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Showing posts from February 3, 2022

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...

Jump Crypto replenishes funds from $320M Wormhole hack in largest-ever DeFi 'bailout'

The venture capital firm dug into its own pockets to restore trust in the Wormhole ecosystem. On Thursday, Jump Crypto, a crypto venture capital firm that owns Certus One, the developer of the Wormhole token bridge, announced it had deposited 120 thousand Ether ( ETH ) into a Solana-Ethereum bridge that suffered a devastating exploit . The day prior, hackers fraudulently minted 120 thousand wrapped Ether (wETH) worth $321 million on the Solana ( SOL ) platform, then redeemed 93,750 wETH for ETH on the Ethereum network while swapping the rest for other altcoins on the Solana network. The cross-chain ETH-wETH is supposed to have an exchange ratio of 1:1 against one another. Therefore, the unauthorized minting of wETH leads to significant inflation, which can quickly degrade confidence in the underlying bridge. After the latest "bailout" by Jump Crypto and a patch fix, however, things appear to be back to normal, with Wormhole developers tweeting : "All funds have been ...

Kazakhstan Extends Power Cuts for Cryptocurrency Miners

Crypto farms in Kazakhstan will remain unplugged until Feb. 7, as the local utility has extended power cuts for miners. The company points to ongoing difficulties with electricity supply as the main reason for the measure, which was supposed to expire at the end of January. Mining Facilities in Kazakhstan Still Shut Down Data centers authorized to mint digital currencies in Kazakhstan will not be able to operate at least until next Monday, Feb. 7, after the country’s power distribution company extended previously introduced supply restrictions for another week. The state-run Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company ( KEGOC ) has informed mining enterprises about the continuing restrictions in a notice quoted by Forklog. The utility cites unresolved problems with maintaining stable electricity supply. The measure was initially imposed on Jan. 24, when mining farms were shut down until Jan. 31. Almost 70 companies were affected by the power cuts caused by winter shortages. Bla...

Crypto Biz: The crypto industry is more bullish than the Bitcoin charts, Jan. 27–Feb. 2

Venture funds flush with cash are pouring millions of dollars into blockchain startups. And you’re worried about short-term price action? Is Bitcoin ( BTC ) in a bull market or a bear market? Has the current market cycle already peaked or can we expect another leg higher? Venture capital funds don’t seem to care either way. They’re too busy building equity in promising blockchain plays.  This week’s Crypto Biz newsletter features two major funding rounds from the world of blockchain, as well as Jack Dorsey’s scathing critique of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse plans. We also highlight a company that’s making it easier for employees to start getting paid in BTC. So, while it’s easy to get bogged down in the bull versus bear narrative, the crypto industry is becoming a lot bigger than just the price charts. Don’t let fear, uncertainty and doubt get you down. And please, don’t sell your Bitcoin to Michael Saylor! To get a full breakdown of this week’s business news, register for the ...

Immutable X (IMX) price soars after GameStop partnership and new project launches

A handful of newly launched projects and Feb. 3’s GameStop partnership announcement catalyzed a strong rebound in IMX price. Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) continue to be one of the hottest sectors of the cryptocurrency market in 2022 despite the overall multi-month weakness seen in Bitcoin ( BTC ) and other large-cap crypto assets. One project that has benefited from the persistent bullishness in the NFT space is ImmutableX (IMX), a layer-2 scaling solution for NFTs on the Ethereum network designed to offer near-instant transactions and zero gas fees for minting and trading Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $1.99 on Jan. 24, the price of IMX gained 116% to hit a daily high of $4.29 as the 24-hour trading volume surged 505% to $333.5 million. IMX/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Three reasons for the price turnaround in IMX include the announcement of a new partnership with GameStop, the listing of the IMX token on Binance ...

Coinbase users can receive US tax refunds in crypto as part of TurboTax deal

The exchange said users could send the funds to their Coinbase accounts in fiat, or automatically convert it to crypto with no trading fees. Tax filing platform TurboTax is allowing U.S. filers to get their refunds directly in crypto as part of an arrangement with crypto exchange Coinbase. In a Thursday blog post, Coinbase announced users who filed their tax returns using TurboTax would have the option to receive any returns in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin ( BTC ) and others supported on the platform. The exchange said users could send the funds to their Coinbase accounts in fiat, or automatically convert it to crypto with no trading fees. A New York Times report said that the offer from Coinbase applied to both state and federal income taxes. The crypto exchange has previously partnered with tax calculating platform CoinTracker to fill out the forms for users to declare capital gains and losses on their returns. The deadline for U.S. residents to file taxes is April 18, and m...

Coachella Music and Arts Festival Partners With FTX US to Issue Solana-Based NFTs

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is stepping into non-fungible token (NFT) technology space, according to the festival’s official Twitter account. Coachella partnered with the crypto exchange FTX US, and the NFTs are minted on the Solana blockchain. Coachella Partners With FTX US to Mint Solana-Based Digital Collectibles Since 1999, the festival co-founded by Rick Van Santen and Paul Tollett called Coachella has been a popular music and arts event with its highest attendance in 2017, peaking at 250,000 attendees. Music acts that have played at various Coachella festivals include performers like the Chemical Brothers, Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Morrissey, A Perfect Circle, and Jurassic 5. Coachella celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019 and had to cancel the 2020 event over the Covid-19 pandemic. Goldenvoice — the firm that operates Coachella — revealed on June 1, that the event will return on April 15–17 this year, featuring artists like Swedish House Mafia, Bill...