role in former President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. Sevugan will be managing media affairs for Uniswap in addition to assisting the firm with relations to new and existing users. Sevugan stated that it is “no longer in question” that blockchain and crypto will be part of the future, before adding : “I'm excited to join the brilliant team at Uniswap because they're committed to ...
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Paris Hilton and Pranksy collections featured by Sotheby's new NFT platform

The first auction on Sotheby’s Metaverse will go live on Oct. 18, with the auction featuring prominent collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, MoonCats and CryptoKitties. Prestigious auction house Sotheby’s has launched a new Metaverse themed NFT platform. The platform is dubbed “Sotheby’s Metaverse” and was announced alongside the “Natively Digital 1.2: The Collectors” (ND1.2) auction that will run between Oct. 18 and Oct. 26. The auction consists of 53 lots of tokenized art from the vaults of 19 curators. Welcome to Sotheby's Metaverse. https://t.co/hZvYIkO3xx pic.twitter.com/9Wl9fUwibe — Sotheby's Metaverse (@Sothebysverse) October 14, 2021 The list of curators includes some top collectors in the NFT space such as PleasrDAO, Pranksy and 888 along with crypto-friendly stars such as DJ Steve Aoki and self-described “Boss-Babe” Paris Hilton. “These collectors are people with deep histories and relationships in the digital art and media space, many of whom have be...
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SEC Tweets About Funds Holding Bitcoin Futures — Expectations of Impending Bitcoin ETF Approval Soar

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has tweeted about investing in funds that hold bitcoin futures contracts. This has sparked optimism within the crypto community that the regulator may soon approve bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), especially those investing in bitcoin futures. Optimism Grows That SEC Will Approve a Bitcoin Futures ETF Soon The official Twitter account for the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy tweeted Thursday: “Before investing in a fund that holds bitcoin futures contracts, make sure you carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits.” The tweet references an investor bulletin jointly published in June by the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) Office of Customer Education and Outreach. The bulletin urges “investors considering a fund with exposure to the bitcoin futures market to weigh carefully the potential risks and benefits of the investment.” Comments ...
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Shanghai Man: Fiat on-ramps dry up in China, crypto topics censored on social media

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. This week China is back to work after its week-long national day celebrations, an event that is always filled with flag-waving, military parades and enthusiastic nationalism. This years version was intensified by the recent homecoming of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou after three years of detention in Canada, as well as heightened tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Government regulators have spent the better part of the last half-year wiping out the cryptocurrency industry in the mainland, a topic that has given the Shanghai Man plenty of topics to discuss in this weekly column. Limited access to markets On Wednesday, Binance took a step towards compliance by announcing it would be closing P2P for RMB markets. According to the announcement on Binances web...
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Billionaire Barry Sternlicht Owns Bitcoin Because Governments Are ‘Printing Money Now to the End of Time’

The billionaire CEO of Starwood Capital, an investment firm with over $95 billion under management, has revealed that he owns bitcoin and ether. “The U.S. government, and every government in the Western Hemisphere, is printing money now to the end of time, and this is a finite amount of something and it can be traded globally,” he explained. Billionaire Barry Sternlicht Owns Bitcoin and Ether Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, an investment firm with over $95 billion in assets under management (AUM), talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. According to Forbes’ list of billionaires, Sternlicht’s net worth as of Oct. 14 is $4.4 billion. The Starwood Capital boss revealed that he owns bitcoin and ether, noting that cryptocurrency makes sense as a way to diversify investment portfolios. Commenting on what JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said about bitcoin being worthless , he said, “Gold is kind of worthless too.” Discussing bit...
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Bitcoin-related altcoins surge as BTC ETF rumors spread across the sector

Rumors of an imminent Bitcoin ETF approval are boosting sentiment and prices across the market, but caution is warranted, as it could turn into a buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news event. On Oct. 14, bulls flexed their muscles and showed their intent to push the price of Bitcoin ( BTC ) closer to its $65,900 all-time high. One reason for the move is the steady chatter about the possibility of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) being approved by the end of October.  Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $54,103 on Oct. 13, the price of Bitcoin rallied 8.2% to an intraday high of $58,532 on Oct. 14 as the ETF discussion made fresh rounds on Crypto Twitter. BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView The spike above $58,500 is also significant because it marks a 100% increase in the price of BTC since bottoming at $29,193 on July 20, signaling a strong recovery and increasing demand. Bitcoin’s price performance is also a signal...
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Deep Web Confusion: Ostensible Alphabay Admin ‘Desnake’ Claims the Darknet Market Has Returned

In mid-July 2017, the largest darknet marketplace (DNM) Alphabay went dark and patrons didn’t know if the administrators were busted by law enforcement or if it was an exit scam. Not too long after the site went dark, law enforcement disclosed that an organized police task force, from various jurisdictions, infiltrated Alphabay alongside the DNM Hansa. Thailand police also arrested Alexandre Cazes, the alleged administrator for the Alphabay marketplace. Now over four years later, Alphabay (AB) has allegedly returned as the original AB admin “Desnake” has ostensibly ‘proven control’ over the AB administrators’ PGP key. The So-Called Return of the Alphabay, New Platform Unstable, Veracity of Desnake’s PGP Key Questionable During the last few weeks, darknet marketplace (DNM) users, researchers, and observers have been discussing the so-called return of the Alphabay (AB) marketplace. The DNM was the largest darknet market in 2017, and before the publication Deepdotweb was seized, it had...
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Revolve Games Adds New Dimensions to Play-to-Earn Blockchain Gaming

PRESS RELEASE. Playing games has taken another dimension entirely through a new play-to-earn model that makes earning generating crypto revenue easier than ever. Revolve Games is revolutionizing the way DeFi staking is integrated with blockchain gaming by debuting a Metaverse where players can earn rewards according to performance. Current games fall short in unlocking the true value of play-to-earn NFT games. But a token-staking play-to-earn model is what the NFT scene needs so players can fully dive in the immersive gameplay of the metaverse and capitalize on their skills and experience. Revolve Games Metaverse is the first AAA quality inter-planetary sandbox metaverse. Players can explore the galaxy with their NFT tethered spacecraft, buy land on planets, shape the landscape and build their own games. Teleportation portal NFTs allow them to instantly travel between your favourite set destinations in the metaverse. Recent partnerships with other popular NFT games like Netvrk mea...
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Ethereum price hits $3,800, boosting bulls' control in Friday's ETH options expiry

ETH price recaptured the $3,800 level and derivatives data signals bulls are well-positioned for Friday's $385 million options expiry. Ether ( ETH ) entered a slightly bullish channel earlier this month, and currently the price is marching toward the $3,800 level. Despite the recent turbulence, Ether bulls are set to bag a $53 million profit on this Friday's weekly options expiry.  Investors also appear to be disinterested in Ether's recent underperformance versus Bitcoin ( BTC ), and to date, the altcoin's gains stand at 265%. If Ether manages to stay above $3,600 on Friday, 99% of the $180 million put (sell) options will become worthless. Ether price at Bitstamp in USD. Source: TradingView Ethereum smart contract competitors continue to pressure the leading network and at the time of writing, Ethereum's average gas fees remain above $20. Polkadot (DOT) is scheduled to begin its sidechain auctions on Nov. 11, and this will support new token launches, decen...
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Canadian city plans to supply residents’ heat using Bitcoin mining

The recovered energy will be used to heat 100 residential and commercial buildings in North Vancouver, with a population of roughly 155,000. MintGreen, a Canada-based cleantech cryptocurrency miner, will be partnering with the Lonsdale Energy Corporation to supply heat to residents of North Vancouver in British Columbia starting in 2022. In a Thursday announcement, MintGreen said its “digital boilers” — which it claims can recover more than 96% of the electricity used for Bitcoin ( BTC ) mining — will prevent 20,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases per megawatt from entering the atmosphere during its arrangement with North Vancouver. The recovered energy will be used to heat 100 residential and commercial buildings in the Canadian city with a population of roughly 155,000. Colin Sullivan, the CEO of MintGreen, said the partnership was aimed at tackling issues related to climate change. According to a December 2020 report from the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, buil...
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What else is moving as Bitcoin price inches toward a new ATH?

ALCX and SLP are flashing bottoming signals while BTC is steadily climbing toward $60,000. Bitcoin ( BTC ) is hot and clearly in the hands of bulls. Yes, eventually an ETF is coming and after that a $100,000, no $120,000, scratch that, $150,000 BTC price will be on the board.  Blah, blah, blah. Anyone logging onto crypto Twitter is going to be bombarded with all this bullish drivel straight from the jump and that great, we’re all happy Bitcoin is doing well. I've been a holder since early 2016 so of course I’m happy. But, isn’t there more to crypto than just Bitcoin? Aren’t there other assets that are moving? Wouldn’t it be nice to hear about them before they go on some parabolic 150% run and then your favorite anon Twitter trader with a Rolex and an Audi advises you on which support levels to buy on the next pullback? Let's take a quick look at some of the other assets that might be on the verge of a move. Of course, this isn’t financial advice. DYOR. Just because we’ve...
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Coinbase unveils its Digital Asset Policy Proposal to spark conversation around comprehensive crypto regulation

One of the crypto industry's major players seeks to boost the public debate on how to best fit digital assets into the regulatory perimeter. On Oct. 14, cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase published its Digital Asset Policy Proposal , a document offering both a justification and conceptual framework for comprehensive regulation of digital assets in the United States. Coinbase presented the proposal as a product of dozens of meetings with industry participants, policymakers, crypto innovators and academics that the company’s representatives had held in the last several weeks. The firm’s intention is for the proposal to “animate an open and constructive discussion regarding the role of digital assets in our shared economic future” and offer good-faith suggestions on what a sensible approach to crypto regulation might look like. The document opens with enumerating the benefits of the emerging system of digital finance for both consumers (democratization of financial market...
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Mexico's president rules out accepting crypto as legal tender

The Bank of Mexico and the National Banking and Securities Commission issued a statement earlier this year warning financial institutions not to deal with digital assets, but the president has not often spoken directly on the subject. President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the country was unlikely to follow in El Salvador’s footsteps by adopting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as legal tender alongside fiat. In an Oct. 14 press conference, Obrador, also known as AMLO, said Mexico “must maintain orthodoxy” in its financial management and would not be changing its position on crypto. The Bank of Mexico and the National Banking and Securities Commission issued a statement in June warning that financial institutions were “not authorized to carry out and offer to the public operations with virtual assets,” but the president has not often spoken directly on the subject. AMLO was responding to a reporter who asked if Mexico would consider following the example of El Salvador...
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