Joey Krug, co-chief investment officer says in Pantera’s latest newsletter that the crypto markets “definitely got hit” by the news cycle surrounding likely interest rate hikes coming from the Fed later this year.

However, Krug says these fears have mostly already been priced in and markets have adjusted to the possibility of at least five rate hikes, which he thinks is largely “overplayed” in crypto.

According to the Krug, there is a historical cycle of correlation between crypto and traditional markets that lasts about 70 days each time macro gets hit with bearish action, before crypto decorrelates. He predicts that we are now more or less at the point where crypto breaks away.

“And so we think over the next number of weeks, crypto is basically going to decouple from traditional markets and begin to trade on its own again,” he said.

“There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that crypto is still a relatively small market and so things like the federal funds rate being at 1.25% versus 0% doesn’t make a huge, huge difference for something that’s growing four to five times year over year, especially if you look at stuff like DeFi, where it’s already trading at fairly cheap multiples. There are a lot of DeFi assets that trade from P/E multiples anywhere from 10 to 40. They’re not crazy high-valued; tech stocks are trading at multiples of 400 to 500x.”

It’s Kurg’s personal view that $2,200 was the bottom for Ethereum, for example.

Pantera Capital

Dan Morehead, the company’s CEO, also believes in short-lived correlations between crypto and traditional markets. He also claims that in a rising interest rate environment, crypto is the best place to be, contrary to what many believe.

“Once people do have a little bit of time to think this through, they’re going to realize that if you look at all the different asset classes, blockchain is the best relative asset class in a rising rate environment,” Morehead said, adding that he thinks bonds are “going to get killed.”

“Whereas blockchain isn’t a cashflow-oriented thing. It’s like gold. It can behave in a very different way from interest-rate-oriented products. I think when all’s said and done, investors will be given a choice: they have to invest in something, and if rates are rising, blockchain is going to be the most relatively attractive.”

The post Crypto About to Decouple From Traditional Financial Markets appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Announced yesterday, the Department named Eun Young Choi to serve as the first Director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). Eun Young Choi is a prosecutor who led a case against a Russian hacker that helped steal information about more than 80 million JPMorgan & Chase customers.

According to the agency, the NCET was created to ensure that the Justice Department is able to properly address the illicit use of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. It is made up of prosecutors with backgrounds in cryptocurrency, cybercrime, money laundering and forfeiture.

The NCET will put a focus on supporting cases of criminal use of digital assets involving virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, infrastructure providers, and “other entities that are enabling the misuse of cryptocurrency and related technologies to commit or facilitate criminal activity.”

“The NCET will set strategic priorities regarding digital asset technologies, identify areas for increased investigative and prosecutorial focus, and lead the department’s efforts to coordinate with domestic and international law enforcement partners, regulatory agencies and private industry to combat the criminal use of digital assets.”

Image via Shutterstock

First reported by Reuters, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced Choi’s appointment, and issued a warning to those seeking to misuse crypto.

“We are issuing a clear warning to criminals who use cryptocurrency to fuel their schemes,” Monaco said.

“We also call on all companies dealing with cryptocurrency – we need you to root out cryptocurrency abuses. To those who do not, we will hold you accountable where we can.”

Monaco added there was an international initiative to asses virtual currencies, and warned that “disruptive” measures would be taken against cyber threats.

“Moving forward, prosecutors, agents, and analysts will now assess – at each stage of a cyber investigation – whether to use disruptive actions against cyber threats, even if they might otherwise tip the cybercriminals off and jeopardize the potential for charges and apprehension,” she said.

The Justice Department’s new unit comes after nearly $4 billion in Bitcoin was seized from Bitfinex hackers, almost six years after it went missing from the crypto exchange. Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan have been accused of attempting to launder 119,754 BTC stolen from Bitfinex, and each face a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Both suspects are now out on bail.

The post Feds Launch Digital Currency Enforcement Unit appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Have you set up Tips on your profile yet so it's easy for people to show their support?

Yes: Cool, we’ve added Paga, Barter by Flutterwave, Paytm, and the option to add your Ethereum address.

No: What are you waiting for? Here's how: https://t.co/Id5TwTpnCF

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) February 16, 2022

“Through Tips, you’ll also be able to copy someone’s Bitcoin or Ethereum address and paste their address into whatever wallet you use,” Twitter said in a blog.

“You will be able to send tips from your account on the third-party service and recipients will be able to see your username on that service. Information about you, including, but not limited to, your full name, address and your tip may be shared with the recipient or others, subject to the terms of the third-party payment service.”

Twitter of course rolled out Bitcoin tipping in September, but was obviously set on expanding its horizons after BTC maximalist and former CEO Jack Dorsey left to focus on Spiral.

Users can tip others on Twitter by clicking on the stack-of-cash tip icon at the top of one’s profile, grab the ETH address and send away.

“We’re continuing to expand ways to get paid on Twitter which includes more choices for creators and fans who want to use crypto,” Johnny Winston, lead product manager of creator monetization at Twitter, said in a statement. “We’re excited to add the ability for anyone to add their ETH address to Tips.”

Currently, Twitter will not support Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain names, but it will support ETH and ERCi20 tokens. The feature is currently only available for iOS and Android mobile phones.

The expansion of its crypto tipping feature comes less than a month after the tech unicorn began integrating non-fungible token (NFTs) into its platform. Some users are now able to use their own NFTs for their profile photos in hexagonal shape.

Twitter also displays details about the NFT like its name, creator, owner and smart contract address.

gm!

You asked (a lot), so we made it. Now rolling out in Labs: NFT Profile Pictures on iOS pic.twitter.com/HFyspS4cQW

— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) January 20, 2022

The post Twitter Brings in Support for Ethereum Tipping appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Coinbase, the biggest crypto exchange in the US, announced in a blog post the launch of the Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology (TRUST), which is an “industry-driven solution designed to comply with a requirement known as the Travel Rule while protecting the security and privacy of our customers.”

The Travel Rule is part of the Bank Secrecy Act, and requires all financial institutions to pass on certain information to the next financial institutions in certain funds transmittals.

Coinbase says that the group hopes that the initiative’s ethos will soon become the industry standard for complying with these requirements.

The organization includes:

Anchorage, Avanti, Bitgo, bitFlyer, Bittrex, BlockFi, Circle, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Gemini, Kraken, Paxos, Robinhood, Standard Custody & Trust, Symbridge, Tradestation, Zero Hash and Zodia Custody.

While much of the mechanics of the initiative remain vague, Robinhood’s Chief Operating Officer Christine Brown said in a statement that TRUST would be “an innovative compliance solution, while also persevering the integrity of private customer data.”

“Just as it takes a community of crypto investors and enthusiasts to democratize finance, we believe it takes a community of crypto businesses and platforms to work together to find a solution to preserve customer privacy while meeting the legal requirements of the Travel Rule,” she said.

Coinbase

Coinbase says that to help each member of the group reach desired standards, it’s partnered with Exiger, a New York-based company specializing in financial security and technology, regulatory compliance, and risk management.

“We require all TRUST members to meet core anti-money laundering, security, and privacy requirements before joining the solution. And we are partnering with Exiger… to help us meet that bar, and to provide ongoing compliance support.”

“There are two components to this solution,” Gemini’s Chief Compliance Officer Elena Hughes said. “There’s the ability to identify who’s on the other side of the transfer prior to initiating it. Secondly, there’s no centralized storage of personal data. So we don’t send it via a centralized repository; instead the information is exchanged on a bilateral basis.”

TRUST is so far only relevant to US markets, but will seek to expand elsewhere in the future, according to Coinbase and Hughes’ of Gemini. There are currently plans to expand in Canada, Singapore and Germany.

The post Coinbase, Kraken, And 16 Other Crypto Firms Launch ‘TRUST’ Initiative appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Our office will be introducing legislation in the US House of Representatives shortly to protect Americans from this version of overt theft.

Please let your Member of Congress and Senators know… https://t.co/UbNdcj8ZZ4

— Warren Davidson (@WarrenDavidson) February 15, 2022

“A number of people will undoubtedly recognize that, ‘Bitcoin fixes this.’ That’s only true with self-custody. Account-based crypto has similar vulnerabilities. We also have a bill protecting self-custody: the Keep Your Coins Act,” Davidson said.

If passed, Davidson’s bill will prevent the state from restricting “the ability of a covered user to— (1) use virtual currency or its equivalent for such user’s own purposes, such as to purchase real or virtual goods and services for the user’s own use; or (2) conduct transactions through a self-hosted wallet.”

In an interview, Davidson said that boundaries need to be set to prevent the government from using finance to restrict citizens’ freedoms.

“People are talking about [free speech] with the trucker convoy. If this [protest] happened in America, some would be cheering, some would be upset. My point is that it should be even-handed. We shouldn’t use money as a way of controlling people. Of course if there’s criminal activity, you should go after that. But imagine if the same thing were done to a crowdfunded BLM movement. That wouldn’t be okay. It’s not okay with the Freedom Convoy, either.”

According to new reports, Prime Minister Trudeau’s administration has frozen at least 34 crypto wallets associated with the trucker protests, including ​​29 Bitcoin addresses, 2 Ethereum, and 1 wallet each of Cardano, Monero, and Litecoin.

“The Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police are currently investigating cryptocurrency donations being collected in relation to illegal acts falling under the scope of the Emergency Measures Act,” the RCMP order begins.

“Pursuant to the Emergency Economic Measures Order, under subsection 19(1) of the Emergencies Act, there is a duty to cease facilitating any transactions pertaining to the following cryptocurrency address(es).”

Presumably, these wallets are on centralized exchanges, and its unclear to what extent the Canadian government has the ability to freeze or seize the digital assets. As per the report, one of the addresses contains at least $1 million in BTC.

According to Senator Davidson, the new bill will rephrase FinCen language to provide a proper framework for KYC (know-your-customer) which protects self-custody.

The post US Senator Introduces New ‘Keep Your Coins’ Bitcoin Bill: Report appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Titled “Opportunities in the metaverse: How businesses can explore the metaverse and navigate the hype vs. reality”, JPM analysts say the metaverse is the driving force behind the forming of a new digital age.

Referencing Microsoft’s plan to create digital workspaces and Ariana Grande holding a concert in Fortnite, the bank says that the “opportunities presented by interactive, digital worlds seem limited.”

“The metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at over $1 trillion in yearly revenues.”

JPM says that instead of having stores in every city, major retail brands might instead build a global hub in the metaverse that is able to serve millions of customers from one location. The metaverse can also turbocharge a shift in “gaming, sports betting and gambling from cash to crypto,” the bank said.

Metajuku/Decentraland

One of the “key imperatives” for growth in the metaverse, according to JPM, is a definition of standards for digital assets such as wearables, objects and brands, and virtual currencies which can be transferable across different virtual worlds.

“(with potentially different manifestations in each world, e.g., the same NFT manifests as a special edition t-shirt in a virtual world but is a uniquely designed vehicle in a race car video game)”

JPM has officially become the first major bank to open up shop in the metaverse with its virtual Onyx Lounge in Decentraland, which it reveals for the first time in the report.

The lounge, named after JPM’s blockchain system, is situated within the Metajuku shopping mall in Decentraland, and so far features a portrait of CEO Jamie Dimon, a Tiger walking around, and a presentation on cryptocurrency.

“In the metaverse, some of the existing services and business models we are familiar with will continue to exist, but the metaverse opens a whole new realm of ways to engage which we expect will lead to uniquely new services and business models. Not everything in the metaverse will be relevant for every business. However, there is little downside to taking the opportunity to explore.”

The post JPMorgan Releases Full White Paper On Metaverse appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Currently, there is a large number of truckers stationed in Canada’s capital in protest of Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates. To fund the protest, the trucker convoy has utilized several centralized platforms to raise money, including GoFundMe and GiveSendGo. Both fundraising methods have been shut down by authorities, putting millions of dollars worth of donations in limbo.

With the trucker protests as a justification, Justin Trudeau’s government has moved to obtain more control over the flow of finances, including cryptocurrencies, in Canada. In a statement, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance said:

“This is about following the money. This is about stopping the financing of these illegal blockades. We are today serving notice: if your truck is being used in these protests, your corporate accounts will be frozen.

The insurance on your vehicle will be suspended. Send your semi-trailers home. The Canadian economy needs them to be doing legitimate work, not to be illegally making us all poorer.”

In invoking the never-before-used Emergencies Act, the Canadian government has “broadened the scope of Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules” to cover crowdfunding platforms, payment providers, and apply to “all forms of transactions, including digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.”

For those uncomfortable with the growing power of the state to oversee finances, the situation in Canada is highlighting the benefits of cryptocurrency and a decentralized economic system.

What Trudeau is doing to his country is just sick.

Every week there’s a headline with a new freedom being stripped from the people.

These type of actions show the importance of Bitcoin, and the true potential in the face of oppression to restore power and freedom to the people. https://t.co/YVHN3w7BDF

— K A L E O (@CryptoKaleo) February 14, 2022

It’s hard to believe this is real.

The pride with which this politician announces emergency surveillance measures in a country like Canada would have been unthinkable 10 years ago.pic.twitter.com/4il3Fjsvb2

— Alex Gladstein (@gladstein) February 14, 2022

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is up 4% on the day, while Ethereum (ETH) has so far rallied 7%, despite being in fairly pronounced downtrends. Most other majors have also put in modest gains over the last 24 hours, while privacy coins like Monero (XMR) and Pirate Chain (ARRR) are also up substantially over the last couple of weeks.

The post Crypto Markets Reclaim $2 Trillion Mark After Canada Tightens Control over Financial System appeared first on Coin Bureau.

After years of not being able to get a spot Bitcoin ETF past regulators, the conversation has shifted to converting Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, the largest Bitcoin fund in the world, into its own ETF.

The SEC invited comments and feedback on the proposal to put GBTC on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and have received many comments in favor of the idea. One commenter said:

“A $GBTC should be allowed to convert into an EFT. The rest of the world is watching. I’m a Proud Tax paying American Crypto is here to stay and has more way to KYC than the money laundering Banks. Thank you, Kenneth Kemp.”

In a thread, Bloomberg’s ETF expert Eric Balchunas pointed out that the majority of comments are in favor of the proposal, from people using their real names, and are pointing out the contradiction of a futures ETF being okay but a spot ETF apparently being unacceptable.

Image via Shutterstock

One commenter named William Perez reminded the SEC that it’s main goal was to protect investors. With that in mind, he made three made points:

“1. Right now my shares of GBTC are trading at a substantial discount to book value due to the fact that GBTC is not a spot ETF. ETF status will close the discount and keep the price closer to NAV.

2. I want to have direct ownership of Bitcoin via a spot ETF because I don’t want to have full ownership rights and benefits take possession of the underlying asset. I don’t want to buy gold coins that can be stolen – I want GLD ETF. I don’t want to have to safeguard Bitcoin keys and worry about it being lost or stolen. Grayscale
Bitcoin spot ETF gives me safe ownership.

3. GBTC is not SEC-registered and it trades on OTC. I would feel more protected if we had GBTC as an SEC-registered Spot ETF.”

Many Bitcoin investors have taken issue with the fact that despite being brought in for the sake of investor protection, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) has been consistently trading at a steep discount from spot BTC prices ever since its inception in November.

On-chain analyst Willy Woo speculated in October that should a Bitcoin futures ETF get approved, it would be “an expensive way to hold BTC,” adding that “The ETF effectively outsources the holding of BTC to hedge funds through a chain of profit incentives.”

At the time of writing, investors can grab Bitcoin at a 24% discount if they buy GBTC instead of spot BTC.

The post Grayscale Could Convert The Bitcoin Trust to an ETF, Investors Firmly in Support appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a letter sent to a group of senators on Friday and first seen by Bloomberg, the Treasury addressed concerns that the recently passed infrastructure bill would capture virtually all entities in the crypto industry under the term “brokers.”

“Appreciate the Treasury Department affirming that crypto miners, stakers and those who sell hardware and software for wallets are not subject to tax reporting obligations,” Senator Rob Portman said on Twitter, posting a screenshot of the letter.

“As I have said from the start, this requirement only applies to brokers.”

Rob Portman/Twitter

In the letter, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Jonathan Davidson said the department’s view is that “ancillary parties who cannot get access to information that is useful to the IRS are not intended to be captured by the reporting requirements for brokers.”

Davidson’s comments essentially confirm that people who validate transactions through mining or staking, as well as crypto technology providers, are not included in the infrastructure bill’s reporting rules. Prominent figures in the crypto industry previously protested the idea that such entities be included in tax reporting rules, given that there is virtually no way for them keep track of every aspect of each transaction, making compliance nearly impossible.

According to Bloomberg, Davidson said the Treasury intends to issue “proposed regulations in the future that reflect its thinking on the broker definition.”

He also said there are other issues the Treasury is still considering, including “the extent to which other parties in the digital asset market, such as centralized exchanges and those often described as decentralized exchanges and peer-to-peer exchanges, should be treated as brokers.”

Senator Pat Toomey, leading Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told Bloomberg in an email that he was encouraged by the Treasury’s letter but still wanted lawmakers to take it a step further and pass legislation codifying their clarifications.

“This interpretation can always change, which is why Congress should act,” he said.

The post U.S Treasury Says Crypto Miners Exempt From IRS Reporting Rules appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Coinbase, FTX, Crypto.com and eToro all spent millions on the hottest advertising slots in the world, gaining historic exposure.

Likely the most memorable ad from the night was Coinbase’ one-minute long commercial featuring nothing but sixty seconds of a bouncing QR code leading viewers to a promotion and signup page.

The ad proved to be so popular that Coinbase actually shut down for a bit, overwhelmed by the amount of traffic as tens of millions of football fans scanned the QR code to get to a single landing page.

Kate Rouch, the exchange’s chief marketing officer, said that Coinbase had load-tested the site to handle millions of simultaneous hits, but the Super Bowl volume was “astounding in comparisons to our projections.”

“We saw over 20M+ hits on our landing page in one minute — volume that was historic and unprecedented,” she said.

“We also saw engagement that was 6 times higher than our previous benchmarks. Understandably, this volume led to us temporarily throttling our systems. Hats off to our engineering team for getting the site back online so swiftly, and allowing us to welcome more people to the cryptoeconomy.”

FTX joined the lineup with its crypto ad featuring comedy legend Larry David, who plays a time-traveling skeptic who shoots down good inventions like forks, coffee, and FTX. David reportedly “loved” playing the role, even though he’s still not a fan of cryptocurrency.

“We need to meet people where they are — and that means embracing skepticism,” FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in a statement. “A lot of people who are now the biggest advocates of crypto once had significant reservations.”

Crypto.com managed to score star basketball player LeBron James to play two versions of himself. In the ad, old LeBron advises young Lebron to “call your own shots” as Crypto.com’s trademark catchphrase “FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE” rolls across the screen.

eToro took a more general approach to their Superbowl ad, marketing the platform as an all-in-one crypto, stocks and idea-sharing space, asserting the “the power social investing.”

According to a report from AdWeek, crypto firms were shelling out an average of $7 million for each 30 second clip of advertising space, making the Super Bowl likely the biggest marketing campaign of all time for the crypto industry.

The post Crypto Bowl? Who Scored in the 2022 Superbowl of Crypto Ads? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Smooth Love Potion (SLP), one of Axie Infinity’s in-game tokens, was down almost 94% from its all-time high in the summer as it continued to suffer from out of control inflation.

SLP tokens, act as the main reward token for the game, and serve as a replacement for experience points. They can be used to “breed” new digital creatures called Axies which players of the game can create and battle.

The cost of breeding starts at 100 SLP but increases as you go — rising to 200 SLP for the second breed, 300 for the third, 500 for the fourth, 800 for the fifth and 1,300 for the sixth.

Image via Shutterstock

According to Axie Infinity developers, SLP was being created four times higher than it was being burned through breeding, putting constant downward pressure on it.

“As we discussed [previously], inflation of SLP has been very high, with around 4x more SLP being created (supplied) per day than burned (demanded) through breeding. As we are building more burn mechanisms… we are also looking at where we can strategically reduce issuance in order to balance the economy.”

The developers essentially eliminated multiple reward systems, drastically reducing the supply of SLP and putting intense upward pressure on its price.

Trading at $0.009 the day before the tokenomics revamp, SLP rallied all the way to $0.039 for a 337% gain in less than a week.

Ronin (RON), also involved in the Axie Infinity economy as it will eventually be used for gas fees and network security, enjoyed a 74% bump after the developers made their move. AXS, the native token behind Axie Infinity, currently is up over 34% in the last seven days with a market cap of $4,532,933,912.

AXS remains one of the flagship cryptocurrencies of the metaverse sector, putting in one of the most memorable performances of 2021. It’s up 51348.1% since its all-time low in November of 2020, while the video game continues to grow its already massive user base.

The post Axie Infinity Coins Go Crazy After Tokenomics Change appeared first on Coin Bureau.

First reported by Politico, the European Commission’s (EC) finance chief Mairead McGuinness said that the EU will officially propose a bill that will serve as the legal foundation for a virtual version of the Euro early next year.

Speaking at a fintech conference by Afore Consulting, McGuiness said:

“Our goal is to table legislation in early 2023… A targeted legislative consultation in the coming weeks.”

Talk of government-backed digital currencies has picked up after privately backed-crypto assets, particularly dollars, have meteorically risen to prominence, now adding up to nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in market cap.

As the 2022 Winter Olympics go on in Beijing, China is already testing out its digital Yuan (eCNY). The proposed CBDC is currently being offered to athletes and foreign visitors to Olympic Village in Beijing, as well as cash or Visa cards. The rollout is the most prominent pilot program for the digital currency since the country began exploring CBDCs in 2019.

Some American officials are worried that China is getting the upper hand on digital currencies, as the US still doesn’t have solid plans for the rollout of its own federal-backed virtual USD.

Image via Shutterstock

In a new interview, Christine Lagarde, head of the European Central bank (ECB), further signaled the need for a digital Euro, lamenting the rise of private entities gaining a foothold on stablecoins.

“We need to have an answer to that. We cannot allow users’ personal data to be monetised. Moreover, the technology used in private digital currencies also creates new, alarming opportunities, e.g. for terrorism financing and money laundering. This is why creating a digital euro must be a public project. It also strengthens Europe’s sovereignty.”

Lagarde says that Europe is already too dependent on other geographies, relying on Visa and Mastercard for its payments systems, and Russia and Asia for its oil, gas and microchips.

“…You notice the high price of dependence on external suppliers. This is where we lack autonomy. I think that we need to be just as cautious in the area of finance,” she said.

While the rise of digital currencies brings visions of dystopic surveillance grids for many, LaGarde says she doesn’t yet have any interest in getting rid of cash.

“People are used to cash and are not willing to give it up. This is why I don’t think we need to have a discussion about scrapping cash. I also like having banknotes in my purse. And now they even have my signature on them (laughs).”

The post European Union Says Digital Euro Coming Next Year appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Samsung announced the new Samsung Wallet at the Unpacked 2022 event yesterday. According to reports from ZDNet, the Samsung Wallet can hold personal IDs, including student IDs, driver’s licenses and state IDs, plus digital house or car keys, credit and debit cards, boarding passes and vaccination records. The wallet can also be used to “access and explore complex digital products” such as cryptocurrency.

The wallet will be included in the new series of Galaxy S22 phones. Samsung says users in South Korea will be the first to test out the new functions once the mobile phones hit the market.

According to Samsung, the wallet is “a seamless, convenient and secure experience to make everyday life easier.”

“Samsung Wallet combines digital payment, ID, keys and asset management into one tool to simplify your routines, from showing your student ID to compiling travel documents before a flight.”

Image via Shutterstock

Presumably, the wallet will use Samsung Pay to facilitate crypto payments if it becomes a feature. In 2021, the tech giant announced it would be rolling out support for Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and other via a partnership with BitPay.

Samsung said that the backend of the service would be overseen by Mastercard who’ll allow both virtual and physical BitPay cards. Apart from the usual crypto assets, users will also be able to use top stablecoins like USDC, BUSD, GUSD, and PAX.

Yesterday, Apple announced it would be integrating a “Tap To Pay” function which would also presumably allow crypto payments.

“As more and more consumers are tapping to pay with digital wallets and credit cards, Tap to Pay on iPhone will provide businesses with a secure, private, and easy way to accept contactless payments and unlock new checkout experiences using the power, security, and convenience of iPhone,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.

“In collaboration with payment platforms, app developers, and payment networks, we’re making it easier than ever for businesses of all sizes — from solopreneurs to large retailers — to seamlessly accept contactless payments and continue to grow their business.”

The post Samsung Integrates Crypto Wallet In New Phone appeared first on Coin Bureau.

One of the trademarks filed under McCafe describes “Virtual food and beverage products,” plus “Downloadable multimedia files containing artwork, text, audio and video files and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).”

Another filing describes “Operating a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods, operating a virtual restaurant online featuring home delivery.”

Josh Gerben, trademark attorney and owner of Gerben Intellectual Property, first spotted the trademarks.

“McDonald’s is headed to the metaverse.

The company has filed 10 (TEN!) trademark applications indicating it plans to offer “a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods” and “operating a virtual restaurant featuring home delivery.”

Image via Shutterstock

McDonald’s golden arches will join bakery chain Panera Bread in the metaverse, or as the Missouri-base company called it, the “Paneraverse.” According to Gerben, Panera Bread has filed a trademark application hinting the company will offer “virtual restaurants and cafes” under the PANERAVERSE brand.

Recently, Apple, the biggest company in the world, also hinted at incoming metaverse investments. In its latest earnings call, a Morgan Stanley representative asked Cook if he was “thinking about the Metaverse opportunity and Apple’s role in that market.”

Cook said:

“Well, that’s a big question, but we’re a company in the businesses innovation so we’re always exploring new and emerging technologies and I’ve spoken at length about how it’s very interesting to us right now. We have over 14,000 AR Kit apps in the App Store which provide incredible AR experiences for millions of people today. So we see a lot of potential in this space and are investing accordingly.”

In line with the many corporations jumping into the nascent virtual universe, a recent report from data insights firm Gartner claimed that by 2026, a quarter of all people will spend at least an hour a day in the metaverse.

“Vendors are already building ways for users to replicate their lives in digital worlds,” said Marty Resnick, research vice president at Gartner. “From attending virtual classrooms to buying digital land and constructing virtual homes, these activities are currently being conducted in separate environments. Eventually, they will take place in a single environment – the metaverse – with multiple destinations across technologies and experiences.”

The post McDonald’s In The Metaverse? Fast Food Giant Files Virtual Restaurant Trademarks appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The Morning Consult says to “prepare for the 2022 crypto boom” in it’s latest analyst report, asserting that “Cryptocurrency ownership continues to rise, buoying crypto-related brands in the process.”

As per the report, crypto investments have become more popular than certificate of deposits (CDs). A CD is a traditional financial product, ostensibly an agreement between an individual and a bank to lock up one’s money for a fixed amount of time in exchange for an interest rate.

Image via Shutterstock

“Nearly 1 in 4 consumers (24%) in our recent global survey reported household ownership of cryptocurrency, up 2 percentage points from July. Latin American countries still have among the highest rates of cryptocurrency ownership, but European nations Germany, Spain and the U.K. have grown significantly in the past six months.”

Morning Consult says that crypto ownership surged in July of 2021, suggesting that investors were taking advantage of the big discounts in the market. Demographically, high earning millennial men dominated the space, while baby boomers remain mostly disinterested in the crypto. The study says that baby boomers’ crypto ownership has ranged sideways for over a year while millennials continue to pile into digital assets.

The research also suggests that a surging interest in cryptocurrency doesn’t necessarily mean an abandonment of the traditional system. On the contrary, crypto enthusiasts “are more likely than the general population to use multiple financial services providers.”

“As leaders at traditional financial institutions seek to understand the future of cryptocurrency and their role in it, they should focus closely on the habits and attitudes of current cryptocurrency owners and look for ways to meet their needs.”

The report says to “look for continue adoption of cryptocurrency and related brands” over the next year as brands and younger generations lead adoption. Morning Consult warns skeptics that “cryptocurrency has proved to be more than a passing fad,” and that “it will continue to gain consumers’ attention and share of wallet in 2022.”

.

The post Americans Choosing Crypto Investments Over Traditional Savings Account: New Survey appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly trying to launder the Bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex in a series of sophisticated strategies. The two suspects’ connection to the hack, beyond simply laundering the funds, is currently unknown.

According to court documents, Lichtenstein and Morgan are accused of trying to launder 119,754 BTC stolen from Bitfinex, and each face a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Both are currently out on bail.

“In a methodical and calculated scheme, the defendants allegedly laundered and disguised their vast fortune,” said Chief Jim Lee of IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). “IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit special agents have once again unraveled a sophisticated laundering technique, enabling them to trace, access and seize the stolen funds, which has amounted to the largest cryptocurrency seizure to date, valued at more than $3.6 billion.”

Despite holding the keys to $4 billion in stolen crypto, the two suspects did not live low profile lives. Lichtenstein was a tech CEO with a very public personality while Morgan wrote for Forbes and had her own rap career.

Because of her quirky online presence, many in the crypto industry are skeptical of whether or not 31-year-old Morgan was capable of perpetrating such a crime with her partner, instead suggesting that other parties were involved.

Eric Wall, chief investment officer of Arcane Assets said that despite Morgan’s cringeworthy rap videos, Morgan still showed signs of intelligence and other social skills.

Eric Wall/Twitter

Commenting on a recent presentation that Morgan did on social engineering, Wall said,

“Heather is obviously not a dum-dum. This is clearly a presentation given by an intelligent person.

The way she speaks and reasons about her area of expertise shows that she has pretty decent social skills, a sense of humor and humility.”

While details of the Bitfinex hack will likely be exposed in the coming weeks, the seizure, which is the biggest in history, is a reminder that Bitcoin is not a bullet proof vest for criminals and money launderers. Ever since the initial hack, blockchain sleuths have been able to track where the BTC was headed the entire time, even if it was inaccessible. Ultimately, the Feds were able to get a warrant to access one of Lichtenstein’s online accounts that held the keys to the wallet where the Bitcoin was being stored.

“Criminals always leave tracks, and today’s case is a reminder that the FBI has the tools to follow the digital trail, wherever it may lead,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul M. Abbate. “Thanks to the persistent and dedicated work of our FBI Investigative teams and law enforcement partners, we’re able to uncover the source of even the most sophisticated schemes and bring justice to those who try to exploit the security of our financial infrastructure.”

The post Stolen Bitfinex Crypto Recovered – Feds Seize $3.6 Billion in BTC appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The group, called the Crypto Market Integrity Coalition (CMIC), says that it “brings together market participants in the digital asset space who are committed to enabling a safe and sensibly-regulated crypto ecosystem.”

The firms involved include Coinbase, Huobi Tech, Crypto UK, Circle, The Chamber of Digital Commerce, Bitstamp, CryptoCompare, among others.

In a statement announcing its founding on Monday, the CMIC said it invites all other industry members into the group to help send a message that it’s time to end market abuse and manipulation and promote public and regulatory confidence in the new asset class.

“The crypto industry has made enormous strides to improve market integrity in the past few years; At the same time, crypto firms are keenly aware of the concerns that still need to be addressed, and are committed to engaging with regulators to advance solutions to crypto’s unique challenges.”

Image via Shutterstock

According to the statement, Solidus Labs, which specialises in crypto market surveillance, initiated the creation of the group. Solidus Labs is headed by finance veterans Asaf Meir, Praveen Kumar, and Chen Arad.

Meir, CEO and Israeli Defense Force veteran, said:

“The public and regulators have made their concerns clear, and the pledge’s initial goal is to bring unity and action at an industry level, across CeFi, DeFi and all digital assets… Crypto is in a very different place than it was three or four years ago—there are crypto firms today with more robust and technologically advanced risk and compliance programs than traditional institutions…

We want to convey that to the public, as well as our deep commitment to addressing current and future challenges – as new forms of risk and manipulation continue to arise and evolve.״

The CMIC says it will continue to engage with the top leaders in the crypto industry and encourage them to “take the pledge” of market integrity.

The post Top Crypto Firms Join Coalition to Promote Regulatory Integrity appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Celsius has become the go-to app for crypto native users, but there is a more inclusive vision for Celsius. The team at Celsius wanted their app to match their vision of financial freedom for all, so they updated the app to accomplish just that. Now everyone can easily join the Celsius family.

Buy, Swap, Earn, and Borrow easily in one app. Welcome to your home for Crypto.

When I say they updated the app, I don’t mean only the user interface. They did update that, and it’s now sleek and oh so easy to understand and use. They also updated the backend to make the app faster and more stable. Think of it as an upgrade to the exterior and foundation of a house. And now, you can consider Celsius as your home for crypto.

You can download the new app to see for yourself, but first, we have all the juicy details below.

Celsius Highlights

• Buy crypto with your bank account or credit card.
• Swap crypto with zero fees.
• Earn up to 17% APY on your coins.
• Get a loan starting at 1% APR.
• Call a human! We have a dedicated customer care team.

Easy Onramp to Crypto

Verified users can easily purchase cryptocurrency using a linked bank account or credit card with the new Celsius app. You’ll also get the best exchange rates as the Celsius engine constantly scans markets to find the BEST exchange rates in real-time. So start investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other leading cryptocurrencies to grow your wealth!

Swap Crypto

The new Celsius app allows for quick swaps between cryptocurrencies with no fees. Move from one coin to another with ease to diversify and create your ideal yield-bearing portfolio.

Best Yields

Celsius offers yields as high as 17%+ on certain cryptocurrencies with no minimum deposit requirements. Because everyone should have access to fair and rewarding financial services. Accredited investors can earn even more by choosing to earn in CEL tokens. Break free from the traditional banking system and its historically low yields and start earning a fair return with Celsius. Yields are paid weekly on Mondays.

Fair Loans

Unlike the high rates charged by traditional banks, Celsius offers borrowers loans with rates as low as 1% APR. Plus, there are no minimum balance fees, no origination fees, and no transfer fees. Stop paying too much to borrow and start growing your wealth with Celsius.

Speak with a Real Human

Celsius cares deeply about its community of users. That’s why they are breaking new ground in the crypto industry by connecting users with real humans. Celsius’ dedicated customer care team is available from 10 am to 11 pm EST on Monday through Friday. Call them for any issue or just to learn more about the platform and how you can benefit from using the Celsius app. Avoid the frustration of slow email responses and chatbots and enjoy personalized service.

Community Focused

At Celsius, the needs and interests of the users and community take priority. That’s why the app redesign occurred and why Celsius upgraded the services offered. With the combination of many products and services in one app, they are confident they will stand out in the marketplace. The ultimate goal is to allow anyone and everyone to unbank themselves and enjoy financial freedom.

Celsius, your home for crypto. Download the new app today and GET $50 FREE when you deposit $400+.

The post Celsius Upgrades App, becomes your New Home for Crypto appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to a new report from data insights firm Gartner, a burgeoning metaverse will develop with a fully operational virtual economy enabled by digital currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), impacting every business that consumers interact with every day.

“Vendors are already building ways for users to replicate their lives in digital worlds,” said Marty Resnick, research vice president at Gartner. “From attending virtual classrooms to buying digital land and constructing virtual homes, these activities are currently being conducted in separate environments. Eventually, they will take place in a single environment – the metaverse – with multiple destinations across technologies and experiences.”

Gartner defines a metaverse as “a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality.”

“It is persistent, providing enhanced immersive experiences, as well as device independent and accessible through any type of device, from tablets to head-mounted displays.”

Resnick says that the metaverse will allow enterprises to drastically enhance their business model. He predicts that by 2026, 30% of all organizations in the world will have products and services designed for the metaverse.

Image via Shutterstock

While optimistic on a rapid expansion of the metaverse, Gartner admits things are still in their very early stages, and that speculators shouldn’t be putting all their eggs in one basket.

“It is still too early to know which investments will be viable in the long term, but product managers should take the time to learn, explore and prepare for a metaverse in order to position themselves competitively,” said Resnick.

Of course, big business has already begun fulfilling Gartner’s prediction. Over the past year, metaverse hype has prompted tech giants like Microsoft to make massive investments in the space, while Facebook did a complete metaverse-themed rebrand. In the crypto space, metaverse tokens have appeared among the best performing coins on the markets, with altcoins like Axie Infinity (AXS), The Sandbox (SAND), and Decentraland (MANA) vastly outperforming Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2021.

The post A Quarter of All People Will Spend an Hour a Day In The Metaverse In Four Years appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The digital yuan (eCNY) is currently being offered to athletes and foreign visitors to Olympic Village in Beijing, as well as cash or Visa cards. The rollout is the most prominent pilot program for the digital currency since the country began exploring CBDCs in 2019.

The emergence of a digital yuan for public use was first hinted at in early 2020 when the Chinese government conceded plans to develop an eCNY before this year’s Olympics. The digital yuan links a person’s phone number to transactions taking place on an application, and also has the capability to transfer between users by tapping phones. The eCNY is legal tender and can be exchanged through QR or bar codes without banks or intermediaries.

In a recent blog post, Di Gang, deputy director of the People’s Bank of China’s Digital Currency Research Institute, said,

“The world has entered a stage of rapid integration and development of digitalization, the role of digital technology has been widely recognized by the whole society, and has developed rapidly in the financial industry. In the era of modernization and intelligence, the relationship with the real economy has developed from assistance, support, and empowerment to integration, originality, and ubiquity.”

Image via Shutterstock

From across the pond, US officials are worried that the rising power of China is getting the upper hand on a technology that will inevitably become an important pillar of financial systems.

Writing to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Senator Pat Toomey said that the eCNY has the potential to subvert sanctions, facilitate illicit money flows, enhance China’s surveillance capabilities, and give Beijing a “first mover” advantage on the technology.

Toomey request that the Treasury and State Departments examine the eCNY to determine the the following:

1. How the digital currency was distributed, user experience, and the extent of
knowledge about the underlying source code, including the potential for ulterior
motives, censorship features, or security flaws;
2. Strategies employed to advance eCNY adoption by Chinese and non-Chinese
persons, including possible coercion of foreign companies;
3. eCNY adoption rate by foreigners compared to Chinese citizens, types of and total
amount of eCNY transactions;
4. To what extent employees of non-Chinese governments, including the United States,
transacted in the digital yuan;
5. User and transaction data Beijing was able to access and how such data is collected
and managed;
6. If the CCP discontinued eCNY access to punish, intimidate, or censor any user.

As it stands, US authorities have explored a federal backed digital currency, but haven’t given a timeline on a launch, or taken a specific stance on the subject. Last month, the Fed released a report weighing out the pros and cons of digital currencies and the implication of a digitized financial system. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is also collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the design of a digital dollar, which they claim can process 1.7 million transactions per second. However, solid plans for a federal backed USD stablecoin still show little signs of materializing in the near future.

The post China Debuts Digital Yuan At Olympics appeared first on Coin Bureau.

First introduced in 2020, the Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act is an amendment to the Internal Revenue Service’s tax code, and has been resurfaced by Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.) and Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)

“Gross income of an individual shall not include gain, by reason of changes in exchange rates, from the disposition of virtual currency in a personal transaction… The preceding sentence shall not apply if the gain which would otherwise be recognized on the transaction exceeds $200,” the bill says.

The bill’s contents contrast with current tax laws that stipulate that all transactions that result in gains must be taxed as income.

Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, a non-profit crypto advocacy organization, said,

“Today you have to keep track of and report every transaction you make using them, whether it’s a $10,000 investment trade or whether you’re buying a 99¢ song online or a latte at a cafe…This obviously creates friction and puts cryptocurrencies at a disadvantage relative to other digital payment methods.”

Image via Shutterstock

Not only will the bill “create a alevel playing field for digital currencies,” Brito says that it will also “help unleash innovation on applications like micropayments, which can consist of dozens of transactions per minute and thus are difficult to square with the current law.”

DelBene, the face behind the bill says that antiquated rules pertaining to virtual currency don’t take into account “its potential for use in our daily lives,” instead treating crypto like securities.

“However, virtual currency has evolved rapidly in the past few years with more opportunities to use it in our everyday lives. The U.S. must stay on top of these changes and ensure that our tax code evolves with our use of virtual currency. This commonsense bill cuts the red tape and opens the door to further innovations, ultimately growing our digital economy.”

The post US Officials Reintroduce Tax Relief Bill For Small Crypto Transactions appeared first on Coin Bureau.

GameStop revealed early on Friday it would be teaming up with Immutable X (IMX) for the marketplace, using the Ethereum-based network as a layer-2 partner for the project. The partnership established an up to $100 million fund in Immutable X’s IMX tokens which both parties will also use to for grants to creators of NFT content and technology.

GameStop said the terms of the partnership provide for Immutable X to contribute up to $150 million in IMX to GameStop “upon achievement of certain milestones.”

The video game chain hinted an interest in the NFT space last year when posted a flurry of different job postings looking for engineers, marketers, and product heads for Web3 and NFT marketplace-related responsibilities.

Image via Shutterstock

Immutable X touts itself as “limiteless exchange protocol” that allows for zero gas fees, zero custodial risks, and a massive throughput of 9,000 transactions per second, all under the security of Ethereum. Immutable X aims for every transaction to also be carbon neutral by paying for its own carbon offsets.

GameStop joins other prominent companies in the gaming industry attempting to get a grip on the NFT and blockchain space. Last month, tech giant Microsoft bought up Activision in a move to embrace the metaverse.

“This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse,” the technology giant said.

Other gaming companies like EA have treaded a bit more cautiously, possibly in the face of widespread anti-NFT sentiment in gamer culture. EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that “collectibility” was important for EA games, but didn’t specifically say what he meant.

“Whether that’s a part of NFTs and the blockchain, well, that remains to be seen,” he said. “The way we think about it is: we want to deliver the best possible player experience we can. We’ll evaluate that over time, but right now it’s not something that we’re driving hard against.”

The post GameStop Announces Plans for NFT Marketplace appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In declining the IRS’ refund, the couple hopes to force the government provide clarity on taxes relating to crypto staking.

Josh and Jessica Jarrett of Nashville, Tennessee, were first offered the refund in December of last year from their Tezos stake which began in 2019, according to a court filing.

Josh Jarrett said that it appeared the government “didn’t want to defend the position” that tokens generated through staking are considered taxable income.

“At first glance, this seemed like great news,” Josh Jarrett said. “But until the case receives an official ruling from a court, there will be nothing to prevent the IRS from challenging me again on this issue. I need a better answer.”

Image via Shutterstock

With most of the crypto space in need of both regulatory and tax clarity, many investors will be looking at the case as possible evidence that moving forward, the IRS won’t be taxing tokens generated through staking until it gets sold.

The Proof of Stake Alliance (POSA), a crypto advocacy group, said in a statement that they supported the Jarretts’ decision because it could give millions of other crypto investors long sought after clarity on staking-related taxes.

“POSA, and the broad coalition it represents, applauds Jarrett’s decision to continue his lawsuit. He has rejected the IRS’s offer of a refund, opening up the possibility of a court ruling that will give him, and millions of other taxpayers in the same position, the ability to confidently plan for the future. The importance of this issue has been raised by many, including Coin Center, the Blockchain Association, and several Members of Congress.”

The post Investors Wait for Outcome of IRS Crypto Staking Case appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In its latest conference call, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai hinted that blockchain and augmented reality could be integrated into applications like YouTube or Google Maps.

“Any time there is innovation, I find it exciting, and I think it is something we want to support the best we can…The web has always evolved, and it’s going to continue to evolve, and as Google, we have benefited tremendously from open-source technologies, so we do plan to contribute there.

There’s several areas of interest. [Augmented reality] is a big one at the computing layer. We’ve been investing there for a long time and will continue to play a role… not just at the computing layer, [but] the services layer, Maps, Youtube, Google Meet etc. will contribute a lot…”

Image via Shutterstock

Regarding Web 3, Pichai says the tech leader is “definitely looking at blockchain and such as an interesting and powerful technology with broad implications, so much broader than any one application.”

“So as a company we are looking at how we might contribute to the ecosystem and add value,” he said.

“Just one example: Our cloud team is looking at how they can support our customer’s needs in building and transacting and storing value and deploying new products on blockchain-based platforms.”

The CEO said Alphabet will “definitely be watching the space” and supporting it when possible.

“Overall I think the technology will continue to evolve and innovate and we want to be pro-innovation and approach it that way.”

Pichai’s optimism towards the world of blockchain come after fellow tech giant Microsoft made a big investment in the metaverse, and Google subsidiary YouTube hinted at integrating non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

“We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalize on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs, while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube,” Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki said.

The company’s earnings exceeded analyst expectations, with fourth-quarter revenue of $75.33 billion, an increase of 32% from the same period a year prior. Profits rose by one-third.

“Technology will continue to evolve and innovate, and we want to be pro-innovation and approach it that way,” Pichai said.

The post Alphabet Exploring Blockchain Technology for Main Products and Services appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a new statement from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs – the UK’s main tax agency – the government body says that crypto investors have to determine whether their returns fall under “income” or “capital.” More specifically, HMRC clarifies that investors need to discern whether their “return was earned by the lender/liquidity provider or was the return realized from the capital growth of an asset owned by the lender/liquidity provider”.

HMRC notes that because of the complexity of DeFi systems, this may not always be clear, so the agency gives some factors for crypto investors to look at when determining their tax status. One factor, HMRC says, is whether the return to be received by the lender/liquidity provider was known at the time the agreement is made.

“If the return to be received has been agreed, for example 5% per annum, this would indicate a revenue receipt. If the return to be received is unknown and speculative (and could result in a loss from the activity), this would indicate a capital receipt.”

Image via Shutterstock

In addition, HMRC asks investors to look at whether their returns were paid out periodically or throughout the period of lending/staking. The agency says that a one-off payment is more likely to have the nature of capital, while recurring payments are more likely to be income.

Executives from CryptoUK, the country’s ​​self-regulatory trade association for the industry, made a statement regarding the new updates.

Executive director Ian Taylor characterized the new tax guidance update as “inconsistent” with regulatory frameworks put forth by other authorities in the UK.

“This treatment of crypto lending and staking creates an unnecessary burden for any crypto investor who will now be required to include details of any lent assets (in certain cases inaccurately determined to be ‘disposed’) on their tax returns.”

Taylor noted that the nature of DeFi will probably mean that investors will have to report “hundreds or even thousands of transactions.”

HMRC also says that returns made through staking and DeFi lending can’t be considered as traditional “interest” since private digital currencies are not considered legal tender in the UK.

“The guidance highlights the issue around the fact there is no standardized operating model for DeFi lending platforms, making it necessary to consider the terms and conditions offered by the platform on which the tax treatment will follow,” Ben Lee, a tax director specializing in crypto assets at U.K.-based independent accountancy practice PKF Francis Clark told Bloomberg.

“If you are unaware of the terms and conditions on your platform of choice, it is recommended you check them as there may be unwanted tax complications,” he said.

The post UK Tax Regulator Updates Guidance on Staking and DeFi Lending appeared first on Coin Bureau.

First analyzed by malware expert 3xp0rt, “Mars Stealer” appears to be an enhanced version of the Oski Stealer malware which surfaced in late 2019. Just 95kb in size, the malware is an information-stealing program that can steal data from any web browser, including popular crypto wallet extensions, before disappearing from the victim’s device.

It also has the ability to grab two-factor authentication (2fa) codes, which many crypto holders rely heavily on to protect their bags.

According to a report from BleepingComputer, Mars Stealer can “exfiltrate files from the infected system and relies on its own loader and wiper, which minimizes the infection footprint.”

So far, the malware is known to be a threat to Google Chrome, Brave Browser, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and at least 30 other internet browsers and applications. It is also known to circumvent Google Authenticator, Authy, Trezor Password Manager and multiple other 2FA apps.

TronLink, MetaMask, Binance Chain Wallet, Yoroi, Nifty Wallet, Math Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, Guarda, EQUAL Wallet, Jaxx Liberty, and many other crypto extensions are vulnerable to Mars Stealer and crypto wallets like Bitcoin Core, Exodus, Binance and Coinomi are all susceptible to hacks in addition.

3xp0rt

Mars Stealer is currently available for $140 on Russian-speaking dark markets, making the barrier to entry relatively low.

According to 3xp0rt, the malware also allows attackers to retrieve the following information:

• IP and country
• Working path to EXE file
• Local time and time zone
• Language system
• Language keyboard layout
• Notebook or desktop
• Processor model
• Computer name
• User name
• Domain computer name
• Machine ID
• GUID
• Installed software and their versions

3xp0rt said:

“Mars Stealer it’s an improved version of Oski Stealer. Have been added anti-debug check, crypto extensions stealing, but outlook stealing is missing. The code has been refactoring, but some algorithms remained stupid as in Oski Stealer. Here you can read detailed Oski Stealer analysis from CyberArk.”

The post New Malware Targets Metamask And 40 Other Crypto Wallets appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking on the What Bitcoin Did podcast with Peter McCormack, Woo says BTC’s bull market remains intact, and that traders looking for more capitulation to the downside will probably be forced to enter higher.

“Structurally, on-chain, it’s not a bear market setup. Even though I would say we’re at peak fear. No doubt about it, people are really scared, which is typically… an opportunity to buy.

You don’t often get this kind of pullback without it relief-bouncing even. You don’t sort of slide, slide, slide and then capitulate. We’ve come down from $69,000 to $33,000. It’d be hard pressed to capitulate from $33,000 down to say, $20,000, because that’s like retracing something like the 2018 bear market over two and a half months instead of a year right.”

Image via Shutterstock

Despite currently being 45% down from its all-time highs, Woo says that “structurally, [Bitcoin] is very very strong,” and that the bearish price action is mostly driven by derivatives traders.

“Demand started to come back, and the hodlers that were slightly being just dispirited by the futures traders selling down have stopped selling. They’re rebounding now, and there’s accumulation coming.

Woo suggests that whales – Bitcoin holders with more than 1,000 BTC – are starting to pile into the market, and that many of them are “potentially institutional investors” who are “starting to flip over to buying…

They peaked their selling in December, so you could say institutions were selling down in December, which is kind of a part of their normal cycle – they sell down, they redeploy in January.”

Another hallmark of bear markets that Woo says isn’t present is when newbies become the majority of coin holders. Unlike the bear run of 2018, Woo says this is currently not the case.

“The 2018 bear was at peak new guys holding the coins, and the cycle repeats. Those guys either sell or the ones that don’t become hardened hodlers and they sell on the next rally when it goes even higher.”

The post Willy Woo says On-Chain Bitcoin Fundamentals Screaming Bullish appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The bill defines “legal tender” as “Any medium of exchange that is authorized by the United States Constitution or Congress for the payment of debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.”

It defines Bitcoin as:

“Bitcoin means the decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency in which a record of transactions is maintained on the Bitcoin blockchain and new units of currency are generated by the computational solution of 21 mathematical problems and that operates independently of a central bank.”

Rogers, who was appointed to the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Study Committee late last year, says that Bitcoin will be good for everyone, including businesses.

The Arizona Senator didn’t stop at suggesting BTC as legal tender. After the bill on Friday started circulating, Rogers cooked up two more pro-crypto bills which were released early Tuesday.

Image via Shutterstock

The SB 1127 bill proposes state agencies provide a method to accept crypto payments for fines, civil penalties or other penalties, rent, rates, taxes, fees, charges, revenue, financial obligations and special assessments to pay any amount due to the agency or the state of Arizona.

In this bill, “cryptocurrency” is defined as “any form of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of monies, operating independently of a central bank.” The bill references by name Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

The second bill, SB1128, ostensibly aims to make crypto exempt from taxation. However, the bill notes that in order for this law to come into affect, the Constitution of Arizona would need to be amended.

“This act does not become effective unless the Constitution of Arizona is amended by vote of the people at the next general election to exempt virtual currency from property tax.”

The post Arizona Senator Proposes Law to Make Bitcoin (BTC) Legal Tender appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The Indian government has announced a plan to tax income from cryptocurrency and non-fungible token (NFT) transactions by 30%. The country’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman also proposed a 1% tax deduction on payments related to crypto purchases.

“No deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance shall be allowed while computing such income except cost of acquisition. Further, loss from transfer of digital asset cannot be set off against any other income… Gift of virtual digital asset is also proposed to be taxed at the hand of the recipient.”

The finance minister said that the sheer volume of transfer of digital assets meant it was “imperative” to create a specific tax regime on the space.

Image via Shutterstock

Simultaneously, Sitharaman announced plans for launching its central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to the finance minister, a digital rupee could be issued “using blockchain and other technologies” and will be launched by the Royal Bank of India at some point during this year or 2023.

“Introduction of a central bank digital currency will give a big boost to digital economy. Digital currency will also lead to a more efficient and cheaper currency management system,” she said.

“The biggest development today was a clarity on crypto taxation. This will add the much needed recognition to the crypto ecosystem of India. We also hope to this development removes any ambiguity for banks, and they can provide financial services to the crypto industry. Overall, it’s a good news for us, and we will need to go through the detailed version of the budget to understand the finer details, ” Nischal Shetty, Founder and CEO of Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX told The Indian Express.

The news from India, the second-largest country by population in the world, comes after ongoing fears of a blanket-ban on cryptocurrencies. In January of 2021, the government said it would put forth a bill that would ban all private crypto assets while creating a sovereign digital currency.

The post India Introduces 30% Tax On All Crypto Income appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) wrote in an announcement that it would be calling on 164 different government entities across 15 zones to promote the development of blockchain technology and infrastructure.

Development will take place in fields “determined by local and departmental recommendations, expert review, and online publicity,” per the note.

The pilot programs will include development in areas like state-run data sharing, education, trade finance, energy, law enforcement, taxation, criminal trials, and equity markets.

“All pilot units (regions) should give priority to adopting blockchain software and hardware technologies and products that are interoperable and capable of sustainable development; actively guide blockchain applications to develop in the direction of value, scale, and industrialization; accelerate relevant technologies and application standards; encourage pilot units (regions) to carry out in-depth cooperation with research institutions, leading enterprises, experts and scholars in related fields, and strengthen the cultivation and training of talent teams.”

Image via Shutterstock

The CAC said that various government bodies will organize “relevant units and experts” to provide guidance on the planning and construction of the pilot.

China’s interest in blockchain technology contrasts against its hard stance against cryptocurrency. In September, the country issued a blanket-ban on all crypto-related transactions, coinciding with a 23% correction in Bitcoin (BTC).

“Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities,” the People’s Bank of China said, warning it “seriously endangers the safety of people’s assets”.

Despite the crypto ban, the Chinese government is also taking a hard look at the non-fungible token (NFT) space.

At the beginning of this year, the Blockchain Services Network (BSN), a state-owned blockchain company, announced plans for rolling out infrastructure that would allow individuals and businesses to mint, buy and sell NFTs.

He Yifan, CEO of Red Date Technology, a company giving technical support to BSN, said that while NFTs are mainly being used for digital art, the biggest market will be in certificate management, such as car license plates or school diplomas as it is “revolutionary database technology” that differentiates different parties’ access to data.

“In NFT-based vehicle plate management, the car owner, government and insurer each have access to data such as mileage, engine number and repair history, and each is aware of the others’ rights, He said.”

The post Chinese Government Launches Nationwide Initiative to Develop Blockchain Technology appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to a report from CoinDesk, Coinbase plans on allowing withdrawals of SPL, which is “Solana Program Library,” Solana’s version of Ethereum’s ERC-20s.

Four people familiar with the matter told CoinDesk the news with one of them adding that Solana-native USDC would be among the supported assets. No other crypto assets were revealed.

CoinDesk’s sources said that the features could come online in the near future, but no timeline was given.

Image via Shutterstock

Up until now, Coinbase has only offered Ethereum tokens and bigger layer-1 altcoins like Algorand (ALGO) and Cosmos (ATOM).

The move would be in line with the exchange’s stated goal of listing as many new crypto assets as possible this year, with the only real hurdle being regulatory compliance.

In a recent blog post, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the exchange aimed to “list every complaint asset possible.”

“In our ideal world, Coinbase would simply list every asset that met the requisite legal and cybersecurity standards, while giving our customers as much information as possible to make educated investment decisions. Being listed on our exchange would not be considered an endorsement; it would simply be an indication that the asset had met our listing standards.”

Prominent SPL tokens include Serum (SRM), Raydium (RAY) and Star Atlas (ATLAS).

The post Coinbase To List Crypto Assets from Solana Ecosystem appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In Apple’s latest earnings call, a Morgan Stanley representative asked Cook if he was “thinking about the Metaverse opportunity and Apple’s role in that market.”

Cook said:

“Well, that’s a big question, but we’re a company in the businesses innovation so we’re always exploring new and emerging technologies and I’ve spoken at length about how it’s very interesting to us right now. We have over 14,000 AR Kit apps in the App Store which provide incredible AR experiences for millions of people today. So we see a lot of potential in this space and are investing accordingly.”

In a potential reaction to Cook’s words, Apple’s stock spiked in after hours trading, though APPL has mostly closed the gap since today’s open.

Image via Shutterstock

Cook’s hints are only the latest in a wave of tech giants eyeing up the metaverse.

Earlier in the month, Microsoft purchased gaming titan Activision for $95 a share in a $69 billion cash deal. In a statement, Microsoft said the acquisition was meant to “accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.”

Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella said “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

Meanwhile, social media giant Facebook dedicated an entire rebrand to the metaverse, changing its name to ‘Meta’ and putting a huge focus on the blossoming space. According to Business Insider, Meta has almost made $3 billion in sales on its new metaverse.

In July, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said:

“We will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.”

The post Apple CEO Tim Cook Hints At Metaverse Investment appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to a report from Barron’s, President Biden will issue a memorandum that assigns certain government bodies to research and create a regulatory framework for crypto, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and stablecoins.

A source familiar with the situation said:

“This is designed to look holistically at digital assets and develop a set of policies that give coherency to what the government is trying to do in this space.”

Barron’s source said that there was a focus on “harmonizing” regulations on a global scale to create synchronization among countries that all have different stances on the sector.

Government entities expected to be involved are The State Department, Treasury Department, Council of Economic Advisers, National Economic Council, and the White House National Security Council.

Image via Shutterstock

Barron’s report comes after a series of rumors in past weeks regarding the White House moving to regulate crypto. Last week, Bloomberg reported that the Biden Administration planned to release a “government-wide strategy” on digital assets as soon as next month.

“Meanwhile, the directive would also require other agencies to weigh in — carving out roles for everyone from the State Department to the Commerce Department. Some of those tasks will be meant to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive as the world increasingly adopts digital assets.

The administration’s plan, including the directives in the order, could be further modified before it’s finalized, the people cautioned.”

The Federal Reserve also released a full report weighing out the pros and cons of digital money and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) last week. The central bank didn’t take a direct position on CBDCs, but had a generally open-minded outlook on their implications.

“As such, [a CBDC] could provide a safe foundation for private-sector innovations to meet current and future needs and demands for payment services. All options for private digital money, including stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies, require mechanisms to reduce liquidity risk and credit risk.”

The post White House Reportedly Planning Crypto Regulation As Matter of ‘National Security’ appeared first on Coin Bureau.

BTC rallied substantially leading up to the meeting before losing most of its gains after it was confirmed that relentless money printing may end or at least slow down, perhaps in March.

In the words of the Fed:

“With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate.”

The US dollar index (DXY) is ripping on the news, currently at levels not seen since June 2020. The S&P 500 is currently trading at $4,400, attempting to hold onto the 50-week exponential moving average (EMA).

However, many investors are taking an “I’ll believe it when I see it” stance on the Fed’s hawkish tone. As Bitcoin analyst Michael Schmidt points out, the Fed has been warning about tapering for some time, yet its bond purchases keep climbing steadily.

“All talk, no taper. Taper is Vapor.”

FairFreeDigital/Twitter

Meanwhile, the Fed’s balance sheet remains in a strong uptrend.

Real Vision Group CEO Raoul Pal also said recently that rate hikes aren’t always the end of the world for markets, and that the Fed could still ultimately flip dovish at the last second.

“Nothing to freak out about… Interest rate rises are almost never negative for the market. What’s negative for the market is when the yield curve inverts and we hit a recession. That’s when markets go down and stay down for an extended period of time. We’re nowhere near that yet. The yield curve is, however, starting to flatten every day which is suggesting that the Fed can’t really raise rates, certainly maybe not past June…”

Bitcoin remains close to 50% down from its all-time high as BTC bulls begin to hope for a more nuanced and elongated cycle, and bears look for a break of the $30,000 level where some see the neck of a head and shoulders pattern.

The post Bitcoin Reacts to FED Meeting As Rates Likely To Change In March appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to the exchange’s press release, FTX.US locked in new funds from a group of blue chip investors to help it expand its U.S presence, and “further establish itself as the largest crypto exchange in the US” while adhering to strict regulatory compliance and supporting “emerging regulations of crypto spot and derivatives markets.”

Among its investors are Japanese tech investment giant Softbank, Singaporean state holding company Temasek, and the Ontario Teachers Union from Canada.

FTX US president Brett Harrison said the company expects crypto have more influence over the financial system in the US as the regulatory environment matures.

“As lawmakers and regulators continue to develop a US regulatory framework for digital assets, we expect crypto to play a much larger role in the broader financial landscape in 2022 and beyond. We’re excited to continue working cooperatively with them, and feel confident that FTX US will emerge as the leading US-regulated crypto spot and derivatives exchange.”

Image via Shutterstock

FTX has been on an aggressive campaign to corner the US market. The exchange gained naming rights to NBA basketball team Miami Heat’s stadium in April, and in June the league signed off on a $135 million partnership. Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX founder and CEO made a point to donate much of the money to Florida’s social programs.

“In the end, it’s not my passion for sports that matter,” Bankman-Fried said. “It’s what we can do for the business and the county and the team and the partnership that matters.”

FTX also sponsorship deals with the Golden State Warriors, esports platform TSM, and Formula One (F1) racing team Mercedes-AMG Petronas.

The entire FTX empire, including FTX.US, is estimated to be valued at $25 billion at the time of writing.

The post FTX US Makes $8 Billion Valuation In Latest Funding Raise appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Writing in a blog update, Wojcicki says the company is looking further ahead into the future with a focus on utilizing Web3 as a source of inspiration for how to innovate for YouTube.

The CEO says that the world of crypto, NFTs, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), has “highlighted a previously unimaginable opportunity to grow the connection between creators and their fans.”

“We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalize on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs, while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube.”

Other than Wojcicki’s somewhat vague statement, no specific details on YouTube’s venture into NFTs have been revealed.

Image via Shutterstock

YouTube is the second-most visited site on the internet and its parent company Google joins a growing group of other tech giants dipping their toes into crypto and NFTs.

According to a recent report from The Financial Times, Meta’s Facebook is also working on plans to let users mint their own non-fungible tokens, display real NFTs in their profile photos, and sell NFTs to other users.

The Times’ sources also said that Meta is discussing launching a complete marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs, with a “prototype” in the works. The effort is still in its early phases and subject to change.

Social media giant Twitter rolled out a new NFT feature last week, as well. Users who are on iOS and willing to pay $2.99 a month can mint an NFT and display it as a hexagonal profile photo. This move came months after Twitter launched its own “Twitter Crypto” team to help rollout a “decentralized social media.”

gm!

You asked (a lot), so we made it. Now rolling out in Labs: NFT Profile Pictures on iOS pic.twitter.com/HFyspS4cQW

— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) January 20, 2022

Tess Rinearson, head of the team, said it would be working alongside Bluesky, Twitter’s effort for decentralized social media platform.

“And, of course, we’ll be working closely with the Bluesky team to help shape the future of decentralized social media (and to make sure that Twitter stays on the cutting edge of this new landscape, too!).

Twitter Crypto will underpin all of this work, and serve as a ‘center of excellence for all things blockchain at Twitter. We’ll be hiring for roles in engineering and product. If this sounds exciting, please get in touch!”

The post YouTube Could Introduce NFTs, According to CEO Letter appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Bloomberg says that the tech titan’s plans for Diem, its attempt at a USD-backed stablecoin, are unravelling due to mounting regulatory pressure.

Bloomberg’s sources, who asked not to be named since the proceedings are not public, said that Diem is discussing with investment bankers how to best sell off their intellectual property, plus reallocate the engineers who all contributed to developing the technology. The Diem Association also wants to return capital back to its original investors.

After changing the project’s name from Libra to Diem, Meta’s Facebook then enlisted the help of Silvergate Capital Corp to help issue Diem, but the association says that the Federal Reserve Bank dealt the final blow in preventing the project from coming to fruition.

Image via Shutterstock

Facebook’s ambitions also faced pressure from US lawmakers who publicly called for the tech giant to disband its plans for both Diem and its newly developed wallet, Novi. Five senators including Elizabeth Warren said that Facebook couldn’t be trusted to manage a global payment system because of the company’s allegedly unethical practices in the past.

“Time and again, Facebook has made conscious business decisions to continue with actions that have harmed its users and the broader society. Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient. We urge you to immediately discontinue your Novi pilot and to commit that you will not bring Diem to market.”

While Diem appears to be disintegrating, Facebook’s Novi wallet is still under development, though its desire to utilize Diem will presumably change should plans for the stablecoin be abandoned. Currently, Novi uses Pax Dollar (USDP), but ultimately had plans to graduate to Diem.

Meta has made no public comment on the situation.

The post Facebook Giving Up On Stablecoin Project? Execs Looking to Sell Assets appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a January 20 press release, South Korea’s Ministry of Science announced a pan-government strategy on the metaverse as part of the country’s “Digital New Deal 2.0” initiative.

“This strategy will help South Korea to better respond to disruptive innovation and emerging new technologies, and be prepared for the future.”

Lim Hyesook, minister of the government branch, said:

“[The] metaverse is an uncharted digital continent with indefinite potential. Anyone can realize their dreams. In particular, [the] metaverse will become a place where the youth can take up more challenges, grow and leap forward [into] a greater world. The Ministry will [make sure] to implement the diverse support strategies faithfully, so that [South Korea] can become a leading global metaverse country.”

Image via Shutterstock

South Korea’s metaverse strategy will focus on four main subjects, according to the announcement.

• Reinvigorate the metaverse platform ecosystem, and foster an environment for the metaverse platforms to grow.
• Nurture experts and talent in the metaverse field, and provide people with opportunities to access the metaverse without regional restrictions, and to participate in a variety of metaverse events.
• Nurture leading companies specialized on the metaverse. To this end, metaverse infrastructure like demonstration facilities and diverse types of funds will be provided.
• Create an exemplary metaverse world. This includes setting ethical principles for the metaverse so as to prevent unethical and illegal conducts while protecting digital assets and copy right. The government will also strive to address the digital divide among people by providing metaverse education to the digitally marginalized people.

In a recent report, economics professor at Dongguk University Park Sun-young told Forkast that the country’s gaming and popular culture are its main advantages in the metaverse race.

“Korea’s content industry, such as entertainment, movies and drama series, are gaining global popularity,” he said. “As NFT is inevitably intertwined with intellectual property, the current global popularity of Korea’s content market will be advantageous.”

The post South Korea Aiming to Control the Metaverse appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Noting a blossoming ecosystem in the crypto space, Blankfein told CNBC in an interview that while digital assets have been hard to wrap his head around, he’s recently decided to be more “pragmatic” about them.

“I remember when a couple of decades ago, thirty years ago, maybe more… they were auctioning of bandwidth for cellphones, and I’m thinking ‘Why would anyone want to carry around a phone?’ I mean there’s tens of thousands of phone booths around the country, at that time they were like backpacks. Well, guess what? That worked.

The point I take is, I can’t predict the future but I think it’s a big thing to be able to predict the present, like ‘what is happening?’ And I look at the crypto and it is happening, and so again, as an intellectual matter I can’t think differently but as a pragmatist and someone who’s skeptical not only of the market but skeptical of my own views and trying to get on board and acknowledge things… Strange things that I think are strange actually happen.”

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Blankfein referred to Bitcoin as a “bubble” in 2017, and as recently as January 2021, warned that regulation would bring the crypto markets crashing down. Now, Blankfein says that while the crypto markets have “lost a lot of value,” they still have “trillions of dollars of value contributing to it and a whole ecosystem growing around it.”

“Of course, we have the benefits of instantaneous transfer and so reduction of credit risk and all the benefits of blockchain… I may be skeptical but I’m also pragmatic about it and so guess what? I would want to have an oar in that water.”

While Blankfein has taken a more open-minded stance on crypto, current JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon maintains his well-known critical stance.

“Cryptocurrency has no intrinsic value,” Dimon told CBS in November. “You are basically buying a token.

.. there’s so much speculation taking place in stocks and securities and crypto and stuff like that. I would be very careful,” he said.

The post Former Goldman Sachs CEO Admits ‘Crypto is Happening’ appeared first on Coin Bureau.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is down over 51% down from its all-time high while Ethereum trades 55% down. All other majors are down 25-50% in the last seven days, according to data from CoinGecko.

While the carnage in digital assets goes on, NFT sales surged over 25% since last week. At one point earlier today, NFT sales were up closer to 90% week-on-week before cooling off slightly, according to cryptoslam.io.

Currently, total NFT sales in January are coming in at $9,061,963,684, way up from December 2021’s total of $2,492,547,201.

Image via Shutterstock

The blockchain leading by a long shot as far as volume is Ethereum, recording over $4.2 billion in sales over the last seven days. After Ethereum, $31 million has been recorded on Ronin while $21 million in volume was seen on the Solana network.

NFT projects on the leaderboard include Meebits, Terraforms, and Loot, with $1.7 billion, $1.4 billion, and $446 million in sales respectively. Terraforms in particular has grown over 136% in the last seven days.

As far as all-time sales, Axie Infinity (AXS) remains the winner with $3,913,408,793 in sales, albeit at current ETH prices. Axie Infinity, highly popular in the Philippines, also boasts over 2.9 million owners.

While NFTs have remained strong, NFT-related cryptocurrencies have felt the wrath of the correction. Axie Infinity (AXS), The Sandbox (SAND), and Decentraland (MANA) are all down over 40% in the last seven days, according to CoinGecko.

The post NFTs See Massive Growth Despite Crypto Market Downturn appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg says that federal agencies have been tasked with weighing out the risks and benefits of digital assets in a series of meetings which will be used to issue an executive order.

Per the report, the late-stage draft of the executive order details “economic, regulators, and national security challenges posed by cryptocurrencies,” according to people who asked not to be named who are in participating in the deliberation. It would also “call for reports from various agencies due in the second half of 2022.”

Bloomberg says that one study would come from the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a top regulatory agency in Washington consisting of federal and state regulators, as well as an independent insurance expert appointed by the President. An additional government report will look at illicit use cases for “virtual coins.”

Image via Shutterstock

“Meanwhile, the directive would also require other agencies to weigh in — carving out roles for everyone from the State Department to the Commerce Department. Some of those tasks will be meant to ensure that the U.S. remains competitive as the world increasingly adopts digital assets.

The administration’s plan, including the directives in the order, could be further modified before it’s finalized, the people cautioned.”

Bloomberg’s report highlights Washington’s continued effort to shine the spotlight on cryptocurrencies. Last week, the Federal Reserve released a highly anticipated report on digital assets detailing the pros and cons of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and the rise of digital money.

Though no direct positions were taken by the Fed, it did present a generally open-minded outlook on the digitization of the financial system.

“As such, [a CBDC] could provide a safe foundation for private-sector innovations to meet current and future needs and demands for payment services. All options for private digital money, including stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies, require mechanisms to reduce liquidity risk and credit risk.”

The post Biden Administration To Publish Government Strategy On Crypto appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Meta, formerly Facebook, is reportedly working on plans to let its users mint their own non-fungible tokens, display real NFTs in their profile photos, and sell NFTs to other users, according to those familiar with the matter who spoke with the Times.

The Times’ sources also said that Meta is discussing launching a complete marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs, with a “prototype” in the works. The effort is still in its early phases and subject to change.

The move puts an exclamation point on Meta’s continuous efforts to cash in on the rise of the new digital economy.

Meta originally came out with Diem, its own USD-backed stablecoin, but stalled on its effort to roll it out after facing backlash from both the public and lawmakers. It launched a pilot version of Novi, its new crypto wallet late last year as well, and while it utilizes Pax dollar (USDP), the company said it still aimed to use Diem once regulatory issues were sorted out.

Image via Shutterstock

Meta has also been filing various patents that appear to indicate an attempt to get a foothold on technologies that help it dominate the metaverse. First reported by The Financial Times, the firm has patents that indicate it wants to use biometric data to create a realistic digital avatars using virtual reality or augmented reality. Another patent filed in December for a “mechanical eyeball 100,” which is said to be a “robotic eye designed to resemble a [human] eye.”

Meta, which is the biggest social media company in the world with control over ​​Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, joins fellow tech giant Microsoft in its foray into NFTs and the metaverse.

Microsoft acquired gaming giant Activision in a $69 billion deal. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said gaming would be one of the key elements that would “play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

“This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.”

The post NFT Trading Comes to Facebook and Instagram: Report appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In the report, the Fed doesn’t take a hard stance on digital currencies, but does take an elaborate look at how stablecoins and CBDCs could benefit an increasingly digital global financial system. The report does not reveal any plans to create a US digital dollar, nor any hints at doing so.

According to the Fed, a dollar-backed CBDC would “would offer the general public broad access to digital money that is free from credit risk and liquidity risk.”

“As such, it could provide a safe foundation for private-sector innovations to meet current and future needs and demands for payment services. All options for private digital money, including stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies, require mechanisms to reduce liquidity risk and credit risk.”

At the same time, the Fed says that all the available mechanisms so far “are imperfect,” and that the adoption of digital money could present risks to both individuals and the financial system at large.

Image via Shutterstock

One of the challenges of creating a digitized financial system, according to the Fed, is the fact that 5% of U.S households remain completely unbanked, and an additional 20% are banked but rely on costly financial services such as money orders, check-cashing services, and payday loans.

The report points to an effort by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to create a Special Committee on Payments Inclusion, which is a a public-private sector collaboration that is working to promote access to digital payments for vulnerable populations.

The Fed says that “cryptocurrencies have not been widely adopted as a means of payment in the United States,” and that they remain subject to extreme volatility, are difficult to use without service providers, and have “severe limitations on transaction throughput.”

“Many cryptocurrencies also come with a significant energy footprint and make consumers vulnerable to loss, theft, and fraud.”

The report opens up the discussion of digital assets to the people, and invites stakeholders and the public to ask or answer questions on the topic. Some of the questions include:

• What additional potential benefits, policy considerations, or risks of a CBDC may exist that have not been raised in this paper?
• Should a CBDC be legal tender?
• Should a CBDC pay interest? If so, why and how? If not, why not?

The post Fed Finally Releases Full Report on Digital Assets appeared first on Coin Bureau.

First appearing on CoinDesk, Pantera partner Paul Veradittakit elaborated on a set of predictions in the firm’s latest newsletter.

Veradittakit predicts that a wave of adoption will push Ethereum to its limits, exacerbating network congestion and gas fees. This will ultimately bode well for optimistic and zero-knowledge (ZK) rollups, according to Veradittakit.

“Both optimistic and ZK rollups (a smart contract that takes hundreds of transactions off the main blockchain and bundles them into a single transaction) will gain even more traction in the coming year, with optimistic rollups likely to dominate in the short term while ZK rollups, which are much more technically complex, advance as a long-term scalability solution.”

Veradittakit also predicts a surge in activity among Ethereum competitors like Solana, and expects the SOL ecosystem to continue taking market share away from its big brother.

Noting how Ethereum had 97% of all DeFi aggregate total value locked (TVL) at the beginning of 2021, and then lost more than 34% of that, the investor predicts the trend will continue in favor of competitors like Solana which has “unparalleled transaction throughput.”

“Recent activity in the Solana community, including the launches of massive funds for decentralized social media and gaming, suggests that the ecosystem will continue to grow immensely in the coming year.”

Pantera Capital

Form Veradittakit’s perspective, these trends will all lead to an acceleration of layer-1 chain adoption, and the fostering of “a truly robust, diverse multi-chain crypto ecosystem.”

The Pantera executive believes that the broad scope of Web3 can be boiled down to “technologies that prioritize user ownership of data and/or assets and interoperability between distinct applications.”

Based on this narrative picking up massive steam over 2021 – especially through NFTs – Veradittakit predicts that in 2022, we’ll see more projects “expand the scope of on-chain ownership, allowing users to have full, functional control over their identity and holdings in the digital world.”

Pantera Capital manages roughly $5 billion in assets, and its CEO Dan Morehead recently said a slew of different altcoins had immense potential in 2022, including Terra (LUNA) and Polkadot (DOT).

“I think we’re all coming to the conclusion that there won’t be just one blockchain in the future. There will be you know maybe 10 or 20 very important blockchains. And so Polkadot will help you move value from one to the other, and their first DeFi protocols are going live in the first quarter so we’re very excited about it.”

The post Pantera Capital Makes 2022 Predictions on NFTs, Layer 2s, and Ethereum Competitors appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Secret Network is a delegated proof-of-stake blockchain that supports an ecosystem of secrecy-preserving decentralized applications (dapps). Part of the ecosystem includes a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol called Secret Swap which features a defense mechanism against front-running.

The project aims to combine Ethereum’s smart contracts, Monero’s privacy, and Cosmos’ interoperability and scalability.

“Secret Network improves upon traditional smart contracts by supporting encrypted inputs, encrypted outputs, and encrypted state for smart contracts – data privacy for sensitive information stored on the blockchain.”

Secret Network recently announced a $400 million fundraising round from investors like DeFiance Capital, Alameda Research, CoinFund, and HashKey.

Image via Shutterstock

Arthur Cheong, CEO at DeFiance capital referred to Secret Network as “the only privacy-by-default smart contract blockchain,” with “groundbreaking technologies like front-run resistant DEXes, Secret NFTs and more.”

“The Secret team has been relentless in working towards their mission since Enigma and we think that the ecosystem is now ready to tackle the next phase of growth.”

Brian Lee, partner at Alameda Research, said that Secret Network was a “first mover” and market leader in solving privacy issues for Web3 applications.

According to the announcement, $225 million was acquired for the purpose of expanding the network’s application layer, and another $175 has been allocated to an accelerator pool, which aims to “provide non-dilutive capital, grants, and ecosystem incentives to rapidly expand user adoption.”

Secret Network is joining a controversial sector of the crypto markets. While many crypto investors take privacy seriously, some see a distinction between it and anonymity. Privacy coins are also under the scope of authorities. The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently offered a hefty cash reward for anyone who could crack Monero (XMR), the ‘OG’ of privacy cryptos.

“IRS-CI (Criminal Investigation) is seeking a solution with one or more Contractors to provide innovative solutions for tracing and attribution of privacy coins and Layer 2 off-chain transactions, such as expert tools, data, source code, algorithms, and software development services to assist their Cyber Crimes agents in carrying out their mission as it relates to cryptocurrency privacy technologies. These should support one of the outlined initiatives on Monero or Layer 2 network protocol transactions, or other cryptocurrency obfuscation technologies.”

The post Secret Network Doubles in a Month, Sees $400 Million In Funding appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Pavia, named after the city where Italian mathematician Gerolamo Cardano was born, kicked off land sales in late 2021. There are a total of 100,000 lots in the whole Pavia metaverse, and more than 60,000 have already been sold. They are available for anyone except US and UK residents due to “regulatory uncertainty.”

Land parcels can be bought in Pavia using ADA, Cardano’s native token. At the time of writing, the cheapest plots of land can be purchased for around 800 ADA, or about $1,144. However, the most expensive parcel in Pavia is currently priced at 58,425 ADA, or about $83,547.

A complete list of Pavia’s land can be viewed on the Cardano NFT marketplace CNFT.

The parcels in Pavia currently have no content, and are empty plots of land that investors appear to be speculating on based on the virtual world’s first-mover advantage on the Cardano network.

opencnft.io

The native token in Pavia is PAVIA, of which 25% was airdropped to Pavia NFT holders after the blockchain snapshot in December 2021, the project explained in a blog post.

“In an ecosystem before DeFi and fully functioning Decentralised Exchanges (DEXs) the tokens along with a small number of other native assets are being actively traded on mueseliswap.com which operates a basic, yet functional, order matching system.”

Cardano has enjoyed a much needed boost in activity in its ecosystem. Along with Pavia, Sundae Swap, the first Cardano-powered decentralizaed exchange (DEX), announced its planned launch for the 18th.

The DEX features yield farming, and 500,000 SUNDAE will be allocated each day over the first six months of operation to farmers participating in the liquidity pools.

During the flurry of catalysts in the Cardano ecosystem, ADA defied crypto markets rallying from the $1.10 mark all the above $1.60 in less than two weeks while most other large cap coins traded downward or sideways.

The post Cardano Metaverse Project Pavia sees Virtual Land Grab appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Activision is the company behind massive hits like “World of Warcraft,” “Diablo,” “Overwatch,” and “Call of Duty” which are all included in the acquisition.

Microsoft will acquire Activision for $95.00 a share in an all-cash transaction totaling $68.7 billion. Once the deal closes, Microsoft will become the third-biggest gaming company in the world by revenue after Tencent and Sony.

“This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse,” the technology giant said in an announcement.

According to Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella, “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

“We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

Image via Shutterstock

Microsoft notes how mobile gaming dominates the industry, and how it plans on putting more of a focus on it following the acquisition.

“Mobile is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile. Through great teams and great technology, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will empower players to enjoy the most-immersive franchises, like ‘Halo’ and ‘Warcraft,’ virtually anywhere they want. And with games like ‘Candy Crush,’ Activision Blizzard´s mobile business represents a significant presence and opportunity for Microsoft in this fast-growing segment.”

The combined clout of Microsoft and Activision bodes well for metaverse critics who believe the sector has merit, but feel that the working products such as Axie Infinity (AXS) feel clunky or underdeveloped.

In November of last year, crypto giant Gemini raised $400 million in an effort to build a metaverse in their own vision, one that opposed the centralized path plotted out by Facebook.

Cameron Winklevoss said, “There’s these two parallel paths, in terms of technology right now.”

“There’s a centralized path, like Facebook or Fortnite, that is one step away from being a metaverse, and that’s totally fine. But there is another path, which is the decentralized metaverse and that’s the metaverse where we believe there’s greater choice, independence and opportunity, and there is technology that protects the rights and dignity of individuals.”

The post Microsoft makes a Metaverse Move, Buys Activision for $69 Billion appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Earlier this week, Sundae Swap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Cardano, announced it was ready to go and planning on launching this Thursday.

The launch features five rounds of ISOs available for ADA stakers taking palace on January 25th, January 30th, February 4th, February 9th and February 14th.

The DEX will also feature yield farming. 500,000 SUNDAE will be allocated every day over the first six months of the exchange’s operation to yield farmers pariticipating in the liquidity pools.

Sundae Swap explained in a blog post that its going with a Beta label because:

“While the DEX’s smart contracts have been fully audited and the DEX will meet all industry standards for security, the implementation of fully decentralized governance will not be immediately possible due to existing transaction size limits on the Cardano blockchain.”

ADA has responded well to the news, launching 14% in 24 hours after the announcement. Adding to the hype is Pavia, the first Cardano-based metaverse.

Pavia.io

Pavia, named after the city that Italian mathemetician Gerolamo Cardano was born, started selling land parcels in late 2021. There are 100,000 lots in the whole Pavia metaverse, and 60,000 have already been sold. They are available for anyone except US and UK residents due to regulatory uncertainty.

The native token in Pavia is PAVIA, of which 25% was airdropped to Pavia NFT holders after the blockhain snapspot in December 2021, the project explained in a blog post.

“In an ecosystem before DeFi and fully functioning Decentralised Exchanges (DEXs) the tokens along with a small number of other native assets are being actively traded on mueseliswap.com which operates a basic, yet functional, order matching system.”

ADA is currently up 30% in the last seven days while most of the market is either down or sideways.

The post Cardano Takes Off On DEX Launch, ADA Up 35% In a Week appeared first on Coin Bureau.

EIP-1559 replaces the first-price auction fee structure with a base fee that gets included in the next block. It also includes a priority fee to speed up processing. The base fee is burnt thereafter. 0.27% of all MATIC is estimated to be burnt each year under the upgrade.

According to Polygon’s announcement, the burning takes place in a two-step system whereby it starts on the Polygon network, and then completes on Ethereum. A public interface where users can monitor the burning process will be launched momentarily.

The upgrade won’t lower fees paid for transactions, as gas fees are determined by demand on the network, but they are expected to allow users to more accurately estimate costs and avoid overpaying.

“Users of decentralized apps (dApps) on Polygon, which already enjoy some of the lowest fees in the industry, will benefit from more predictable gas prices. The downsides are fewer MATIC tokens available because of the burn and a gas fee curve more similar to that of Ethereum. Developers will receive a boost by having all of their Ethereum tooling work seamlessly and face minimal adverse effects.”

Image via Shutterstock

According to Polygon, the upgrade will create deflationary pressure which will benefit both validators and delegators, whose rewards for processing transactions denominated in MATIC. However, validators will only be getting the priority fee in the future as opposed to the total amount of fees.

Since base fees increase automatically when the block is full, Polygon says that “the changes will result in fewer spam transactions and lead to less network congestion.”

A more technical overview of how the upgrade is being implemented can be read here.

Polygon is currently the 14th biggest cryptocurrency by market cap. Priced at $2.14 with a market capitalization of $14.6 billion, MATIC is up nearly 6200% over the last year, one of the best performing crypto assets in the top 100.

The post Polygon Activates EIP-1559 Upgrade, MATIC Starts Burning appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In its latest “Blockchain User Behavior Report,” DappRadar finds that NFTs more or less ignored the dip in the overall crypto market, instead seeing a surge in new trading activity.

“NFTs were hardly affected by the dip in cryptocurrencies; the number of trades continued to increase constantly, while the UAW connected to Ethereum NFT dapps grew by 43% since Q3 2021.”

According to the research, Asia’s footprint is now the driving force behind the NFT user base and its adoption. The firm says China is now the country with most extensive user base with more than 204,000 people showing up in DappRadar’s traffic, a 166% increase from November. Traffic is also growing in Indonesia and India, with both countries doubling its numbers, according to the report.

“The Asian market continues to increase its footprint within the industry overall. With a high interest in blockchain games and the potential for NFTs, the Asian region is undoubtedly one to closely monitor.”

DappRadar

DappRadar says that the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) was largely influenced by macroeconomic factors, while the rise of NFTs basically followed its own path and had its own macro events that affected its marketplace independently. Based on the firm’s data, the same can be said for blockchain gaming.

“Last year, we witnessed blockchain games’ rapid surge and adoption thanks to narratives like the play-to-earn or the metaverse. Like in NFTs, these trends externally affect their users and how they behave. In this case, the positive sentiment around these two narratives makes people want to participate in blockchain games.”

DappRadar says that we can observe a clear phenomena where NFTs and blockchain gaming behave independently from factors that affect the industry in a general manner such as global crypto trends. Its research suggests that while the NFT and crypto gaming sectors already performed amazingly in 2021, “it appears that the trend will continue.”

“While the price of cryptocurrencies is volatile by nature, the adoption, volumes, and usage of blockchain games and NFTs have only increased constantly. It will be interesting to see whether maturity in both spaces will generate sensitivity to the price of their underlying tokens.”

The post GameFi and NFTs Remain Strong Despite Crypto Decline: DappRadar Report appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The retail giant filed several trademarks near the end of last month that indicate their intention to create a new cryptocurrency, plus a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace.

One filing describes trademarks that encompass several use cases of NFTs and digital currencies, including:

• “Provision of an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of downloadable digital art images authenticated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs).”
• “Providing an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of digital currency assets: providing an online marketplace for buyers and seller of downloadable and non-downloadable art, music, documents, sounds, games, and images authenticated by non-fungible tokens.”

“They’re super intense,” Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney told CNBC.

“There’s a lot of language in these, which shows that there’s a lot of planning going on behind the scenes about how they’re going to address cryptocurrency, how they’re going to address the metaverse and the virtual world that appears to be coming or that’s already here.”

Image via Shutterstock

In a statement to CNBC, Walmart declined to disclose any specifics, but said it is “continuously exploring how emerging technologies may shape future shopping experiences.”

“We are testing new ideas all the time,” the company said. “Some ideas become products or services that make it to customers. And some we test, iterate, and learn from.”

Commenting on the avalanche of different companies getting into NFTs, such as clothing giants like Adidas, Under Armour, and Louis Vuitton, or musicians like Kings of Leon or Shawn Mendez, Gerben said that big enterprises are starting to react to the growth of the space.

“All of a sudden, everyone is like, ‘This is becoming super real and we need to make sure our IP is protected in the space,’” said Gerben.

The post Walmart Launching Its Own Cryptocurrency and NFT Marketplace appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Brett Harrison, FTX US president tweeted out that the exchange was looking at offering “actual vanilla stocks” (as opposed to tokenized stocks) on its platform.

“We’re hard at work on stocks! Features we’re planning for day 1:

-Live BBO and historical candles
-Stock screening/search functionality
-Basic fundamentals (market cap, P/E ratio, dividend yield)
-Portfolio performance tracking, order/trade details

What else should we have?”

Brett Harrison/Twitter

The crypto exchange will reportedly be ready to roll out the new service in “a couple of months.” Whether FTX looks at becoming an official exchange rather than just a brokerage remains to be seen.

Bitstamp, one of the longest running crypto exchanges, is also looking at the same thing. Bitstamp chief executive officer Robert Zagotta told Bloomberg that providing stock trading would create a streamlined experience for the exchange’s users, but it’s a “very competitive space, and there are some very significant players in it,” Zagotta said. Such a move would require significant investments, so “we have to be convinced that we have a right to win in this space,” he said.

If Bitstamp follows through on its plans, Zagotta said that the firm may build the product in-house, with partners, or consider acquisitions which “can be an accelerator from a licensing perspective.”

Bloomberg said they also asked Binance if it was considering the same thing. A Binance spokesperson reportedly said it’s “going to remain laser-focused on developing leading blockchain technologies for our users and expanding into markets that more naturally compliment blockchain’s future.”

According to Motley Fool, the largest stock trading platform in the world is Charles Schwab, followed by Fidelity, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Robinhood.

News of the crypto exchange’s talks on expansion comes days after Coinbase acquired derivatives platform FairX.

The post FTX and Bitstamp Explore Expansion Into Stock Trading appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Writing in a note to Business Insider, BofA analyst Alkesh Shah said that Solana could continue to take market share from Ethereum due to its more user-friendly design.

Shah said that the valuation gap between Solana and Etheruem presents an opportunity for SOL, as its differentiation is “proving successful.” BofA’s note reportedly highlighted Solana’s lower transaction fees, ease of use, and potential for scalability compared to other cryptocurrencies.

“These innovations allow for the processing of an industry-leading ~65,000 transactions per second with average transaction fees of $0.00025, while remaining relatively decentralized and secure,” Shah explained.

With the 5.7 million NFTs minted on the Solana network, plus 400 different projects current running on it, Shah says the fifth largest crypto asset by market cap is showing signs of “significant adoption” and the potential for more. He says Solana can become the “Visa of the digital asset ecosystem” with its optimized structure for micropayments.

Image via Shutterstock

“These innovations allow for the processing of an industry-leading ~65,000 transactions per second with average transaction fees of $0.00025, while remaining relatively decentralized and secure,” Shah explained.

The analyst suggested that Ethereum’s priciness and lesser ability to scale compared to Solana could mean that it gets designated for “high-value transactions and identity, storage and supply chain use cases,” while Solana gets used for micropayments.

While known for sacrificing some decentralization compared to Ethereum and weathering multiple DoS attacks since its launch, Solana is still nearly 30,000% up from its lows of May 2020. SOL currently trades for $149 at the time of writing.

The post Solana Could Become The ‘Visa of Crypto’: Bank of America appeared first on Coin Bureau.

With plans to launch in the spring, Visa wants to build an on-ramp, or a “sandbox” for central banks to mint CBDCs using Consensys’ Quorum protocol.

Visa and Consensys will utilize a “two-tier” distribution system for CBDCs where central banks can use Quorom to set the coin’s monetary attributes, and then use Visa’s payment channels to distribute it to financial institutions.

“Visa’s CBDC Payments Module is designed to provide an on-ramp for CBDC to existing payment networks, so that CBDC networks can easily connect to traditional financial service providers. For banks and issuers processors, they’ll be able to plug into the module and integrate their existing infrastructure and be enabled to do things like issue CBDC-linked payment cards or wallet credentials for consumers to use,”

said Catherine Gu, Visa’s Head of CBDC.

Image via Shutterstock

“The next two to three years will be critical” in understanding the role CBDC will play in payments systems in the future, she said. “The key challenge is understanding how new forms of money can coexist with existing means of payments and existing systems.”

Data from The Atlantic Council suggests that 87 countries representing 90% of the world’s GDP are exploring CBDCs in some shape or form. In the US, conversations are ongoing but there is no clear roadmap.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in his nomination hearing that a full report on digital currencies – presumably primarily CBDCs – was ready to go and would be coming in the next few weeks.

“It was hard and we didn’t get it quite to where we needed to get it but it’s effectively there now and I will tell you it’s within weeks we will be publishing it.

And by the way, it’s more going to be an exercise in asking questions and seeking input from the public rather than taking a lot of positions on various issues, although we do take some positions.”

The post Visa Teams Up With Consensys to Build Technology for CBDCs appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a new blog post, Coinbase says that a well-regulated derivatives market is critical for the long-term success of investors looking to get a foothold in the evolving crypto economy.

“Today, we’re announcing the acquisition of FairX, a CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange or Designated Contract Market, which represents our next step toward creating the robust and holistic trading environment investors are seeking. Through this acquisition, we plan to bring regulated crypto derivatives to market, initially through FairX’s existing partner ecosystem…

FairX brings a world-class team with deep expertise across product development, market structure, and compliance to Coinbase. Its market-leading exchange technology and proven ability to deliver listed futures in a straightforward, easy-to-understand structure, aligns with Coinbase’s commitment to creating a more fair, accessible, efficient, and transparent financial system enabled by crypto.”

Image via Shutterstock

Coinbase says it plans to leverage the platforms infrastructure to offer derivatives services to its US clients, and aims to make the market “more approachable” for Coinbase users.

In the summer of last year, crypto exchange FTX acquired derivatives platform LedgerX with a similar strategy, and Crypto.com also acquired derivates exchange Nadex.

FTX President Brett Harrison said that with the acquisition, the exchange was following an increased demand for derivatives coming from retail traders.

“There’s a huge amount of interest both in the institutional and the retail side in trading crypto derivatives, and given FTX international’s success in the crypto derivatives market it’s only natural that we would eventually want to enter that market here in the U.S. as well,” Harrison said.

Currently, US regulators only allow for derivatives contracts in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), so Coinbase will presumably only start with the two largest crypto assets by market cap, similar to FTX.US’ offerings.

The post Coinbase Acquires Derivatives Exchange FairX appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In its report titled “Cryptic Connections: Spillovers between Crypto and Equity Markets,” the IMF says that the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies could pose financial stability risks given their volatility, high amounts of leverage, and financial institutions increasing direct and indirect exposure to them

“Because of the relatively unregulated nature of the crypto ecosystem, any significant disruption to financial conditions driven by crypto price volatility could potentially be largely outside the control of central banks and regulatory authorities.”

The IMF’s research finds an increasing interconnectedness between crypto and traditional markets. For example, the organization finds that the correlation between Bitcoin’s price volatility and the S&P 500 has increased by four-fold. Similarly, Bitcoin’s contribution to the variation in the S&P’s volatility is estimated to have gone up by 16%.

“For returns, the pattern is similar, with a significant increase in the correlation between Bitcoin and S&P 500 returns, as well as in the spillovers from Bitcoin returns to S&P 500 returns.”

IMF

The financial institution also brings up the classic argument against Tether (USDT) in regards to whether or not its reserves are sufficiently backed by dollars.

“While it is interesting that stablecoins such as Tether could play a risk diversification role, other potential risks exist, including that they may not be fully backed by reserves in certain times and the high observed failure rate of these digital currencies.”

The IMF suggests that the increased interconnectedness between crypto and traditional finance means that regulators can no longer afford to give the “light touch” strategy for overseeing them. The organization says that crypto regulations need to be strengthened in order to accommodate to the space’s rapid expansion into traditional markets.

The IMF’s research comes after a long history of giving “TradFi warnings” against crypto, including a report in October that highlighted things like stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi).

“Challenges posed by the crypto ecosystem include operational and financial integrity risks from crypto asset providers, investor protection risks for crypto assets and DeFi [decentralized finance], and inadequate reserves and disclosure for some stablecoins.”

The post Crypto and TradFi Merging As One, According to the IMF appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking at a hearing for his re-nomination to be Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Powell was asked by Senator Mike Crapo from Idaho about when to expect the previously mentioned report.

“The report really is ready to go and I would expect we will drop it, I hate to say it again, in the coming weeks, but it really is in a situation where it’s ready to go,” Powell said, adding the Fed digital dollar could coexist with private stablecoins.

“It was hard and we didn’t get it quite to where we needed to get it but it’s effectively there now and I will tell you it’s within weeks we will be publishing it.

And by the way, it’s more going to be an exercise in asking questions and seeking input from the public rather than taking a lot of positions on various issues, although we do take some positions.”

Powell’s hearing came on the same day that Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer ominously tweeted out a hint that new legislation would be coming out in regards to digital currencies.

New digital currency legislation coming soon

— Tom Emmer (@RepTomEmmer) January 11, 2022

While an overly regulated crypto-environment isn’t preferred by the industry, clarity in generally would likely be welcome. Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was criticized last week for declining to say whether or not Ethereum (ETH) was a security.

“I’m not going to speak to any one matter,” Gensler said in an interview with CNBC. “I’m the chair of a five-member commission that’s also a civil law-enforcement agency, so we don’t get involved in these types of public forums talking about any one project, one possible circumstance, and give legal advice over the airwaves.”

Gensler’s comments come after a series of rhetoric over the past year stating that many cryptocurrencies are unregistered securities, and of course the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs for allegedly issuing XRP as such.

Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal also spoke up against the SEC’s lack of clarity last year when the regulator prevented the crypto exchange from releasing it’s Lend platform.

“The SEC told us they consider Lend to involve a security, but wouldn’t say why or how they’d reached that conclusion.”

The post Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says Report on Digital Currencies Ready to Go in Coming Weeks appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to the legendary hedge fund manager, “unconfiscatable” Bitcoin is an insurance policy against inflation, chaos, or government seizures of gold and other assets. He views each Bitcoin as a share in an insurance company.

“When we pulled out of Afghanistan, Western Union stopped remittances so if you couldn’t get money and it’s still hard to get money into Afghanistan, you were in serious trouble. In Lebanon, the [pound] has completely collapsed. Venezuela is a failed state. Yet Bitcoin continues right along. That was your insurance policy against one sort or another.”

Miller believes Bitcoin is a technology in its early stages of mass adoption, much like the printing press, railroads, or automobiles once were. He says that the top crypto asset is following a “well-understood” path for the adoption of new technologies.

Miller, who beat the S&P 500 every year between 1991 and 2005 while leading Legg Mason Capital Management, says that Bitcoin is best thought of as digital gold. But unlike the yellow metal, Bitcoin won’t be affected by any government seizures.

“Right now, it’s best thought of as digital gold. Gold, as people have said a store of value for 5,000 years. And gold is what people typically fled to when the governments tried to inflate them out. In the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt confiscated everybody’s gold in 1933. You had to turn it in or you went to jail. They can’t confiscate your BItcoin. If you hold it securely, as long as you have an internet connection you can send it somewhere instantaneously at very low costs.”

He also points out that unlike gold where the supply can be affected by the demand, Bitcoin’s hard cap supply of 21 million BTC will stay put regardless of price.

As for the other 50% of his portfolio, Miller says  he has the rest of his capital in Amazon stock (AMZN).

The post Billionaire Investor Says Bitcoin is an Insurance Policy appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The platform, built by NFT-focused platform-as-a-service company Xooa, will feature an initial collection of photography from current and former AP journalists and a variety of digitally enhanced versions of their work.

The media company is marketing its NFT platform as a way for photojournalist enthusiasts to get a piece of historic moments captured by AP. For example, one of the first photos that will be released as an NFT by AP is this Pulitzer-Prize winning photo of a Jewish settler pushing up against Israeli security officers in the West Bank, taken in 2006.

AP says that each NFT will come complete with a “rich set of original metadata offering collectors awareness of the time, date, location, equipment and technical settings used for the shot.” Profits will go towards funding more AP journalism.

Dwayne Desaulniers, AP’s director of blockchain and data licensing said,

“For 175 years AP’s photographers have recorded the world’s biggest stories through gripping and poignant images that continue to resonate today. With Xooa’s technology, we are proud to offer these tokenized pieces to a fast-growing global audience of photography NFT collectors.”

The marketplace will support transactions through card payments, as well as crypto wallets like MetaMask, with support for Fortmatic, Binance, and Coinbase to come later.

AP says the NFTs will be minted on Polygon, which they describe as “an environmentally friendly, Ethereum-compatible layer two solution.”

In October, AP announced it would be launching a node on Chainlink (LINK) to cryptographically verify its news data and make it available on leading blockchains.

“Chainlink technology is the ideal way to provide smart contract developers anywhere in the world with direct, on-demand access to AP’s trusted economic, sports, and race call data”, Desaulniers said.

“Working with Chainlink allows this information to be compatible with any blockchain. The open-source software is reliable, secure, and widely used across leading blockchain networks.”

The post Associated Press to Launch New NFT Marketplace Using Polygon appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a statement to Bloomberg News, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s senior vice president of crypto and digital currencies, said that the payments giant was exploring stablecoins with regulation in mind.

“We are exploring a stablecoin; if and when we seek to move forward, we will of course, work closely with relevant regulators.”

The possibility of PayPal launching its own coin was first discovered by iOS developer Steve Moser who found elements of a “PayPal Coin” built into the company’s app source code.

A spokesperson for PayPal said that the code in the app came from a recent “hackathon,” or an event where engineers team up to quickly build new products that may never see a public release — within the firm’s blockchain, crypto and digital currencies division. According to the spokesperson, this means the ultimate logo, name and features could end up changing.

Image via Shutterstock

In a November interview on the Unchained podcast, Fernandez da Ponte initially hinted on the firm creating a stablecoin, but said regulatory clarity was still an issue.

“The technology getting ready and especially in terms of security, throughput and scalability is one aspect. The other aspect is that there is clarity on the regulation… There would have to be clarity on the regulation, the regulatory frameworks, and the type of licenses that are needed in this space,” he said.

PayPal isn’t the first US tech giant to be looking at launching their own stablecoin. Facebook – now called Meta – launched the pilot program of its Novi wallet which utilizes Pax dollars (USDP). However, Facebook Financial (F2) chief David Marcus said that once the unicorn manages to get the green light from regulators, it’ll be aiming to use its own stablecoin called Diem.

“I do want to be clear that our support for Diem hasn’t changed and we intend to launch Novi with Diem once it receives regulatory approval and goes live. We care about interoperability and we want to do it right.”

Diem aims to be pegged to a basket of fiat currencies rather than just the USD, and has faced harsh criticism from US lawmakers. Senators Brian Schatz, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Sherrod Brown, and Tina Smith, all wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging him to shut down the project.

According to the senators,

“Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient. We urge you to immediately discontinue your Novi pilot and to commit that you will not bring Diem to market.”

The post PayPal Looking At Launching New Stablecoin appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Krug says that the explosion in competitors are unlikely to have success in dethroning the Ethereum blockchain.

“If you roll the clock forward 10 to 20 years, a very sizable percent, maybe even north of 50%, of the world’s financial transactions in some way, shape or form will touch Ethereum.”

Assuming that the Ethereum network can smoothly transition to proof-of-stake, Krug believes that competitors will eventually rely on it as a base layer, and cease to be real threats to ETH’s supremacy.

“There’s too many trade-offs other chains are making that Ethereum is not making on the decentralization side that are pretty important,” Krug said, noting security concerns. “I don’t know if they’re best suited to be the new global financial settlement layer.”

Pantera’s CEO Dan Morehead, an early Bitcoin investor who oversees the $5.2 billion firm, has his eye on multiple Ethereum rival altcoins for 2022. In a recent interview Morehead said Polkadot (DOT) would be one of the more promising cryptocurrencies this year.

“And it’s growing at a very very rapid rate. We think it’s one of the most promising coins for the coming year. So many people are just discovering it and just starting to trade it. It has a $31 billion market cap, so it still has plenty of room it can grow.”

Image via Shutterstock

The CEO is also looking at Terra (LUNA) to perform well this year, partially based on its prominence in the South Korean gaming market.

“I think we’re all coming to the conclusion that there won’t be just one blockchain in the future. There will be you know maybe 10 or 20 very important blockchains. And so Polkadot will help you move value from one to the other, and their first DeFi protocols are going live in the first quarter so we’re very excited about it.”

Grayscale Investment’s head of research Dave Grider told Bloomberg that “all boats can be lifted” in the crypto sector, noting how Ethereum competitors performed incredibly in 2021.

“I don’t think it’s this winner-take-all type of market… Ethereum has this lead-of-a-network effect. It has this large community, but other ones have emerged that fill different market voids.”

The firm already offers a Solana investment fund, and is looking at offering other products based on Ethereum rivals, according to the report.

The post 50% of All Financial Transactions Ethereum-based Within Ten Years appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a new blog post, the crypto billionaire lays out “Multidimensional EIP-1559”, and mentions how different resources and functions of the Ethereum network demand different amounts of gas, yet all of them are bundled together. Therefore, the same amount of gas is being used for different requirements, and Ethereum users are often paying more than the network technically requires them to.

Buterin admits the EVM is forcing “sub-optimal” gas prices on users.

“Shoehorning all resources into a single virtual resource (gas) forces the worst case / average case ratio to be based on usage, leading to very suboptimal gas costs when the usage-based ratio and the ratio of the burst and sustained limits that we know clients can handle are very misaligned.”

Image via Shutterstock

While Buterin lays out mostly non layman-friendly math equations, the proposal boils down to two main solutions using ‘multi-dimensional’ fee structure.

The first proposal would be to calculator gas costs for each resource individually by dividing the base fee of one unit of a resource by the base gas price.

The second proposal is to set a base fee for resources but including a burst gas limit rather than having fixed fees. This solution also includes “priority fees’ which would be based on a percentage.

Buterin’s proposal comes months after EIP-1559, which restructured Ethereum’s fee structure to burn a portion of gas fees rather than sending them to miners. While it was hoped that the fork would also lower gas fees, that hasn’t materialized yet.

The Ethereum founder’s proposal is still in a discussion phase, and it’s unclear whether or not it will end up being implemented.

The post Vitalik Buterin Proposes New Ethereum Fee Structure appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to the Fed’s minutes from its December meeting, “expectations for a reduction in policy accommodation shifted forward notably” among participants, and that rate hikes may end up coming sooner than expected.

The minutes stated:

“Participants generally noted that, given their individual outlooks for the economy, the labor market, and inflation, it may become warranted to increase the federal funds rate sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated.

Some participants also noted that it could be appropriate to begin to reduce the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet relatively soon after beginning to raise the federal funds rate. Some participants judged that a less accommodative future stance of policy would likely be warranted and that the Committee should convey a strong commitment to address elevated inflation pressures.”

As co-founder and former CEO of BitMEX Arthur Hayes put it, “the money printer ain’t going BRRR” anymore.

Based on the likelihood of rising interest rates hurting future cash flows, Hayes says the Fed’s policy is a “setup for a severe washout,” adding that he thinks speculators and investors will end up having to dump “or severely reduce their crypto holdings.”

“I do not doubt that the faithful diamond hands will continue to accumulate as prices plummet. However, in the very short term, this dry powder will not be able to prevent a calamitous fall in prices at the margin.”

Image via Shutterstock

On the flip side, some analysts point out that markets tend to have a delayed reaction to Fed rate hikes, and that an imminent crash of the crypto and stock bull market may not be a reality for quite sometime after the initial raising of rates.

As veteran crypto analayst Jordan Lindsay of JCL Capital says,

“Raising rates and quantitative tightening do not cause a stock market crash for some time.

Last round it took 4 and 2 years respectively. That’s four years after rate hike cycle began and two after QT [quantitative tightening]…

Expect volatility around time of hike but markets to continue risk on for some time afterwards.”

If Lindsay is correct, a rate hike in 2022 may not negate the possibility of a cycle peak in the spring time that many other analysts have been projecting for a long time. However, for the time being, Bitcoin is still in a downtrend and most altcoins are well over 50% down from their highs.

Kyle Davies, co-founder of billion-dollar crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, is also laid back as Bitcoin threatens to break $40,000.

I have meditated for three weeks, no Twitter, only prayer. I have seen the future. And it does not include Bitcoin dying.

Rise like a phoenix from the ashes, the $BTC bottom is in.

— Kyle Davies (@KyleLDavies) January 7, 2022

The post Why Bitcoin and Crypto Are Crashing (Hint: It’s the Fed) appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a note to Bloomberg, JPMorgan analysts led by ​​Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou say that Ethereum’s DeFi dominance is at risk of being further eroded as more competitors start to enter the space.

According to the analysts, Ethereum’s Sharding process will be the “most critical” development for scaling its network. Until its completed, the bank says Ethereum will remain vulnerable to its rivals.

The “optimistic view about Ethereum’s dominance is at risk,” Panigirtzoglou wrote. Scaling, “which is necessary for the Ethereum network to maintain its dominance, might arrive too late.”

The analysts also point out Etheruem’s waning dominance in total value locked (TVL) within DeFi platforms.

JPMorgan/Bloomberg

Panigirtzoglou adds that a “rather problematic” aspect of Ethereum’s situation is that it’s losing market share mostly to independent blockchains, rather than those that rely on the Ethereum network for their security.

JPMorgan said that the chains gaining the most of Ethereum’s market share are Terra (LUNA), Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Avalance (AVAX) and Solana (SOL), which have all been receiving large amounts of funding and using incentives to boost their usage.

“In other words, Ethereum is currently in an intense race to maintain its dominance in the application space with the outcome of that race far from given, in our opinion,” according to the note.

The future of Ethereum’s dominance over DeFi is debated, but currently, the bank’s theory is being supported by price performance of other layer-1 chains.

Last month, Arcane Research released a list of predictions for 2022, which included layer-1 Ethereum competitors continuing to outperform ETH throughout the year.

“We expect this trend to continue in the upcoming year as these other smart contract platforms continue to steal market share from Ethereum in terms of users and the amount of funds stored on the network. These networks have thriving and fast-growing ecosystems that continuously drive the price performances of their native tokens.”

Arcane Research

The post Ethereum DeFi Dominance Not a Given: JPMorgan appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The service, called Aave Arc, is a decentralized liquidity market that will require all participating instutionts to abide by anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.

The first institution on board for the new pool is Fireblocks, who will also act as a whitelisting agent for the Aave Arc service. Since Aave is not a regulated entity, it can’t perform AML and KYC laws the same way a bank or institution does. Institutions wishing to join the pool have to undergo KYC with Fireblocks in order to become a whitelisted supplier, borrower, and/or liquidator on Aave Arc.

Image via Shutterstock

Other entities joining the pool include CoinShares, Anubi Capital, and lending platform Celsius.

According to announcement from Fireblocks:

“While approximately $255.9 billion is currently locked in DeFi, the market has largely remained untapped by institutions due to a lack of support for enterprise-grade risk management and KYC/AML requirements…

Aave Arc looks to usher in this paradigm shift by unlocking secure and compliant DeFi access for financial institutions across the globe.

In general, permissioned protocols like Aave Arc can offer the decentralization benefits of DeFi, while allowing only permissioning (whitelisting) to be more centralized for KYC/AML purposes.”

Aave CEO Stani Kulechov first hinted at the new platform in July of last year as part of a broader vision to help integrate institutions into the DeFi space.

“I think the larger vision of the Aave Arc market is to create a more comfortable risk appetite for institutions to participate in decentralized finance before, for example, having the risk appetite to participate towards the permissionless decentralized finance, which is the bigger vision offering,” said Kulechov.

The post Aave Launches New Liquidity Pool With 30 Institutions Already On Board appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The tech giant is launching an initiative to help reforest Madagascar in an effort to fight climate change and improve the natural environment. Samsung will rely on Veritree, a blockchain-based, Cardano-powered platform meant to provide a toolkit to environmental restoration specialists and help them collect and manage data.

Mark Newton, Head of Corporate Sustainability at Samsung Electronics America, said they would be using Veritree to plant over two million mangrove trees. Mangroves are highly effective carbon sinks. They capture CO2 from the air and then store it in their roots, branches, and the sediment that collects around them, making them one of the more efficient mechanisms for removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

“Samsung’s sustainability journey is an ongoing and multi-faceted one. Investing in tech innovations, such as those that create efficiency improvements and minimize waste, in combination with nature-based solutions, are vital in the fight against climate change… Drawing on our history of open collaboration, we’re teaming up with Veritree for the tree-planting initiative as an added way to contribute to a better global society.”

Image via Shutterstock

According to Samsung’s announcement, Veritree “utilizes blockchain technology to provide Samsung with a fully integrated platform to support field-level data collection, site planning, inventory (tree) management, and impact monitoring.”

Veritree’s system was built to “gather data from day one of tree planting and provide greater transparency into the entire process.”

Derrick Emsley, Co-Founder and CEO of Veritree said, “Our mission is to make it simple to incorporate nature-based solutions into any business model and we’re excited by our strategic partnership with Samsung.”

Really cool https://t.co/O5CdTyVzS4 thanks Samsung!

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) January 4, 2022

The post Tech Giant Samsung to Use Cardano Blockchain for Reforestation Program appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The paper, authored by ARK analyst Yassine Elmandjra and Glassnode researcher David Puell, breaks Bitcoin’s chain into three main categories: Network health, buyer and seller behavior, and asset valuation.

ARK Invest

As per the paper, the bottom layer assesses things like network security, monetary integrity, transparency, and usage. The middle layer looks at wallet addresses to look at things like each holder’s positions and cost basis, while the top later leverages off the two previous layers to provide relative valuation metrics that identify short-term inefficiencies in Bitcoin’s price.

ARK gives three reasons why Bitcoin is the most auditable, open, and transparent blockchains around.

1. Simple Accounting System: In contrast to traditional account-based accounting
systems. Bitcoin’s UTXO-based accounting system makes tracking supply and auditing
monetary policy simple.

2. Verifiable Code: The implementation of Bitcoin’s protocol lives in code that has been
scrutinized more than any other open-source software code.

3. Efficient Nodes: Bitcoin nodes, or volunteer computers running software to verify
the network’s integrity, are much more cost-efficient than alternative cryptocurrency
network nodes.

Other key metrics that the paper focuses on include hash rate, miner revenue, address supply distribution, coin time, HODL waves and more.

ARK says that because Bitcoin doesn’t resemble a traditional financial asset, most investors have trouble analyzing it fundamentally, not realizing that conventional analytical frameworks aren’t suitable.

“The Bitcoin blockchain offers a unique set of tools that investors can leverage to assess its fundamentals. In the same way that a government statistical agency publishes data about a country’s population and economy, or a public company publishes quarterly financial statements disclosing growth rates and earnings, Bitcoin provides a real-time, global ledger that publishes data about the network’s activity and inner economics.

Without central control, Bitcoin’s blockchain provides open-source data, its integrity a function of the network’s transparency. In our view, investors increasingly will appreciate bitcoin’s investment merits through the lens of a completely new framework: on-chain data.”

ARK CEO Cathie Wood predicted in September that Bitcoin would reach a price somewhere around $500,000 within 5 years. She remains a big supporter of BTC and rejects the idea of BTC becoming archaic or out of date. With that said, the hedge fund manager is also bullish on Ethereum and the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.

“Ether, however, is seeing an explosion in developer activity thanks to NFTs and DeFi…I’m fascinated with what’s going on in DeFi, which is collapsing the cost of the infrastructure for financial services in a way that I know that the traditional financial industry does not appreciate right now.”

The post Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Releases Its Own Whitepaper On Bitcoin On-Chain Data appeared first on Coin Bureau.

A crypto analyst by the name of Michael Schmidt has proposed the idea of looking at Bitcoin bull cycles measured in terms of blocks, rather than real-world time.

According to Schmidt’s whitepaper on block-based Bitcoin cycles”

“The problem with using datetime, aka regular human time, to make price predictions on direction of price action and overall market direction (bull vs bear market) is that the datetime is completely disassociated from anything the Bitcoin network actually cares about such as difficulty, bitcoin issuance etc. When price is placed on a block-based X axis, the patterns of the price action become easier to see.”

Using Bitcoin’s blocks to map out what’s next, Schmidt proposes a cycle top for BTC sometime between March 7 and April 7, though that time window can vary due to the fluctuation of block speed.

Tik Tok. #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/pGhYNbhPZX

— Mⓘchael (@fairfreedigital) January 3, 2022

And unlike many analysts, Schmidt doesn’t believe Bitcoin is mature enough that investors can assume diminishing returns are to be expected. According to the analyst’s model, BTC can go anywhere from $302,000 to $633,000 this cycle, with an average price of around $441,000.

Other analysts like TechDev don’t have a particular timeline or hard price target in mind. Instead, he’s waiting for a technical confirmation to play out. In his case, it’s a two-week close above the cycle’s 1.618 Fibonacci level.

“After more research, I’ve come to believe this next (possibly final) impulse will come after a 2W close over the cycle 1.618, as they always have.

If this happens, it may provide a timeline estimate, but it honestly does not matter, and I don’t plan to focus on it.”

TechDev/Twitter

The more conservative Bitcoin predictions for 2022 are somewhere along the lines of $100,000 “at some point.” Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of lending platform Nexo, is calling for six-figure Bitcoin some time before the summer on the back of institutional adoption and corporate treasury allocation.

“Every time investors in the broader community write off Bitocin, it outperforms significantly. This has been the case in 2020 when it rallied close to a thousand percent last year, on top of that it rallied another 63%. I’m quite bullish on Bitcoin. I think it’s going to reach $100,000 this year, probably by the middle of it.”

The post Time For a Bitcoin Rally? BTC Struggles Below $50k As Analysts Debate What’s Next appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Kelly, who is also the CEO of crypto investment management firm BKCM, says that Bitcoin now trading separately from many of the big names in the digital asset space. To get the big gains this year, he’s got his radar locked on the metaverse.

The analyst says he’s been long Decentraland (MANA), Axie Infinity (AXS), and The Sandbox (SAND) “for a while now.”

Starting with Axie Infinity, Kelly says the popular blockchain-based video game has a strong network effect that could bode well for it this year.

“It really came on to the scene this year like gangbusters. And it’s all about network effect. As long as this game continues to grow, the value of the underlying currency [AXS] will grow with that network.”

Image via Shutterstock

Looking at SAND, Kelly says that as The Sandbox’s virtual world grows, the token will “tend to grow with it to service the underlying economy.”

As for Decentraland, the analyst says that the virtual world is a “alot more what we think about when we talk about the metaverse.”

“In Decentraland, you can buy real estate, you can buy shop fronts, you can do a lot of different things virtually. And the currency of that virtual world is MANA…

And again, about network effect, just like Facebook grew, the price of Facebook stock grew. As these networks grow and as these virtual worlds grow, the underlying currency needs to grow to service that underlying economy.“

Each altcoin Kelly is bullish on is already up thousands of percent over the last year, according to data from CoinGecko. In the past 365 days, Axie Inifinity is up 16705.3%, The Sandbox is up 13635.6%, and Decentraland is up 3868.2%.

#Bitcoin went bust this week, but @BKBrianKelly sees three under-the-radar crypto trades that could deliver gains as metaverse hype builds. pic.twitter.com/GhJS4b70g4

— CNBC's Fast Money (@CNBCFastMoney) December 28, 2021

The post MANA, AXS and SAND: CNBC Analyst Brian Kelly Bullish on The Metaverse appeared first on Coin Bureau.

“It allows the algorithmic stablecoins to be built and they have the third most valuable stablecoin UST built on top of it, “ Morehead said.

“And it’s growing at a very very rapid rate. We think it’s one of the most promising coins for the coming year. So many people are just discovering it and just starting to trade it. It has a $31 billion market cap, so it still has plenty of room it can grow.”

In June, Morehead said at a conference that Terra could end up rising to prominence partially through a dominance of South Korea’s gaming market, one of the most important geographies for the industry.

“[Terra] is beginning to gain traction in the South Korean gaming market and that’s one of the leading markets for gaming in the world and so it’s starting to broaden out from stablecoins to much more interesting things,” he said.

Image via Shutterstock

Morehead, who founded Pantera Capital in 2013 to focus purely on digital asset investing, is also eyeing interoperable blockchain Polkadot for this year. He says the firm sees huge momentum with DOT, and makes reference to German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom’s decision to start building on Polkdadot and acquire DOT.

“I think we’re all coming to the conclusion that there won’t be just one blockchain in the future. There will be you know maybe 10 or 20 very important blockchains. And so Polkadot will help you move value from one to the other, and their first DeFi protocols are going live in the first quarter so we’re very excited about it.”

“There was a time when just holding Bitcoin and Ethereum was kind of a good proxy for the industry as a whole,” Morehead said. He points out that, “if someone is going to be converting from something into new things they’re probably selling Bitcoin and Ethereum.”

The post Terra The Most Promising Altcoin of 2022: Pantera Capital’s Dan Morehead appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Based on data in a new report from crypto analytics company Santiment, Cardano led the markets last year with the amount of development activity, closely followed by Kusama (KSM) and Polkadot (DOT).

“As evident, the top 3 projects – Cardano, Kusama and Polkadot are virtually neck and neck, followed by Ethereum at #4 and Gnosis at #5. For the first time on one of these end-of-year development reports, we also have an NFT-centric project in Flow to round out the top 10, highlighting the meteoric growth of the NFT sector in the last year.”

Santiment

Santiment also breaks down Cardano’s development activity by looking at the average daily number of GitHub contributions. By this metric, the firm says Cardano’s lead isn’t even close.

“While the top positions remain unchanged, Cardano now towers above the rest, with an average of 53 daily contributors to their Github repo throughout the last year. The amount of active contributors also sees a few interesting changes within the top 10, which now includes the Trust Wallet Token and Filecoin, to name a few.”

Santiment

In a recent tweet, Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson addressed the statistics and attributed them to his project’s focus on being open source and focused on “hard problems.”

“There’s a reason we’re number one in Github commits it’s not that some person sitting in a warehouse somewhere just randomly clicking a button it’s because there are so many people so much stuff so much effort that’s going on… The work we do is beneficial to everyone it’s patent-free it’s open-source and we as a community are solving the hard problems.”

Santiment also looked at development activity within the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Based on the firm’s data, DeFiChain, followed by Mdex and SifChain claim the top three spots for most amount of development activity within the DeFi segment.

The post Cardano Leads Crypto Markets in Development Activity appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Economist and crypto trade Alex Kruger calls this the “first week of the year effect.”

His optimism mirrors that of Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal who also feels that strong institutional inflows at the start of the year will kick off a rebound for Bitcoin and other crypto assets. It’s been assumed that much of the December selling has come from institutional investors, and when asked about that in an interview this past Monday Pal replied:

“It looks like they’re done because the market has been chopping around for the past week, which was the traditional last week of everybody squaring their books.”

The sentiment appears valid as many of the coins being sold recently were added to wallets in May and June, just when institutional investors were loading up on crypto. And the final weeks of the year are exactly when institutions sell to harvest tax losses, or to boost their yearly returns.

If Kruger and Pal are correct then January could be the strongest month yet for Bitcoin and the broader crypto markets.

The post Historically January is a GREAT Month for Crypto appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The announcement came in the form of a tweet by FTX US President Brett Harrison when he was discussing the steps the exchange is taking to create self-hosted wallets for FTX NFTs and NFT gaming.

FTX US laid the groundwork for offering these services back in October through the acquisition of Ledger Holdings. Ledger Holdings is the parent company of LedgerX, a digital currency futures and options exchange and clearinghouse. Immediately after the acquisition FTX US rebranded the site to FTX US Derivatives.

FTX US has been growing rapidly, with its user count more than doubling in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In terms of NFTs, FTX US was the first exchange-based NFT marketplace to list Ethereum and Solana-based NFTs. That space is becoming increasingly competitive as industry giants Coinbase Global and Binance have also been growing their operations. Coinbase alone has recorded millions of user signups in the weeks after announcing its development of an NFT marketplace.

NFTs will become increasingly important for FTXs business. Just a couple weeks ago the company inked a partnership with the Golden State Warriors professional basketball team. The team is looking to create NFTs and will launch those on the FTX US marketplace. FTX has been quite active in U.S. sports, including sponsorship of the Miami Heat stadium, and purchasing a television ad slot during the U.S. football championship Superbowl game.

The post FTX US Prepares to Offer NFTs, Derivatives, and Tokenized Stocks appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Pal, who previously had way higher hopes for Bitcoin’s performance in the latter half of 2021, thinks BTC’s lackluster price action may have something to do with retail traders having less disposable income to throw into the markets. He shares data of sluggish on-chain growth to show the stalling of crypto adoption in recent months.

Raoul Pal/Twitter

“My view is that the key reason the market has seen less retail activity is that wages are rising slower than CPI. The cost of living has gone up dramatically and that has removed the marginal investor from crypto. They just can’t afford the disposable income.”

Pal says he doesn’t see stable economic growth or lower inflation coming anytime soon, which may mean that retail traders could be sitting on the sidelines for a while. With smaller traders lacking influence, Pal says crypto markets will have to rely on institutions and hedge funds to “allocate meaningful capital.”

“I think that is coming, and Q1 should confirm that, indeed maybe January, but we have to wait and see…”

With that said, the Real Vision founder says that most of the investors he speaks with who are “on the fence” about investing in crypto feel that way because of regulation. It’s this reason that Pal thinks that larger investors who enter the market will likely stick to the larger crypto assets.

“That is going to be a feature for a while now too. That will keep institutions out of anything but the larger protocols. It’s been easier to allocate to VC to avoid market to market and regulation fears…”

Eventually, Pal predicts institutions will start allocating, pushing up price and consequently attracting retail traders in a “reflexive loop of” of FOMO.

“But for the bigger market cap tokens to appreciate, they need new money. This is a market to HODL a broad mix of quality names on top of main core positions and don’t try to chase returns unless you know what you are doing…

New capital will flow in over time and a broader rally, when it arrives, will bring retail investors and a reflexive loop of institutional investors FOMO’ing in.

That day will come. You just have to not over extend yourself, don’t use leverage and sit tight. Play the long game”

The post Raoul Pal Predicts Q1 Institutional FOMO for Crypto Markets appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking in an interview with financial education firm MarketRebellion, the Fundstrat CEO says that Bitcoin has already survived the worst things that the world can throw at it and came out on top. In his view, 2022 will likely be a lot more bullish for BTC.

“I think Bitcoin… I’m disappointed it didn’t exit 2021 higher. I mean, I think it’s still got a chance to get to rally because the S&P is rallying and so Bitcoin should move contemporaneously with that.

2022 should be a good year because the things that disrupted Bitcoin in 2021 — such as China essentially banning mining, trying to essentially ban Bitcoin — that would have been considered a crypto winter-like event and it didn’t kill Bitcoin.

So unless the US government bans Bitcoin next year, Bitcoin has already had some of the negative catalysts play out. So I think Bitcoin could do really well. Now, in terms of percentage upside, again I’m kind of disappointed. It didn’t reach $100,000 this year, but I think next year, you know, easily getting to the $100,000, but let’s say that it should have been $100,000 this year.

So maybe Bitcoin is, you know, in that $200,000 range. I mean, I think that’s achievable and I know it sounds fantastical, but it’s very useful. And if you don’t think crypto is that useful, it’s hard for anyone who’s based in America to appreciate how quickly trust in government can change.“

Image via Shutterstock

Lee, a long-time Bitcoin bull, previously predicted $100,000 BTC by the end of 2021. He said that the Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) could ultimately end up being a bullish catalyst for BTC in the long run, even if the initial opening of the product has been underwhelming so far. He said he expects flows into the ETF to ultimately exceed the inflows of QQQ, Invesco’s other fund that tracks the benchmark Nasdaq equity index, which has over $188 billion in assets, according to Bloomberg.

The post Hedge Fund Manager Tom Lee Says $200,000 BTC ‘Achievable’ in 2022 appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a weekly update, Arcane summarizes the highlights of 2021, first noting that despite not meeting some of the more optimistic expectations, Bitcoin still managed to vastly outperform both gold and the S&P 500.

Arcane Research

Arcane also says that BTC is playing its part as an inflation hedge, while also managing to be a risk-on asset that reacts to statements from the Federal Reserve.

“Inflation has been running high throughout the year, and overall, bitcoin has proven to be a good inflation hedge. Nevertheless, bitcoin has also proven to be sensitive to hawkish FED statements and fear in the broad financial markets. In that regard, bitcoin has behaved like a risk-on asset.

However, while bitcoin shows risk-on traits in the short run, there is no doubt that central bankers and politicians worldwide will have a very hard time dampening the increasing inflation without causing harm to the economy.”

Moving into 2022, Arcane predicts that Bitcoin will outperform the S&P 500 again, but remain closely linked to the VIX.

“Risk-on will prevail, shocks in tradfi -> Shocks in bitfi”

While looking at the top three cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Arcane points out that Binance Coin (BNB) takes the cake as far as yearly performance, eclipsing Ethereum, which eclipsed Bitcoin. Next year, Arcane predicts that Cardano (ADA) and XRP fall out of the top ten crypto assets by market cap.

For a few things, the firm believes that what has been will be again. For instance, the firm doesn’t share the same predictions as many crypto investors who believe the “flippening” will occur next year. Arcane predicts that Ethereum will continue outperforming Bitcoin (BTC), but won’t be able to surpass it by market cap. It also says that as ETH outperforms Bitcoin, layer-1 networks will continue to outperform Ethereum.

“We expect this trend to continue in the upcoming year as these other smart contract platforms continue to steal market share from Ethereum in terms of users and the amount of funds stored on the network. These networks have thriving and fast-growing ecosystems that continuously drive the price performances of their native tokens.”

Another major prediction that Arcane makes in its report is the end of meme coins. While DOGE and SHIB’s price performance has been nothing less than spectacular, the firm says that meme coins will fade into obscurity, ultimately becoming a “historical relic” of 2021.

Arcane Research

The post Insights Firm Arcane Research Makes List of 2022 Predictions appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to data from Coin ATM Radar, there are currently 33,911 Bitcoin ATMs worldwide, up 163% from December of 2020, when only 12,868 machines were recorded.

The parabolic rise in machines was primarily spread out between the United States, Canada, Spain, and Switzerland. Bitcoin ATMs have been declining in the United Kingdom and Austria since 2020 and 2019 respectively.

Coin ATM Radar

While a surge in Bitcoin ATMs is being recorded in a handful of Western countries, most African, Asian, or island nations have somewhere between zero and 5. However, a recent report from blockchain tracker Chainalysis suggests that global adoption is, overall, exploding.

According to an October report, Chainalysis looks beyond ATM machines and looks at metrics such as exchange deposits, use of DeFi protocols, and on-chain data. The firm says that leading the charge of crypto adoption worldwide is Vietnam, followed by India, Pakistan, Ukraine and Kenya.

“Several countries in emerging markets, including Kenya, Nigeria, Vietnam, and Venezuela rank high on our index in large part because they have huge transaction volumes on peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms when adjusted for PPP per capita and internet-using population. Our interviews with experts in these countries revealed that many residents use P2P cryptocurrency exchanges as their primary on-ramp into cryptocurrency, often because they don’t have access to centralized exchanges.

Knowing that, it’s no surprise that regions with many emergent markets account for a huge portion of web traffic to P2P services’ websites.”

Chainalysis also revealed that the US and China were falling behind in adoption compared to the emerging markets. The biggest reason that both countries dropped in rankings is that their peer-to-peer trade volume weighted for internet-using population declined dramatically, with China falling from 53rd place to 155th, and the US falling from 16th to 19th.

“Our biggest question for the next twelve months is how much adoption will continue on those platform categories compared to new and emerging models we haven’t seen yet.

The clear takeaway though is this: Cryptocurrency adoption has skyrocketed in the last twelve months, and the variation in the countries contributing to that show that cryptocurrency is a truly global phenomenon.”

The post Bitcoin ATMs Skyrocket Worldwide in 2021 appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking in a live Christmas eve broadcast on YouTube, Hoskinson said that next year will see the creation of new institutions dedicated to supporting Cardano and ​​providing an open-source project structure.

“Next year, what’s going to happen is that a formal open-source project structure is going to be formed, kind of like Hyperledger to Linux. We’re going to see many institutions wired in, and all the people that are currently working on it will be novated over, including me,” he explained.

“When you look at things like enhancing Plutus, there’s already three CIPs (Cardano improvement proposals) as a result of the work we’ve done with developers that need to come in.

We have pipelining that needs to come in, input endorsers that need to come in. Peer-to-peer is currently being tested with the stake pool operators on the testnet, and there’s lots of stuff happening there.”

Image via Shutterstock

Hoskinson, known in the crypto industry for having his eyes set on Africa, said one of the goals for next year was providing an easy-to-use peer to peer (P2P) blockchain system for the unbanked.

“My goal for the second half of 2022 is to figure out how to put all the pieces together to get an end-to-end microfinance transaction on Cardano.

So that a real person in Kenya or somewhere with a blockchain-based identity and credit score, stablecoin on the other side, Cardano is the settlement rail. Peer-to-peer, person-to-person, click a button, loan goes to them. They pay it back, (and it) goes to the other side,” he said.

Cardano is up 861% in 2021, and while it is over 51% down from its all time highs, ADA has shown signs of life in the past seven days, putting in gains of nearly 20%.

The post Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson Reveals Roadmap for 2022 appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Bloomberg said the bill would be one of the first attempts at creating sweeping rules on cryptocurrencies subject to Senate approval.

As per the report, Lummis says she wants to introduce legislation on digital assets which addresses the issue of crypto not fitting under the umbrella of traditional securities laws.

The bill also reportedly seeks to normalize federal rules for stablecoins, provisions for consumer protection, as well as new taxation guidance. Lummis is also looking at establishing a new regulatory agency watched over by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

News of Lummis’ potential bill comes as most top crypto executives complain of murky, impossible-to-follow regulations around crypto that are selectively enforced by regulators.

Image via Shutterstock

Earlier in the month, crypto executives from the top firms in the US testified before the US House Committee on Financial Services in regards to digital assets.

“Because of their nascent stage of development and unique underlying technology, digital assets trade in markets that are fundamentally different from traditional financial markets,” Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas said in her testimony. “As a result, existing regulatory regimes often do not accommodate this new technology.”

Haas wouldn’t be the first Coinbase executive to suggest more up to date crypto regulations. When the exchange’s new Lend product was shut down by the SEC, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal implied that regulators wern’t exactly easy to work with.

“The SEC has repeatedly asked our industry to ‘talk to us, come in.’ We did that here. But today all we know is that we can either keep Lend off the market indefinitely without knowing why or we can be sued. A healthy regulatory relationship should never leave the industry in that kind of bind without explanation. Dialogue is at the heart of good regulation.”

Lummis herself is a crypto investor with a preference to Bitcoin. She bought between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of BTC in August of this year, according to an SEC filing.

The post US Senator Plans on Introducing Comprehensive Crypto Bill in 2022: Report appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to an announcement from The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, said that the Hong Kong branch of the Big 4 accounting firm became the first member of an internationally recognised professional services network, and the first member firm of the PwC global network, to publicly enter The Sandbox.

William Gee, Partner at PwC Hong Kong, said:

“The Metaverse offers new possibilities for organisations to create value through innovative business models, as well as introducing new ways to engage with their customers and communities. We will leverage our expertise to advise clients who wish to embrace the Metaverse on the full range of challenges presented by this emerging global digital phenomenon.”

According to Animoca Brands, big firms like PwC Hong Kong can play a big role in growing the metaverse by initiating the building of an ecosystem where companies and brands less familiar with Web 3.0 can get the guidance they need to explore the new technology.

Image via Shutterstock

Sebastien Borget, COO of The Sandbox, said:

“The metaverse is open for business. We welcome PwC Hong Kong to experience how The Sandbox fosters new immersive experiences and ways for brands to connect with customers. It’s an exciting time – and PwC is at the forefront of this emerging frontier.”

The Sandbox is an Ethereum-based virtual world where users can build, own, and monetize their own gaming experiences on the blockchain using SAND, the network’s utility token. The Sandbox also allows for the minting of your own non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which can then be uploaded to the marketplace or integrated into games or experiences.

Users can buy their own virtual land in The Sandbox in the form of LAND tokens, and then populate it with “ASSETS”, which are entities designed with the intention of providing content to various experiences. Multiple LANDs can be combined to form an “ESTATE”.

SAND is one of the best performing altcoins within the metaverse narrative. Kicking off 2021 at around $0.03, SAND is now trading at $6.26 for a yearly performance of over 16,000%.

The post PwC Buys Virtual Land In The Sandbox appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking with Bloomberg in a new interview, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell says that as part of the exchange’s new NFT marketplace, users will be able to borrow funds against their NFTs.

“If you deposit a CryptoPunk on Kraken, we want to be able to reflect the value of that in your account. And if you want to borrow funds against that,” Kraken is building a system that can determine the liquidation value of the NFT, according to the report.

Powell revealed earlier this month that the exchange was working on an NFT platform. The CEO said he thinks the space was going to “a bigger and bigger thing,” and that Kraken wanted to be at the forefront of the wave.

“We have seen a tremendous amount of activity recently around NFTs that are related to various metaverses, basically virtual worlds, so anything regarding land in a virtual world, or items that exist in a virtual world, digital clothing you can take across virtual worlds. They often present proof of membership in a virtual club.”

Image via Shutterstock

Powell says that NFTs have penetrated the mainstream in a way that eclipses the adoption of Bitcoin, something that he attributes to the right series of events.

“It’s kind of shocking. For the first 10 years of Bitcoin we were trying so hard to sell people on why they should be interested in Bitcoin,” said Powell, explaining that the concept for NFTs existed in the early days of crypto when developers proposed “tagging” parts of the Bitcoin blockchain with metadata. “I guess it took the right combination of events, something really popular like NBA Top Shots that really got people talking about it.”

“Phase one was speculation, phase two is buying art and supporting artists, phase three is going to be functional uses of NFTs,” said Powell. Using deposited NFTs as collateral on Kraken could be one of those uses, he said.

The post Kraken Will Allow Customers to Take Out Loans Against Their NFTs appeared first on Coin Bureau.

CurrencyCloud is a global platform that enables banks and fintechs to provide innovative foreign exchange solutions for cross-border payments.

According to the press release:

“The acquisition will empower Visa and Currencycloud clients and partners to provide greater transparency, flexibility and control for consumers and businesses when making international payments or doing business in multiple currencies.”

CurrencyCloud provides a wide range of APIs that allow banks and financial institutions to offer foreign exchange, virtual account management, and multi-currency wallet services to clients.

Visa says the acquisition will build on an existing partnership between the two firms.

“Currencycloud’s cloud-based platform already supports over 500 banking and technology clients with reach in over 180 countries and will continue to serve and support its customers and partners across the industry.”

Image via Shutterstock

In July, CurrencyCloud formed a partnership with Ripple in order to explore new mechanisms for efficiently moving money around the world, “especially where regulations and limitations restrict opportunities for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises).

At the time, CurrencyCloud CEO Mike Laven said that Ripple’s solution would help the firm “extend our network to new parts of the world, removing more barriers to payments for our clients.”

CurrencyCloud also said that RippleNet, Ripple’s global payments network, “makes it easy for its diverse network of financial institutions worldwide to enable faster, lower-cost payments around the world.” It’s unclear whether or not Ripplenet has any relevancy to CurrencyCloud’s services now that it has been acquired by Visa.

The post Visa Buys Ripple Partner CurrencyCloud in $900 Million Deal appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Research from payment network Mercuryo suggests that a desire to improve efficiency in the wake of lockdown-induced economic fallout is pushing companies to digitalize their business models.

“Despite the downturn caused by the coronavirus restrictions, we are already seeing a strong economic recovery and believe that the number of companies will grow in the coming years due to the low base effect, as well as massive digitalisation, progress in logistics and market redistribution due to Brexit.

With this response to the pandemic, we’re seeing a strong desire to improve efficiency, respond to innovation and digitalisation, and reduce operational barriers.”

Mercuryo says that companies realized that the traditional payment infrastructure is “utterly outdated” and riddled with drawbacks. According to the firm’s survey, businesses most commonly reported issues with slow transaction speed, payments’ non-transparency, and high fees.

Because of this, the firm says it’s no surprise that over two-thirds of UK businesses say there is a greater need for payment innovation, which is where blockchain and crypto technology come in.

“That being said, we can forecast the further development of open banking, where the UK acts as the European flagship. Moreover, the rapid development of cryptocurrencies and blockchain will play a critical part in the B2B payment industry.”

Image via Shutterstock

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Mercuryo CEO and co-founder Petr Kozyakov, said:

“Our research highlights that 75% of all large companies believe cryptocurrency will eventually be integrated into every form of financial services.”

He also said that 72% of large business within the payments sector consider crypto to be the future of payments, and over 75% of them saw an increased demand from customers ad supplies to offer cryptocurrency as a payment option.

With that said, the report does note some barriers to entry for many businesses, such as lack of technical know how, lack of regulatory clarity, or concerns of scams and security vulnerablities.

Kozyakov told Cointelegraph that “building these complex cryptocurrency infrastructures in-house often takes, in some cases, years to complete.” As is the case with new technologies, “there are still barriers to implementation which are slowing down the pace of adoption.”

The post 75% of Firms say Crypto and Financial Services will be Integrated appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The research, released by the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) in collaboration with DappRadar, notes a rapid expansion of interest in the crypto gaming space, as evidenced by a surge in Google searches for “NFT games,” “play-to-earn,” and “blockchain games.”

DappRadar also records a 6,566% increase in daily unique active wallets (UAW) interacting with game-related smart contracts, exploding from 23,100 in Q3 of 2020 to 1.54 million daily in Q3 of 2021.

According to a survey that was incorporated into the report, driving the adoption of blockchain-based gaming was a desire for asset ownership to be part of the gaming experience. The report says that “85% of survey respondents agree that asset ownership is the most important advantage of blockchain games,” as the technology gives property rights and gives players “true ownership of their in-game assets.”

“An example of this played out in Chinese courts this year when Tencent, the largest video game publisher in the world, sued DD373.com for US$6.2 million worth of damages for allowing players of Dungeon Fighter Online to trade in-game assets on their site.”

Image via Shutterstock

While the new business model has obvious benefits for the users, the report also suggests that it is beneficial for developers and publishers, allowing them to earn revenue from the sales and trading of the in-game assets.

The report highlights how play-to-earn gaming adoption was especially accelerated during the Covid-19 lockdowns, where millions of people were forced to stay inside but still make an income.

“It has also had a significant impact on emerging economies, such as the Philippines and Latin America, where play-to- earn games such as Axie Infinity have become a source of income for players, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting job losses. The play-to-earn phenomenon attracted new users as well as mainstream media attention that put blockchain gaming’s potential in the spotlight.”

Besides Axie Inifinity (AXS), some of the top performing gaming cryptocurrencies of the last year include Decentraland (MANA), The Sandbox (SAND), and Gala Games’ GALA.

The post Gaming NFTs Generate Over $2.3 Billion In Just Three Months appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Chainalysis explains that the decrease from two years ago was largely due to the relative absence of crypto ponzi schemes last year, and the reemergence of them this year.

In particular, Chainalysis makes note of the notorious Finiko scheme that originated in Russia, which stole over $1.1 billion from investors primarily in Eastern Europe.

The other main contributor to the surge in scams, according to Chainalysis, are rug pulls, or when a crypto project raises money and then disappears with investor funds before actually delivering on anything. As many in the space already know, rug pulls are mostly commonly seen in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector of crypto.

“Rug pulls are prevalent in DeFi because with the right technical know-how, it’s cheap and easy to create new tokens on the Ethereum blockchain or others and get them listed on decentralized exchanges (DEXes) without a code audit.

That last point is crucial — decentralized tokens are meant to be designed in such a way that investors holding governance tokens can vote on things like how assets in the liquidity pool are used, which would make it impossible for the developers to drain the pool’s funds.”

Chainalysis

According to Chainalysis data, the biggest rug pull of 2021 — by far — was Thodex, a Turkish crypto exchange whose founder went missing with over $2 billion in investor funds. Faruk Fatih Ozer, the exchange’s CEO, has reportedly fled Turkey and has yet to be found nearly 8 months later.

An honorable mention was AnubisDAO, a project which claimed to provide a free-floating currency backed by a basket of assets. With no working product or public team members, the project managed to raise nearly $60 million in funds using a stylish dog-themed logo. All the funds, held in Wrapped Ethereum (wETH), vanished from the prohect’s liquidty pool and was sent to various addresses.

“It’ll be difficult for DeFi’s growth to continue if potential new users don’t feel they can trust new projects, so it’s important that trusted information sources in cryptocurrency — whether they’re influencers, media outlets, or project participants — help new users understand how to spot shady projects to avoid.”

The post Scams and Rug Pulls Took Over $7.7 Billion From Crypto Investors This Year appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The exchange, one of the oldest in the industry, revealed on Tuesday that it would be releasing a whitepaper for the new BMEX token sometime early next year.

According to the announcement, BMEX will be spent to reward users and grow the BitMEX ecosystem. An allocation of 20% will be reserved for BitMEX employees and another 25% for the exchange’s “long-term commitment to the token and ecosystem.”

The token will have a maximum supply of 450 million, vested over a period of up to five years. Users can acquire BMEX through the airdrop by earning them through participating in various offers on the exchange, or by buying them on the BitMEX platform and other select exchanges when they go live in early Q2 of next year.

According to BitMEX:

“BMEX Token is the reward and engagement Token for the BitMEX.com ecosystem, and will enhance users’ overall trading experience on BitMEX. BMEX holders will enjoy a range of benefits including trading fee discounts, enhanced yield on Earn products, priority access to products, participation in swag raffles and many more.”

With Binance, FTX, Crypto.com, and countless other exchanges already with their own native tokens, BitMEX will be relatively late to the party, especially considering how long its been around.

Scheduled tweet from 2018 sending out three years later. https://t.co/bGb0ENszJL

— Hsaka (@HsakaTrades) December 21, 2021

It’s possible that Coinbase will also follow suit at some point. In the US exchange’s February filing with the SEC to go public, it mentioned the possibility of needing to raise more capital in the form of “blockchain tokens.”

“We may issue shares of capital stock, including in the form of blockchain tokens, to our customers in connection with customer reward or loyalty programs. If we issue additional equity securities, including in the form of blockchain tokens, stockholders will experience dilution, and the new equity securities could have rights senior to those of our currently authorized and issued common stock… The trading prices for our common stock may be highly volatile, which may reduce our ability to access capital on favorable terms or at all.”

The post Crypto Exchange BitMEX To Airdrop Its New Native Token appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The exchange signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoA) with the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) for a vision of accelerating the building of a new crypto hub.

Binance hopes to help advance Dubai’s goals of establishing a “virtual asset ecosystem” and generate economic growth through digital innovation.

“Binance believes that Dubai’s new agenda will contribute to the growth of the global economy. In order to support this, Binance will participate in this knowledge-sharing ecosystem by sharing its experience in collaborating with global regulators to aid the development of progressive Virtual Asset regulations. The goal is to assist crypto exchanges, businesses that offer blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) services, and a wide range of digital currencies and assets to become licensed in Dubai.”

CZ Binance/Twitter

Previously, in a separate announcement, the DWTCA said that it intended on becoming “a comprehensive zone and regulator for virtual assets and crypto including digital assets, products, operators and exchanges.”

“The Dubai World Trade Centre will collaborate with the private sector and relevant entities in Dubai to create an attractive environment for the sector, and enforce rigorous standards for investor protection, Anti Money Laundering (AML), Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) compliance and cross border deal flow tracing.”

Last week, the CEO of UAE state-owned $243 billion sovereign wealth fund revealed they were investing in crypto. Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Khaldoon Al Mubarak said that he was no longer a skeptic of the space, and was looking into investing in its ecosystem.

“First of all, I think it’s real. I think this is a business that had what, $200 billion worth of crypto value two years ago and it’s $2.5 trillion today, and growing. So I think while many people are skeptics, I do not fall in that category. I think now I see it as real.

Now I think the regulatory environment that isn’t there yet in its final form, and will have to be there at some point, will have to come in and will help transition this asset class into something new.”

The post Binance Signs Deal To Establish Crypto Hub In Dubai appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Cœuré, who has served on the board of the European Central Bank (ECB), said that regulators should agree on a global framework for the digital asset space now that they’ve been given a “wake-up call” from the rise of DeFi.

According to FT, Cœuré said that it “wasn’t necessarily the wrong decision” for regulators to allow the market to develop and to garner an understanding of “how crypto assets work”.

“But now that it is really growing very fast and . . . becoming mainstream in different ways, then certainly the time for consistent regulation has come.”

Cœuré said that DeFi “opens new avenues . . . for interconnectedness with traditional finance which creates potentially new forms of systemic risk” that according to him, regulators can no longer ignore.

“These [new] services will be competing with traditional finance, and money will flow in and out from one universe to another. This creates a compelling reason to start a discussion on global principles for crypto regulation.”

The banker said that a global framework for crypto regulation was necessary especially because of the risk of “regulatory arbitrage,” whereby crypto companies end up placing different components of their business in different parts of the world in order to gain an advantage.

Image via Shutterstock

“The risk in 2022 is that large jurisdictions [like] Europe, the UK, the US, China, keep moving on but along different tracks and produce a system which is globally inconsistent… That’s a risk that should be avoided and there’s still time to avoid it.”

“The final decisions of sovereign states will be . . . a balance between sovereign strategic considerations on the one side and considerations about the good functioning of the financial system on the other,” he said.

“That’s not new, it’s just that . . . these balances are shifting because technology is so important. The new risk is governments raising technological fences which create fragmentation in the global financial system.”

As per the FT report, Cœuré said that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) were not being viewed by regulators as a separate discussion from the rest of the digital asset industry.

“We’re seeing the discussion pivoting . . . towards CBDC (central bank digital currency) being . . . a foundational contribution to the new ecosystem,” he said.

“You need central bank money as a safe asset that can be used as a settlement asset to make the new system stable . . . It’s not about CBDC being the sovereign alternative to private money, it’s more about CBDC being the glue that will hold the system together.”

The post BIS Chief Hints At World Wide Crypto Regulations in 2022: Report appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a press release, Polygon announced the launch of the new fund with Ohanian’s venture firm Seven Seven Six to back projects which are “at the intersection of social media and Web3.”

“Polygon’s mission is to offer a wide range of secure, fast, affordable and energy-efficient Ethereum scaling and infrastructure solutions for developers, empowering them to build Web3 applications for the world.

That is why Polygon is thrilled to have Alexis as a partner in this undertaking, who brings an unbeatable combination of deep industry experience, stellar investment track record and values that closely align with those of our community”

Image via Shutterstock

Besides being the co-founder of Reddit, Ohanian was also a seed investor in crypto exchange Coinbase, creators platform Patreon, and online real estate firm OpenDoor. His firm Seven Seven Six’s holdings include Sky Mavis, the makers of Axie Infinity, and a collection of large tech companies including reusable rocket maker Stoke Space and drone reforestation firm DroneSeed.

“We are still in the early days of Web3 and the most obvious opportunities right now are in gaming and social,” said Ohanian. “This initiative will do just that, with a focus on gaming properties and social media platforms built on Polygon’s scalable infrastructure. We’ve already seen some of the best product founders in our portfolio start building on Polygon and I’m excited for Seven Seven Six and Polygon to play a big role in shaping what the new internet looks like.”

The launch of the new fund comes months after Ohanian announced a similar investment into Solana. At the Solana-focused Breakpoint conference, Ohanian said 776 was putting aside $50 million to investing in Solana-based social media projects.

“One of the reason why I’m here is to announce — I have a venture fund called 776 — we’re earmarking $50 million to invest in the next wave of social, built on Solana.”

The post Polygon and Reddit Co-Founder Launch $200 Million Web3 Fund appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The new project, called “Consensys Rollups”, aims to provide enterprise-grade scalability to financial organizations and address the “key challenge of scalable applications on the Quorum tech-stack.”

According to Consensys, the firm engaged Mastercard to co-develop key building blocks that make blockchain scalable either on Ethereum or for private use.

Consensys names four notable use cases for the new rollups, which are compatible with all ERC-20 tokens, as per the announcement. They are:

• Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): CBDCs issuance on top of a Consensys Rollups powered Quorum network can provide scalability and privacy capabilities for digital currency transfers among central banks, commercial banks, and retail users.
• Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs): DEXs built with Rollups will bring scalability to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and NFTs, and more use cases on Ethereum that need faster settlement but the security guarantees of Ethereum.
• Micropayments: Micro payment applications that see users pay, for example, on a per-stream or per-view basis will require high throughput to properly function as large numbers of users interact with platforms and decentralized applications (dapps). Rollups on mainnet will allow Ethereum to scale to meet the demand of new Web3 economic paradigms without network congestion, high fees, or finality challenges.
• Private transfer and taxes: ConsenSys Rollups open a new pattern for confidentiality on the Ethereum Mainnet, or on Enterprise Ethereum (Quorum) powered networks. With partially anonymous rollups, users can transfer or swap tokens and transact with partial anonymity. Use-cases that require auditability and transparency but also maintain user confidentiality will be enabled with rollup solutions. This could remove the next barrier to entry for more DeFi or cryptocurrency users on new services.

Image via Shutterstock

Consensys Rollups, which have a throughput of 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) will utilize zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to protect certain elements of transactions, like account balances, sender, recipient, and amount from the public eye.

In April, Consensys and Mastercard announced a partnership to “power the future of commerce” by utilizing Mastercard’s blockchain patents and Consensys’ “deep development expertise.”

The post Consensys Collaborates with Mastercard On New Privacy-Focused Rollups appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking with Becky Quick on CNBC, Clayton touted the benefits of cryptocurrencies, specifically mentioning stablecoins and other “tokenized elements of our society.”

He said he was “a huge believer in this technology,” adding that “efficiency benefits in the financial system and otherwise from tokenization are immense.”

“I would look for the government both reactive in terms of people who are violating our clear laws, but proactive in encouraging the adoption of this technology throughout our financial system. There are billions of dollars of transactions in tokenized forms taking place each day where people have an incredibly high degree of confidence. We should look at what that and think about what that means for our financial system.”

Clayton’s comments came 2 days before publishing an op-ed on the Wall Street Journal titled “America’s Future Depends on the Blockchain”.

Some in the crypto space, especially those in the XRP community, were perplexed by Clayton’s public enthusiasm towards blockchain technology given that he was the official that initiated the lawsuit against Ripple Labs in December of 2020 for allegedly selling XRP as an unregistered security. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also thought Clayton’s article was rather ironic.

Siri, play “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette…https://t.co/idRTZmDSbL

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) December 16, 2021

XRP supporters have accused Clayton of being compromised in his decision to sue Ripple Labs because of a conflict of interest.

According to anti-corruption watchdog Empower Oversight, who filed a lawsuit against the SEC based on this very issue, Clayton “may have had conflicts of interest when he declared that Bitcoin was not a security” since immediately after his time at the SEC, he joined a cryptocurrency hedge fund called One River Asset Management, which only works with Bitcoin and Ethereum.

When asked about the Ripple lawsuit on CNBC, Clayton said he “wasn’t going to comment on any pending investigation or action in front of the SEC,” and that he wasn’t going to engage anyone critiquing his policy.

John Deaton, popular crypto lawyer and XRP supporter, said that Clayton’s op-ed was “simply unbelievable,” and that his audacity was “truly staggering.”

XRP is currently trading at $0.82, and though it is up from where it was at this point last year, most crypto investors and analysts agree that the lawsuit has massively stifled its performance over the course of the bull cycle.

The post Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton is a Believer in Crypto Technology appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The Fed also confirmed that interest rates would remain between 0 and 0.25% in an effort to promote maximum employment and to keep inflation at the rate of “2 % over the long run.”

After abandoning the “transitory” narrative earlier in the month, Fed chair Jerome Powell took a more hawkish stance in his speech, but kept a tone of optimism on the US labor market and the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 restrictions.

According to the Fed’s official statement,

“With progress on vaccinations and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have continued to strengthen. The sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic have improved in recent months but continue to be affected by COVID-19. Job gains have been solid in recent months, and the unemployment rate has declined substantially.”

Both legacy and crypto markets reacted positively to the statements. Bitcoin bounced hard off the 50-day moving average and almost took out $50,000, while Ethereum reclaimed the $4,000 mark and is so far holding it as a psychological level. The S&P 500 also jumped off its 50-day moving average and recorded yet another all-time high above $4,750. As asset prices spiked, the US dollar index also began showing signs of weakness, something that many analysts and traders are looking for to signal another leg up for crypto.

Image via Shutterstock

According to Jerome Powell, the historic levels of inflation, which he admits are worse than previously projected, primarily stem from supply and demand imbalances caused by the closing and reopening of the economy during COVID-19. He said that the Fed, along with the majority of forecasters believed inflation would decline by the end of 2022.

“As a result, overall inflation is running well above our 2 percent longer-run goal and will likely continue to do so well into next year. While the drivers of higher inflation have been predominantly connected to the dislocations caused by the pandemic, price increases have now spread to a broader range of goods and services.”

…Like most forecasters, we continue to expect inflation to decline to levels closer to our 2 percent longer-run goal by the end of next year.”

With the end of the year approacing, most crypto investors have warmed up to the idea of an extended bull rally that lasts well into 2022. Others are at least expecting a relief rally to close the year off. Macro economist and crypto analyst Alex Kruger said the odds were high for ETH hittinng all time highs and a reasonable bull run for the rest of the market.

“Odds are high IMO we get a spot driven hated santa rally into year end. BTC back to upper 50s, nothing too crazy, ETH to all time highs. Hated, as so many market participants sold, and it can be very hard to change bias and buy back. Those who sold will hate it… 

The Fed did turn hawkish, and ‘brrr’ will progressively be removed, so good idea to not let bullish expectations get too ambitious. Bull market goes on, just not such an easy up-only ride any longer.”

The post Markets Rally after FOMC Meeting – ETH Holding above $4,000 appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking in a new interview with Business Leader, Green says that Bitcoin’s failure to hold $50,000 in recent weeks will push out hordes of weak-handed traders afraid of further drops.

“It’s been a wild few days for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies which have been swinging between price gains and losses. Since the 20% flash crash last weekend – which was triggered by a wider risk-off sentiment that also impacted many areas of global stock markets – Bitcoin had been making small gains over the last few days. But it has failed to hold on to this momentum after not being able to hold above $50,000. This is an important threshold and the failure to secure it will likely spook some traders.”

Image via Shutterstock

Green, who calls himself a “serious crypto investor,” says he’s embracing the short-term volatility for longer-term gains, using the lower prices of BTC and other major cryptos to add to his stack.

“Why? Because like many major corporations, financial institutions, governments, prestigious universities, and household-name investing legends, I’m confident that digital currencies are the inevitable future of money.”

The veteran investor believes that in an “increasingly tech-driven, globalized world,” holding on to cryptocurrencies is logical as they are digital, borderless, and decentralized.

Green, who oversees more than $10 billion in assets under management, believes that whales buying the Christmas gift of lower prices from panic sellers who are passing their coins to investors who just “accumulate, accumulate, accumulate.” He predicts BTC hitting the six-figure mark within the next 6 months.

“Despite the recent turbulence, the trajectory of Bitcoin and other major cryptos is upwards. I would not be surprised to see Bitcoin reach $100,000 in the first half of 2022.”

The post DeVere CEO Nigel Green Says Panic Sellers Are a Gift to Wealthy Crypto Investors appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The Commissioners said that while Gensler’s agenda was ambitious, they were ultimately “disappointed with its content.”

While the statement was directed at the agenda in general, the Commissioners made special mention of digital assets.

“The Agenda also comes up short on furthering the investor protection prong of our mission by failing to provide more clarity on digital assets. First, the Agenda makes no mention of any regulation with respect to digital assets.”

Despite the sector growing exponentially in “size, complexity, diversity, and investor interest,” the SEC is failing to provide any clarity and therefore empowering fraud and stifling innovation.

“Rather than taking on the difficult task of formulating rules to allow investors and regulated entities to interact with digital assets, including digital asset securities, the Agenda—through its silence on crypto—signals that the market can expect continued questions around the application of our securities laws to this area of increasing investor interest. Such silence emboldens fraudsters and hinders conscientious participants who want to comply with the law.”

Image via Shutterstock

Gensler has previously encouraged entities in the crypto space to “come in and talk” to the SEC in regards to regulation, though many are perplexed as to what he means.

“I’ve said publicly, come in, work with the SEC, get registered. They are fundamentally exchanges, but they also have this other activity going on inside of it. It’s really important to get that investor protection,” he said in a Wall Street Journal report.

In June, Coinbase was prevented from launch a new lending platform called Lend due to threats from the SEC. According to the US exchange’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal, coming in and talking to to the SEC didn’t work out so well. The regulator reportedly asked Coinbase to provide excessive amounts of paperwork and documents, including the names and contact information of each person who signed up for the Lend waitlist (which Grewal says was not given).

“The SEC has repeatedly asked our industry to ‘talk to us, come in.’ We did that here. But today all we know is that we can either keep Lend off the market indefinitely without knowing why or we can be sued. A healthy regulatory relationship should never leave the industry in that kind of bind without explanation. Dialogue is at the heart of good regulation.”

The post SEC Commissioners Say Chairman Gensler Falling Short on Crypto Clarity appeared first on Coin Bureau.

USDC is the second most widely used stablecoin in the world after Tether (USDT), boasting a market cap of over $41.8 billion.

AVAX rallied as much as 18% following the news, and is now 13% up in the last 24 hours at the time of writing.

According to a press release, the integration aims to create more seamless transaction and payment options within the Avalanche ecosystem. Customers will now be able deposit, withdraw, send and receive payments, as well settle transactions on Avalanche using USDC.

Circle also touted Avalanche’s energy efficiency and its Ethereum compatibility:

“Avalanche was recently recognized as a net-zero carbon output blockchain at the United Nations (UN) COP26 conference, heralding a radical new era of eco-friendly, sustainable, net-zero digital transactions. Avalanche is compatible with Ethereum smart contracts and tooling, enabling Ethereum users and developers to quickly access and launch high-performance decentralized apps.”

Image via Shutterstock

John Wu, president of Ava Labs, said that “Physical fiat currency is increasingly becoming a relic of the past,” a trend that he says has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A fundamental restructuring of legacy payments and financial infrastructure is not only warranted, but overdue. Together, Avalanche and Circle will pioneer solutions to these systemic challenges.”

According to Defillama, Avalanche has the fifth most total value locked (TVL) ($10.8 billion) out of any blockchain, closely on the heels of Solana (SOL) ($11.25 billion) and Terra (LUNA) ($12.2 billion).

In June, Circle hinted that USDC would begin expanding to other blockchains. In a blog post, the firm said was expecting to bring USDC compatibility to Avalanche, Celo, Flow, Hedera (HBAR), Kava, Nervos (CKB), Polkadot (DOT), Stacks (STX), Tezos (XTZ), and Tron (TRX).

Originally, USDC was launched on Ethereum and was fully implemented on the Algorand (ALGO), Stellar and Solana chains in late 2020.

The post Avalanche Jumps 17% After Integration With USDC Stablecoin appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Musk, who was just named Time’s “Man of the year”, made the announcement via Twitter.

Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 14, 2021

Immediately, DOGE did a 40% rally, peaking out at $0.21 before cooling off.

Speaking in an interview with Time, Musk promoted Dogecoin as a better form of payment than Bitcoin

“Bitcoin is an interesting example, obviously the prime mover on this. But the transaction volume of Bitcoin is low, and the cost per transaction is high. It is, at least at its base level, suitable for maybe a store of value.”

Musk said Bitcoin “is not a good substitute for a transactional currency,” adding that while it may have been created as a joke, “Dogecoin is better suited for transactions.”

“The total transaction flow you can do with Dogecoin, like transactions per day, has much higher potential than Bitcoin.

It is slightly inflationary, but that inflation number is a fixed number as opposed to a percentage, so that means over time its percentage of inflation decreases, and that’s actually good because it encourages people to spend rather than to sort of horde it as a store of value.”

Image via Shutterstock

Out of all the disruptive, cutting edge technology in the crypto industry, many have been puzzled as to why Musk insists on throwing his weight behind DOGE. Regardless, crypto traders still hang on to every word Musk says, allowing him to trigger parabolic rallies in various tokens all the time.

In early October, Musk sparked a 200% rally in Shiba Inu (SHIB) simply for tweeting a photo of his puppy. Before that, the billionaire was largely credited with bringing Dogecoin into the mainstream. He once triggered an 863% rally in DOGE for tweeting a meme.

DOGE is up roughly 5,720% over the last year, and is the 10th biggest cryptocurrency by market capl jostling to steal the ninth spot from interoperable blockchain Polkadot (DOT).

The post ​​Dogecoin Soaring After Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Sell Merch for DOGE appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Users in 70 different countries (Not including the US) will now be able to earn yield on their DAI, a stablecoin running on Ethereum and maintained by MakerDAO.

Coinbase will use decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Compound Finance (COMP) and its rates to generate the yield for its customers. The crypto exchange without a headquarters said that it’s aiming to make DeFi more accessible to the masses by allowing people to bypass the less than enjoyable user experience of most popular platforms.

“Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is becoming one of the most popular use cases for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies,” Coinbase said in an announcement, adding that DeFi “enables people to access crypto applications without the need for a centralized intermediary.”

“However, accessing DeFi protocols can require expensive network fees and involve a somewhat complex user experience. Coinbase is making DeFi more customer friendly and accessible. Eligible users will now be able to access the attractive yields of DeFi from the comfort of their Coinbase account with just a few taps and without the network fees.”

Image via Shutterstock

Earlier in the year, Coinbase was prevented from rolling out its Lend platform by the SEC. According to Coinbase, the SEC threatened to sue the exchange even after months of attempting to engage with the regulator to sort out any legal uncertainties behind the platform. The SEC had deemed the program to be in violation of securities laws, though Coinbase maintains it never got a clear answer as to why.

Writing in a blog post in June, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal said:

“The SEC told us they consider Lend to involve a security, but wouldn’t say why or how they’d reached that conclusion.”

Grewal said that the SEC forced Coinbase to go through a long process of various legal hoops, including documents and writing responses, a sworn testimony from a corporate witness, and even the names and contact information of every single person who was on the Lend waitlist, which Coinbase did not comply with.

Grewal implied the process was rather surprising given that there are already countless similar lending platforms in existence.

“The SEC has repeatedly asked our industry to ‘talk to us, come in.’ We did that here. But today all we know is that we can either keep Lend off the market indefinitely without knowing why or we can be sued. A healthy regulatory relationship should never leave the industry in that kind of bind without explanation. Dialogue is at the heart of good regulation.”

It’s unclear if the SEC has any legal qualms about Coinbase’s new DeFi offering yet, and the regulator hasn’t made an official statement on the matters.

The post Coinbase Launches New DeFi Yield Platform appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a press release, Wells Fargo and HSBC say the two giants will be utilizing a new platform to process US dollar, Canadian dollar, British pound sterling and Euro transactions with plans to branch out to other currencies in the near future.

The platform will run on Baton System’s blockchain-inspired CORE distributed ledger governed by the Baton Rulebook, a framework designed to provide legal certainty around settlement finality.

According to the announcement, the solution will provide each bank with constant real-time transparency of settlement status for matched FX transactions, and enable both parties to use Payment-vs-Payment (PvP) settlement in order to reduce exchange risks and costs.

Arjun Jayaram, CEO and Founder of Baton Systems said:

“This development is hugely significant for the entire FX market, as it offers firms the opportunity to really address settlement risk – arguably the most critical control issue impacting post-trade today.

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the tremendous potential this technology presents to FX market participants globally to improve their risk management, intraday liquidity controls and funding profiles. Using proven technology that is readily available today, banks can now take control and completely revolutionise their entire post-trade process from trade-capture through to settlement.”

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Founded in 2016, Baton Systems operates with a bank-focused narrative similar to Ripple and XRP. In 2018, the Bank of England used Baton Systems to test out its Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) platform. The firm’s systems have been used by other global banks, exchanges and clearinghouses.

According to the banks, the new settlement system will build on HSBC’s FX Everywhere platform which has reportedly settled over $2.5 trillion since going live in 2018.

“Based on the results of this arrangement, the parties hope to expand the system to add more participants and to introduce a central Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI) provider to administer the platform rulebook.”

The post Wells Fargo, HSBC to Settle Forex Transactions Using Blockchain appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In an interview with CNBC, CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak revealed that he was no longer a skeptic of cryptocurrencies, and that the industry was officially “real.”

“First of all, I think it’s real. I think this is a business that had what, $200 billion worth of crypto value two years ago and it’s $2.5 trillion today, and growing. So I think while many people are skeptics, I do not fall in that category. I think now I see it as real.

Now I think the regulatory environment that isn’t there yet in its final form, and will have to be there at some point, will have to come in and will help transition this asset class into something new.”

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While Al Mubarak didn’t reveal specific investments, he did say that the fund was looking at or investing in the “ecosystem around crypto” including blockchain technology and energy.

Mubadala Investment Company holds $243 billion in assets with a wide range of holdings including petroleum, software, and biotechnology.

The entrance of sovereign wealth funds into the crypto markets has been named as one of the big bullish catalysts to potentially take the space to the next level. In November, the Financial Times reported that global crypto exchange Binance was also in talks with sovereign wealth funds in regards to investing in digital assets.

Zhao said that “the ticket size involved will not be small . . . it won’t be a short process,” according to the FT report.

Zhao said holding funds from government entities may ultimately be a risk, and this was something the exchange was still working out.

“But it may also tie us to specific countries . . . which we want to be slightly careful with,” he said.

The post $240 Billion UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund To Invest In Crypto appeared first on Coin Bureau.

A new budget proposal suggests $700,000 to promote a crypto-friendly Florida. Including a $200,000 allocation to the Department of Financial Services to give businesses in the state the ability to pay directly via crypto.

“$200,000 for the Department of Financial Services to offer Florida corporations the ability to pay state fees via cryptocurrency directly to the Department of State. Florida encourages cryptocurrency as a means of commerce and furthering Florida’s attractiveness to businesses and economic growth.”

Another half-million dollars is proposed to be allocated to explore a new blockchain-based system for maintaining records pertaining to motor vehicles and Medicaid.

According to the budget highlights, $250,000 would go to support what the state calls its “Blockchain Title Pilot Program” within the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

“The purpose of the pilot program is to evaluate potential concepts, designs, and technologies to maintain and make available certificates of motor vehicle title through blockchain technology, and to determine the feasibility of providing to the public a permanent option to obtain or transfer certificates of title using blockchain technology.”

Another $250,000 is suggested to explore something similar for Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, which aims to use blockchain technology to “authenticate Medicaid transactions and identify potential Medicaid fraud.”

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At the city level, Miami mayor Francis Suarez has spearheaded the push to make Bitcoin and crypto politically mainstream. Aside from requesting his paychecks in BTC, Suarez has also come out with Miamicoin, which he says has already earned the city tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Miami citizens are also able to stake Miamicoin and receive a yield in Bitcoin.

“Why are we making such an emphasis on Bitcoin? We’re seeing inflation at over 6% which I think is an underreporting of inflation, and we see the price of Bitcoin surging, it clear that people are taking their money out of dollars, and putting in a currency and in a store of value that they feel confident in because it’s not driven by people who manipulate it for their own policy ends.”

The post Florida Governor Proposes $700,000 Allocation to Promote Crypto-Friendly State appeared first on Coin Bureau.

So far, the pilot program is open to a limited number of individuals in the US, and Novi chief Stephane Kasriel says Novi is still in its very early stages.

Novi utilizes USDP, a stablecoin from Paxos Trust Company. Users can deposit money with their credit or debit card (after KYC), convert their cash to USDP, and then store and transfer USDP with no fees, according to Novi. USDP will be sent and received within users’ WhatsApp chats. However, according to Facebook Financial (F2), the company eventually plans on using Diem as the preferred stablecoin on the platform.

Novi/Twitter

Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp, confirmed the news of the pilot program via Twitter to his 59,000 followers.

In October, when Meta, formerly known as Facebook, revealed details behind the launch of Novi, US officials wrote a public letter to the corporate giant begging Mark Zuckerberg to reconsider. The letter, written by Senators Brian Schatz, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Sherrod Brown, and Tina Smith, said that Facebook can’t be trusted to be in control of a global stablecoin transfer platform.

“Time and again, Facebook has made conscious business decisions to continue with actions that have harmed its users and the broader society. Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient. We urge you to immediately discontinue your Novi pilot and to commit that you will not bring Diem to market.”

There has been no public response to the Senators’ letter, and Meta’s Novi appears to be well on its way to potentially becoming a major player in the payments space.

The post WhatsApp Tests Out New Crypto Payments Feature appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a press release, French video game company Ubisoft announces a partnership with Tezos to create Ubisoft Quartz, a platform for playable and energy-efficient non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in AAA games.

The new platform utilizes a type of NFT that Ubisoft calls ‘Digits’. According to Ubisoft, Digits are “a new way to experience cosmetic items, combining the fun of playing with AAA quality assets and the thrill of owning NFTs that represent unique, collectible pieces of Ubisoft game worlds.”

To operate the NFTs, Ubisoft Quartz will leverage Tezos’ consensus mechanics, primarily for its energy efficiency.

“Energy-efficiency is a key requirement to propel blockchain technology into a future where it can be widely used by millions of players. We chose Tezos because of its original Proof-of-Stake network and its leadership on clean NFTs,” says Didier Genevois, Blockchain Technical Director at Ubisoft. “One transaction on their network uses the same amount of energy as streaming 30 seconds of video, while the previous generation of blockchain networks can consume the same energy required for one year of non-stop streaming. This low carbon footprint means that both our developers and our players can prioritize innovation without compromising sustainability.”

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Nicolas Pouard, Ubisoft’s VP of strategic innovation lab, said that the company has been looking at integrating blockchain technology into its gaming infrastructure for some time, and highlighted its importance for the latest project.

“Our long-term efforts led us to understand how blockchain’s decentralized approach could genuinely make players stakeholders of our games, in a way that is also sustainable for our industry, placing back into their hands the value they generate through the time they spend, the items they buy or the content they create online. Ubisoft Quartz is the first building block in our ambitious vision for developing a true metaverse. And it can’t come to life without overcoming blockchain’s early-form limitations for gaming, including scalability and energy consumption.”

Tezos responded to the news with a quick 44% pump from about $4.09 to $5.93, and has since began to give up some gains as the overall crypto markets turn red.

While crypto investors view the integration of blockchain and gaming as bullish for the space, many in the gaming community have been critical of it. Ubisoft decided to delist the announcement video on YouTube after being hit with a 96% dislike ratio and a host of negative comments. Although YouTube got rid of dislikes, there are plug-ins available to view them.

Many gamers believe that NFTs are bad for the environment, push a false sense of both ownership and decentralization, are subject to market manipulation, and are generally a breeding ground for unnecessary money-grabs.

The post Tezos Jumps Following Partnership With Gaming Developer appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Appearing at the hearing was Jeremy Allaire of Circle, Sam Bankman-Fried of crypto exchange FTX, Brian Brooks of Bitfury, Charles Cascarilla of Paxos, Denelle Dixon of Stellar Development Foundation, and CFO of Coinbase Global Alesia Jeanne Haas.

One of the topics that was brought up was the threat of cryptocurrency on the US dollar’s status as the reserve currency of the world.

Ritchie Torres, a representative from South Bronx, New York, asked the crypto executives if it stablecoins were contradictory to the dollar’s reserve status. In response, Charles Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos, said that stablecoins empower the dollar by inviting more people into the dollar-based economic system who wouldn’t be able to otherwise.

“I actually don’t think that it’s contradictory at all. What people want is s a US dollar bank account. Everyone in the world wants to be able to have US dollars, and actually, that’s the hardest thing to get. Crypto is a tool for a lot of different things including bringing communities together, but what people want for their everyday spending is dollars. If you’re in Argentina you want dollars, if you’re somebody anywhere in the world you want to have access to dollars and that’s the hardest thing to get access to right now and that’s why tokenized dollars is so valuable because you don’t need a bank account yet you can have access to the dollar-based system, which is a very important tool for inclusion.”

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Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire also made the case that stablecoins were strengthening the US dollar, and predicted that USD-backed stablecoins would continue to dominate the crypto space despite China issuing its own digital yuan.

He noted that USD-backed stablecoins were doing trillions of dollars of transactions while the Chinese digital yuan had only done about $10 billion in transactions so far. Allaire also argued dollars were more secure on the blockchain than in the bank, given that banks tend to lend out their dollars under a fractional reserve system.

The crypto executives’ arguments for stablecoins being conducive to USD supremacy has been echoed by Mike McGlone, Bloomberg’s head commodity strategist. McGlone argues that stablecoins, or “crypto dollars,” are acting as a significant boost for USD dominance. In Bloomberg’s latest report on cryptocurrencies, McGlone says that crypto dollars, along with Bitcoin and Ethereum, are the three “stalwarts” behind the sector.

“The ability to transact and transmit dollars around the clock with instant settlement, and to earn interest well above eurodollars, are attributes of crypto dollars, with implications for digital assets like Ethereum. This has buoyed the greenback and trickled down to most financial assets. In a world rapidly going digital, the shift to transacting via digital tokens may be unstoppable…

Bumps in the road can be expected, but the advent of central-bank digital currencies has already happened organically, and the world has gone for the dollar.”

The post Stablecoins Not a Threat to US Dollar: They Make it Stronger appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking with Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker at the “The Future of Global Financial Centers: Miami” conference, Sternlicht suggests that with rampant government money printing, Bitcoin may find legitimacy as the one thing you can’t make more of.

“In a world where the government just prints money and doesn’t seem to have any consequences, sometimes that will end. The only thing they can’t make more of is Bitcoin and it’s never been hacked. It has no real value other than there’s 21 million coins and they’re infinitely divisible. Gold doesn’t really have a lot of value. You have your gold jewelry but it could be silver or titanium or platinum.”

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Sternlicht says that China will inevitably try to knock the US off the dollar standard, and may have many other countries standing behind it in order to support the Belt and Road initiative. The hedge fund veteran suggests that if the USD devalues relative to other currencies in the aftermath of an economic war, Bitcoin would be the asset that everyone jumps onboard to save themselves from currency devaluation.

“If that happens and the dollar devalues you need one thing that could hold its value, and that thing, literally in the scare – it’ll go down with the stock market by the way – and then, in my opinion, it will reverse and it will go to a million a coin. It could do that because everyone – it’s not just US investors, the whole world will look at the one thing that you cant make more of, and that would be Bitcoin.”

The Starwood Capital CEO says he believes Bitcoin has no real function other than as a store of value, adding that holding some BTC could be “a smart little hedge in your life because your paper will be worthless, unfortunately.”

The post Billionaire Predicts Bitcoin to $1 Million if USD Loses Reserve Status appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Visa announced today in a statement that it would be introducing a crypto advisory service to help its partners “navigate a new era of money.” According to the corporate behemoth, which brought in over $21 billion in revenue in 2020, the case for crypto is getting stronger for financial institutions.

Vis says that for institutions looking to attract customers with crypto-related offerings, such as retailers looking at NFTs or banks exploring digital currencies, understanding the ecosystem is the first step.

“Through their work with more than 60 crypto platforms, Visa’s global network of consultants and product experts have deep expertise to help financial institutions evaluate the crypto opportunity, develop concrete strategies, and pilot new user experiences and innovations like crypto rewards programs and CBDC-integrated consumer wallets.”

Terry Angelos, senior vice president and global head of fintech at Visa said that “Crypto represents a technological shift for money movement and digital ownership.”

“As consumers change their approach to investing, where they bank, and their views on the future of money, every financial institution will need a crypto strategy.”

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According to research published by Visa today, crypto has moved from a niche asset class reserved for a small community of investors to a broader market accessible by the mainstream. Visa shared data that showed out of everyone aware of crypto, a third of them own or use it, and the majority saying their use has increased over the past year. Another 21% of crypto-aware consumers are curious about the space, have positive impressions of it, and plan on entering the market soon.

Visa’s rival Mastercard has also been open about its splash into the digital asset industry. Last month, the company announced a trio of partnerships with Asian crypto companies Amber, Bitkub and CoinJar to make it easier for its clients to send and spend cryptocurrency with their Mastercards.

“Cryptocurrencies are many things to people—an investment, a disruptive technology, or a unique financial tool. As interest and attention surges from all quarters, their real-world applications are now emerging beyond the speculative,” said Rama Sridhar, Executive Vice President, Digital & Emerging Partnerships and New Payment Flows, Asia Pacific, Mastercard.

“Mastercard is expanding what’s possible with cryptocurrencies to give people even greater choice and flexibility in how they pay.”

The post Visa Launches New Crypto Consulting Branch Amid Surging Interest appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The firm takes a look at the behavior of both long-term holders (LTHs) and shot-term holders (LTHs) during the market crash. An LTH is considered any address that has held onto BTC for more than five months. According to Glassnode, LTHs remained virtually unfazed during the correction, while STHs decreased their stacks significantly.

Glassnode says that when BTC made its new high, new investors came into the market and bought the top as always, before having their conviction tested by a price drop. The firms data recorded $3 billion worth of coins spent at a loss during December 4th’s correction, comparable only to May 19 and June 25, which saw $4.5 billion and $3.8 billion in losses respectively. Most of these losses are coming from the short term holders, according to Glassnode.

“Short-Term Holder SOPR printed its lowest value since late July, which shows the hallmark signature of a capitulation by newer investors. For Short-Term Holders to be realizing losses here means they had to buy their coins at the recent tops, and are already spending them to new hands. This group appears to be the only cohort reacting significantly to the events of last week. More mature HODLers remain unmoved

Those who are spending coins appear to be predominantly those who bought the top, and they are realizing losses and capitulating.”

Glassnode

The firm says that excessive amounts of leverage in the system followed by price volatility is a classic recipe for correction, and that “capitulative moments” are necessary for markets to return to equilibrium.

“The key question we will seek to answer in the coming weeks, is whether market sentiment has taken a severe enough hit that the underlying conviction seen this week deteriorates, or does it hold on.”

Glassnode’s full report can be read here.

The post Glassnode Looks at causes for Recent Bitcoin Crash appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The hearing, led by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, is entitled “Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: Understanding the Challenges and Benefits of Financial Innovation in the United States.”

Waters, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, has called upon Jeremy Allaire of Circle, Sam Bankman-Fried of crypto exchange FTX, Brian Brooks of Bitfury, Charles Cascarilla of Paxos, Denelle Dixon of Stellar Development Foundation, and CFO of Coinbase Global Alesia Jeanne Haas.

In June, Congresswoman Waters founded the Digital Assets Working Group, citing the need to “examine the issues at hand in the digital asset space,” and the promotion of investor protection and financial inclusion.

“As cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies and other digital assets enter the mainstream, the Committee will look at how digital assets have begun to enter many aspects of our lives – from payments to investments to remittances – and consider how to devise legislation to support responsible innovation that protects consumers and investors while promoting greater financial inclusion.”

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There are no prepared remarks and there is no public agenda for the hearing. Waters has been publicly critical of cryptocurrency in the past. In July, she recommended that President Joe Biden rescind or monitor guidance from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) concerning cryptocurrency.

The guidance that Waters recommended Biden rescind featured input from Brian P. Brooks, who was at the time the head of the OCC and will now be testifying at the hearing as the CEO of Bitfury. 

Brooks said in the guidance:

“From safe-deposit boxes to virtual vaults, we must ensure banks can meet the financial services needs of their customers today. This opinion clarifies that banks can continue satisfying their customers’ needs for safeguarding their most valuable assets, which today for tens of millions of Americans includes cryptocurrency.”

Brooks was also briefly the CEO of Binance’s US arm. In an interview with CNBC, Brooks said that he hoped the hearing would address contradictory regulation on stablecoins, as well as dispel the notion that cryptocurrency mining is a threat to an environmentally sound future.

The post Top Crypto Executives To Testify in Washington At Digital Assets Hearing appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking in an interview with InvestAnswers, Pal reiterates his max target for ETH this bull cycle of $40,000, likely by summer. He names his “base case” at $20,000 by March 2022 at the latest.

“I’m using base case probabilities, no certainties. I still think ETH finishes this year close to $15,000 then to $10,000, just by the nature of what is actually going on right now, and the chart patterns, the people who are coming into the space. I actually still see ETH potentially, the small probability upside is that it hits $40,000 by the summer.”

That’s because of the staking cycle, and how the charts look, and using the logarithmic chart, extending it forward and a number of things give me that. It’s not my base case, my base case would be $20,000 by March at the latest.”

The former Goldman Sachs executive also predicted that the typical dramatic bear markets previously seen in crypto will become a thing of the past moving forward. According to Pal, the crypto markets will go into a more boring 50% correction and consolidation phase, rather than a scary bearish cycle. He expects this to happen right after Ethereum temporarily “flips” Bitcoin to become the biggest crypto asset on the list.

“My guess is that this cycle, we don’t a proper elongated bear market, and by elongated bear market I don’t mean down 80%, I’m talking about down 50% and it stays down for nine months and it bores everybody out kind of thing.

I think that happens when the flippening happens, and we’ll readjust again, and Bitcoin will become the larger of it.”

Raoul Pal/Twitter

Pal has previously speculated that Ethereum is following the same price action that Bitcoin went through in its bull cycle between 2013 and 2017. Being a relatively newer technology, earlier on in its adoption cycle, means a more parabolic upward move for ETH than BTC, according to the Real Vision CEO. Based on that, Pal has been open about ETH making up a large majority over his portfolio rather than BTC.

“So why that allocation? Nothing against Bitcoin, it’s not against anything else, it’s because I’m a financial markets guy and we use risk curves. So at certain points in the cycle, in the middle of the bull market you want to take as much risk as possible, so you want to go to the more speculative end of the market.”

The post Raoul Pal: Ethereum to $20,000 By March ‘At the Latest’ appeared first on Coin Bureau.

As part of Binance Smart Chain’s $1 billion Growth Fund, each company will put forth $100 million to target early stage blockchain-based gaming projects on the BSC.

“Gaming is one of the strong pillars of Web 2.0, reaching billions of users. Its large-scale real-life use case makes it one of the core focus areas for crypto’s mass adoption to onboard retail consumers into the Web 3.0 world,” said Gwendolyn Regina, Investment Director at Binance Smart Chain in a statement.

“With this co-investment, projects building on BSC will get the opportunity to gain insights and expertise from leading gaming giants such as Animoca Brands, along with collaboration opportunities with blockchain experts from the BSC Community. We look forward to working together with GameFi projects to build next-gen scalable blockchains and onboard the next one billion new users into crypto,” she added.

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Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands said that the investment aims to provide the necessities to early stage blockchain gaming projects to take them mainstream.

“Early GameFi projects require funding to build their products, and need industry expertise for open-world gameplay and tokenomics, as well as networking opportunities to establish growth in the blockchain gaming and open metaverse.”

The initiative comes amid the rise of the gaming and metaverse sector, and the fusion of blockchain technology and crypto. Of the top performing coins of 2021, many of them are gaming-related.

Blockchain gaming platform Gala is up roughly 39,000%. Virtual world The Sandbox (SAND) is up roughly 12,500%, and AXS, the native token on play-to-earn videogame Axie Infinity is up about 18,000% in the same time frame.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is priced at $48,000, currently up about 166% from where it was at the same time last year.

The post Binance Joins $200 Million Fund For Blockchain Gaming Projects appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The research was co-authored by Ester Félez-Viñas from the University of Technology Sydney, Sean Foley from Macquarie University, Jonathan Karlsen from the University of Western Australia, and Jiri Svec from the University of Sydney.

The paper starts off by mentioning that while Bitcoin’s hard supply of 21 million coins has gained recognition as a legitimate hedge against inflation, Ethereum may be on track to be one step ahead with deflationary tokenomics.

“With up to half of the networks blocks destroying more Ethereum than is created, the notion that Bitcoin offers the best inflationary hedge among the cryptocurrencies is increasingly coming under threat. Such protocol improvements could pave the way for more cryptocurrencies to improve their anti-inflationary characteristics, becoming better stores of value than Bitcoin.”

The report’s thesis primarily leans on the EIP-1559 upgrade, which tweaked Ethereum’s fee structure to burn a portion of transaction fees, permanently taking them out of circulation. The researchers argue that EIP’s transaction mechanisms that slow the growth of the supply of ETH “erodes the advantage of Bitcoin as an inflationary hedge.”

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While Bitcoin has a hard cap on supply, new coins are still being minted into existence, and the report argues that Ethereum is already less inflationary than Bitcoin because of the amount o ETH being burnt.

If demand for Ethereum continues to grow, which the researchers believe will happen due to it being the primary ecosystem for decentralized finance (DeFi), its issuance rate will fall below that of Bitcoin.

The report concludes by implying that Ethereum may be the third big step in the evolution of store of value assets, after gold and Bitcoin.

“… Ethereum displays a significantly lower net issuance rate of tokens than Bitcoin, achieved by destroying the fees associated with each transaction. In many cases the amount of Ethereum burned outpaces the network’s creation of new tokens, resulting in Ethereum potentially becoming the world’s first deflationary currency. We argue that this provides better inflationary hedging properties than Bitcoin, and Ether may therefore offer a superior long-term value storage than Bitcoin.”

According to watchtheburn.com, nearly 1.1 billion ETH have been burned since the rollout of EIP-1559, worth roughly $4.9 billion at current prices.

The post Researchers Say Ethereum Superior Store of Value vs Bitcoin appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a speech delivered at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., Quarles frankly stated that the Fed and other bodies need to “welcome responsible innovation,” and create a regulatory environment that “not only allows for such innovation, but encourages it.”

“Digital assets, such as stablecoins, are just such an area of welcome innovation. It is clear that there is a strong demand for these assets among bank customers, and well-regulated banks should be allowed to engage in activities regarding these assets.”

Contrary to what he would like to see, Quarles said that regulators are instead making moves that could “hamper these innovations unnecessarily.” The Governor mentioned a recent report on stablecoins from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets which he says promote unwarranted approaches to regulation such as limiting wallet providers’ affiliation with commercial entities.

“It is one thing to say that a stablecoin issuer itself must be a regulated bank—I think that is probably overkill, as there are perfectly effective ways for nonbanks to meet our legitimate regulatory concerns, but there is at least a clear relation between the existing framework of bank regulation and the specific measures that stablecoin issuers must address to operate safely.

It is, however, quite another thing to contemplate that wallet providers may need to be completely separated from commercial firms. It is not at all clear what regulatory interest would be furthered by such a limitation, which is much more restrictive than we require for non-digital assets.”

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Quarles admits that digital assets may be “novel,” but says that regulators shouldn’t treat them differently just because of the nature of the technology. According to him, regulators need to focus on the “unique risks poses by these activities,” rather than needlessly impeding their premise.

“For that reason, I am hopeful that regulators will show reasoned constraint in the regulation of digital assets.”

At the time of writing, stablecoins are about a $150 billion market, the largest being Tether’s USDT, Circle’s USDC, and Binance’s BUSD.

The post Regulators Should Embrace Stablecoin Technology appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a new report from Markets Insider, Haim Israel, head of global thematic investment strategy as BofA said he believed the metaverse was a “massive, massive opportunity.”

“You need the right platforms … that is definitely going to be a big opportunity for this entire ecosystem.”

The executive also predicted that the metaverse would be the place where crypto would end being used as currencies rather than speculative instruments. However, he said that existing digital currencies are probably to volatile for that, so he predicted that something similar to stablecoins would instead be used.

Israel predicted that traditional payments companies will become much more interested in crypto if they start being widely used in the metaverse.

“I see a lot of collaboration between the two,” he said.

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The BofA strategist’s comments aren’t coming out of left field. The bank has been fairly vocal on its pro-crypto outlook in the past. In October, BofA released a full report on digital assets, a space that it said was “too big too ignore.”

Alkesh Shah, head of global cryptocurrency and digital asset strategy and leader of the report, said that while Bitcoin was important, “the digital asset ecosystem is so much more.”

“Our research aims to explore the implications across industries including finance, technology, supply chains, social media and gaming.”

“Digital assets are transforming the way in which markets, businesses and central banks operate,” said Candace Browning, head of BofA Global Research. “Bank of America offers a market-leading global payments platform and blockchain expertise, and the addition of digital asset research further strengthens the depth and breadth of our offerings for investors.”

BofA, like other banking giants, launched a new branch in July solely dedicated to the research of cryptocurrency and digital assets.

The post Bank of America Names Metaverse as ‘Massive’ Opportunity appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking with former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton at the DACOM 2021 conference, Gensler said Satoshi’s original idea for Bitcoin has ultimately become at odds with established financial regulation.

“We layered over our digital money system about 40 years ago with money laundering and various sanctions and regimes around the globe; we layered that over a digital currency system called our banking system. In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto wrote this paper in part as a reaction, an off-the-grid type of approach. It’s not surprising that there’s some competition that you and I don’t support but that’s trying to undermine that worldwide consensus.”

The SEC chief also highlighted his desire for more regulatory oversight over the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Gensler predicted the occurrence of one, or perhaps many financial disasters stemming from a lack of regulation on the industry.

“We’re gonna have a spill in Aisle 3 and…it might be a financial instability event, or come from stablecoins, or by the investing public getting hurt by fraudsters or good-faith actors promoting and raising money. And the investing public didn’t, in hindsight, get enough information… The innovations around DeFi could be real, but they won’t persist if they stay outside of the public policy frameworks.”

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The chairman addressed the “sprint” initiative, which is a partnership between the SEC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Commodity Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) to explore regulatory framework over digital assets.

“We’re working together to sort through that, but right now the public is not protected as it could be and as I believe it ought to be in this space. Technologies don’t long persist outside of public policy norms; people get hurt, trust is diminished. It’s far better to bring it inside the policy frameworks, and that’s what we’re going to try to do at the SEC.”

The fireside chat btwn Clayton and Gensler is over. Ppl in the room are looking around and asking “register as what?” Lots of questions still remain about the future regulatory path for #crypto.

— Perianne (@PerianneDC) December 1, 2021

While crypto enthusiasts were initially optimistic about Gensler taking over the SEC due to his expertise on blockchain technology, expectations of the chairman promoting the adoption of cryptocurrencies have become neutral at best. While Gensler urged crypto platforms to “get registered,” many are unclear on what he means.

​​“Get registered, come within the investor protection remit, the appropriate anti-manipulation rules and the custody issues.”

The post SEC Chair Gary Gensler Says Bitcoin in Competition with US Banking System appeared first on Coin Bureau.

As reported by Reddit user Jem_Colley, Cardano broke the milestone all without seeing a single moment in downtime. Cardano’s blockchain has been up and running for 1,533 days, while some of its competitors have seen outages.

According to data from blockchain-tracker Messari, active addresses on Cardano have also seen a sudden surge during the current market correction. Ever since late October, active addresses have climbed from around 96,000 per day up to a high of 485,000 on Monday, November 22nd.

Currently, Cardano is entering the “Basho” phase of its roadmap. Basho, which comes after Goguen and before Voltaire, is the era that focuses on optimization, scalability, and interoperability of the network. It also emphasizes the need for sidechain connected to Cardano, and higher transaction capacity. With this in mind, Cardano development firm Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) announced last week that they would be increasing the block size in order in anticipation for higher activity.

“There are now well over 2 million Cardano wallets in use and traffic has grown by over 20 times in a year (from less than 10,000 transactions per day in November 2020 to over 200,000 transactions per day. Because of the anticipated rise in traffic as developers roll out new DApps, the block size is quickly becoming a key consideration. Larger block sizes mean that more transactions can fit into a block, thus providing greater capacity for users. Being able to fit 12.5% more transactions into a block is significant, as it means that we’re processing more transactions per second or we argue – a more useful metric – greater data throughput.”

Cardano’s seemingly solid fundamentals conflict against its bearish price action, potentially presenting opportunities for ADA bulls looking for discounts. ADA is currently more than 50% down from its all-time highs, and well below both the 20 and 50-day moving averages.

Crypto analyst and Cardano bull Dan Gambardello said that from his point of view, the worst of ADA’s correction is behind us given that its relative strength index (RSI) is now at the same level as it was at the bottom of the 2018 bear market.

“Cardano is approaching oversold on the weekly at levels it was at in the bear market low of 2018. Only this time, instead of $.02, ADA is $1.50, after a 50% dip!

It’s crazy to me that some are choosing now to become bearish on ADA.”

Dan Gambardello/Twitter

Analyst Benjamin Cowen also said in a a recent video that Cardano needs to get above the $1.90-$2.00 level in order to resume its bull trend. He’s looking for a little more activity in the ecosystem to help spark some more positive sentiment in Cardano.

“It’s below the 20-week moving average, so we have a lot of work to do, I think a lot of people are sort of waiting to see what’s going to happen in Cardano eco system after we get more DApps and what not to launch. But look, it’s a waiting game, I think it will come through clutch but we still have a little ways to go.”

At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $1.58.

The post Cardano Smashes 20 Million Transaction Mark: Bullish ADA Reversal Coming? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The firm announced that its new fund will aim to invest in projects built within the Algorand ecosystem, and is set up to tackle the creators economy with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as “accelerating the growth of the capital that participates in the ALGO DeFi ecosystem through liquidity mining, lending, borrowing and yield farming.”

Algorand is a blockchain-based crypto that utilizes “pure proof of stake (POS)” to power its smart contract architecture. It enables users to create smart contracts or tokens that represent new or existing assets.

The project aims to be one of the greenest of all cryptocurrencies. As it says on its site:

“Because its consensus is not based on energy-intensive proof-of-work and requires minimal computational power or electricity, Algorand has been a leader in minimizing the environmental impact of blockchain technology. The energy required to run a node in the network is negligible, and can be done on a device as simple as a Raspberry Pi. Compared to other blockchains, digital asset creation and transactions on Algorand result in magnitudes less CO2 emissions, with initial analysis demonstrating around 2 million times less.”

Image via Shutterstock

Arul Murugan, founding managing partner at Borderless Capital, also cited Algorand’s eco-friendly mechanisms as something that stands out to the firm.

“Algorand is the most efficient next generation blockchain software in the market right now, and it is the next frontier for investment opportunities and disruption. Our Borderless ALGO Fund II will continue to be at the forefront of the ecosystem and further ignite the growth by enabling the new innovation that is coming to blockchain.”

The venture capital firm’s leap into the ALGO ecosystem comes shortly after former Citigroup executive Matt Zhang started a $1.5 billion fund in partnership with Algorand. According to the announcement, Algorand would be acting as “a strategic partner to provide technology capability and network ecosystem infrastructure..”

“We believe that Algorand is the preeminent blockchain protocol that allows institutional and corporate users to connect with the decentralized economy. With the explosive growth of the digital asset space, people tend to forget how early the crypto economy still is. We want to team up with partners who have the patience to build an enduring business.”

Algorand also has a public endorsement from SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci. The hedge fund billionaire revealed in September that his firm would be allocating $100 million to an Algorand-focused fund.

The post Venture Capital Firm Starts New Half-Billion Fund Focused On Algorand appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The altcoin, which is up a modest 92,000,000% this year, announced that it is partnering with William Volk, former vice president of tech at gaming giant Activision. In a blog post, Shiba Inu developer Shytoshi Kusama says the SHIB team and Volk are both under non-disclosure agreements in order to maintain an edge over any copy cats or competitors.

“This NDA is vital to us having competitive advantage over all the other gaming, “metaverse”, and NFT system clones that will pop up the moment I hit send.”

Image via Shutterstock

Volk said he was honored to be working on what he says “will become one of the most significant games of all time.”

Shyatoshi said Volk’s words word “huge” given that Volk is “a true visionary with decades of top-notch high quality experience on the corporate side (VP of TECHNOLOGY @ Activision) and also on the independent side having run his own game studio as well.”

Though details of the partnership are vague, market sentiment around SHIB appears to be improving regardless, potentially based on the rising gaming and metaverse narrative in the crypto markets.

According to crypto whale-tracking website WhaleStats, SHIB whales increased their holdings by 42% in a 24-hour timeframe shortly after the announcement.

Fanning the flames, crypto exchange Kraken announced it was listing SHIB to its platform starting today. Kraken previously hinted it was looking at bringing support for SHIB last month when it conducted a Twitter poll asking for its followers’ opinion on it.

@brianchoffman said if we get 2,000 likes we will list $SHIB tomorrow – but he doesn't think we can do it.#SHIBArmy where you at?

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) November 1, 2021

Originally asking for 2,000 likes on the post, the “Shib Army” gave an overwhelming 83,000 likes. At the time of writing, SHIB is trading at $0.00005130, looking strong but still well off its all-time high of $0.00008616.

The post Shiba Inu Expands to Metaverse, Listed On Kraken Exchange appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking to CNBC, the billionaire investors said that “the macro story has changed a little bit,” adding that Powell being reappointed by President Biden could allow him “to act more like a central banker than a guy that wants to be reappointed.”

Novogratz opined that the threat of out of control inflation could force Powell and the Fed to start raising rates and scaling down quantitative easing programs, which would ultimately be a drag on the prices of many assets, including crypto.

“We have inflation showing up in pretty bad ways in the U.S…So we can see, is the Fed going to have to move a little faster? That would slow all assets down. It would slow the Nasdaq down. It would slow crypto down, if we have to start raising rates much faster than we thought.”

Image via Shutterstock

While the Galaxy Digital CEO is cautious about the potential effect of future monetary policy on the digital asset space, he’s still been maintaining a bullish stance on the industry in general. According to him, institutional interest in crypto is constantly gaining momentum.

“The amount of institutions Galaxy sees moving into this space is staggering…I was on the phone with one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world today, and they’ve made the decision on a go-forward basis to start putting money into crypto…I’ve had the same conversations with big pension funds in the United States.”

In addition, Galaxy announced yesterday that the crypto giant raised $500 million in new funds in the form of exchangeable senior notes. The notes will earn holders 3% interest and will mature in 2026.

According to Galaxy, the new capital will be used to accelerate growth initiatives across its business lines, as well as general corporate purposes.

The post Federal Reserve Could Kill Crypto Rallies In 2022 appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The new product will be an exchange-traded note (ETN) 100% backed by “physical” holdings of Bitcoin, and aims to deliver the price performance of BTC, minus a fixed annual fee of 0.99%.

Digital asset management firm CoinShares will be acting as the sponsor of the index and the execution agent for the product.

Deutsche Borse announced the launch of the new ETN on its digital stock exchange Xetra. 

“The Invesco Physical Bitcoin offers investors the opportunity to participate in the performance of the cryptocurrency Bitcoinin a simple way. The exchange traded note (ETN) physically backed by Bitcoin was admitted to the Regulated Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is centrally cleared via Eurex Clearing. Through central clearing, investors benefit from significantly reduced risks in the settlement of transactions.”

Image via Shutterstock

In a report from ETFStream, Gary Buxton, head of EMEA ETFs and indexed strategies at Invesco said the company has been working on the product since the middle of 2018.

“In the last two to three years, we have been trying to structure a product that looked, from an institutional point of view, as close as possible to a traditional ETF like our gold structure, and that has been the driver of BTIC’s timeline.

“We have been pushed over the last couple of years by institutional clients and had to look at how we can access this space well. Most of the discussions we have with clients are not really about bitcoin itself but more about the access to bitcoin and how you get comfortable with segregation, how you get comfortable with valuation. Really, one of the strengths of ETPs is as an access vehicle.”

News of the new ETN comes shortly after Invesco withdrew their application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a futures-based Bitcoin ETF.

Invesco’s ETN will join a host of other crypto-related products on the Deutsche Borse, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) , Polkadot (DOT), Solana (SOL), Stellar (XLM), Tezos (XTZ), and TRON as well as a Crypto Basket.

The post Invesco Set to Launch Spot Bitcoin ETP In Europe appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to Statista, PayPal processed an average of $302 billion per quarter in 2021, while the Bitcoin network processed an average of $489 billion. 

In a new report from blockchain analytics platform Blockdata, the firm looks at what exactly it would take for Bitcoin to surpass Mastercard and Visa, two giants with a near duopoloy on global payments. 

Mastercard’s network processed $1.8 trillion per quarter this year, while Visa processed an average of $3.2 trillion, or 260% and 540% more respectively. 

Blockdata

“It’s impressive how Bitcoin, as a 12 year old decentralized network, is 27% of the way in terms of one metric (volume processed) compared to Mastercard, a company founded in 1966. Especially when you take into account that this is a decentralized movement.”

Blockdata says there are three main factors that would make the Bitcoin network rival that of Mastercard and Visa. 

They are: 

1. The number of transactions rises
2. The average amount of Bitcoin sent per transaction rises
3. The price of Bitcoin goes up.

Regarding the first factor, the firm says that there are many variables to take into account, such as the fact that the Bitcoin network currently only handles a limited amount of transactions. Once the network reaches capacity, it would be up to Layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network to handle. 

“In fact, it is unlikely we’ll ever know exactly how many bitcoin transactions happen over the Lightning Network, as there is no way for anyone to monitor all of the traffic on this network. That in turn leads to the conclusion that it’s unlikely we’ll have an accurate answer of when Bitcoin grows to such a network size, only estimations.”

The firm says that theoretically, if the amount of value transferred per transaction increased by 260%, then Bitcoin would be processing an equal amount to Mastercard on a daily basis. To match Visa, it would have to increase by 540%. However, Blockdata says that there is no hard data indicating an upward trend in the average amount of value transferred with Bitcoin. 

Looking at the third catalyst, Blockdata says that if the price of Bitcoin went up by 260%, to $245,000, then its network would theoretically be processing as much volume as Mastercard. To match Visa, it would need to rise by 540% to roughly $435,000. Hypothetically, if Bitcoin were to continue growing at the same rate it did this year, which is likely unrealistic, Bitcoin could surpass Mastercard by 2026. 

Blockdata

Blockdata doesn’t give an exact timeline for when Bitcoin ultimately overtakes the other payment giants of the world, but does say that fears of inflation, which are rampant worldwide, could end up being a massive catalyst for the top crypto.

“If people in developed countries with easier access to cryptocurrency continue to move an increasing amount of wealth into it, a lot can change over the next years, and a conservative estimate of 2026 for Bitcoin to grow to the scale of a network like Mastercard or Visa, may not be so overoptimistic after all. Facilitating the same number of users and transactions however, is a completely different discussion and an enormous challenge.”

Blockdata’s full report can be read here.

The post Bitcoin Surpasses PayPal in Transaction Volume: Mastercard Next? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to data from CoinGecko, BAT is up 122% over the last 30 days, and is still green on the day while the vast majority are deep in the red.

BAT’s rally comes as Brave has announced the release of its new browser-based software wallet. According to the company, Brave Wallet doesn’t require any extensions, and is completely browser-native to minimize security risks and CPU and memory requirements.

Users will be able to transact with “almost any crypto asset”, as well as connect with other wallets and Web3 decentralized applications (DApps).

Brave says that users of the new wallet will be able to:

• See live and historical market graphs (price data powered by CoinGecko
• Find the best price match against a list of providers with built-in swap functionality
• Send and receive assets
• Buy with fiat via Wyre
• Interact with DApps for any EVM compatible network
• Manage their portfolio — with non-fungible token (NFT) and multi-chain support
• Easily import their wallet from MetaMask and self-custody wallets, or Brave’s legacy Crypto Wallets extension, or hardware wallets such as Trezor and Ledger (no Ledger Live required)
• Send and receive NFTs

Image via Shutterstock

It was also revealed earlier this month that the Solana blockchain would be integrated into the Brave Browser by July of 2022. The partnership aims to enable Solana’s DEX aggregator swaps, non-fungible token (NFT) support, the sending of SPL tokens, and creating accounts.

“The crypto boom has vaulted blockchain applications into the mainstream, but like any rapidly-growing innovation, this swift rise is not without challenges. One of the hurdles is the crypto wallet industry’s reliance on extensions, which introduces friction for DApp adoption and often leads to users losing funds via fake extension phishing scams,” said Brian Bondy, CTO and co-founder of Brave.

BAT is currently trading at $1.57.

The post Basic Attention Token Quietly Rallies 120% in November appeared first on Coin Bureau.

While prices dip down, there is evidence that the largest entities in the market have been in a steady phase of accumulation, taking advantage of lower prices.

According to data from BitInfoCharts, the third biggest wallet in existence has been increasing its balance since the beginning of the month. This wallet is the biggest known whale – or entity that holds more than 1,000 BTC – excluding crypto exchanges Binance and Bitfinex.

The whale’s history shows that since October 26, it has added an additional 8,300 BTC, worth about $456,000,000 with Bitcoin priced at $55,000.

Blockchain tracker Santiment also says there’s a general trend among whales that accumulation is taking place, signaling increasing conviction among the biggest BTC entities.

“If you’ve been waiting for #Bitcoin whales to show signs of accumulation, our data indicates it’s happening once again. In the past week, a total of 59k $BTC has been added to addresses that hold between 100 to 10k $BTC. This is 0.29% of the total supply.”

Santiment/Twitter

Santiment, which typically takes contrarian signals from market sentiment sourced from social media analytics, says that Bitcoin’s sentiment is at a 50-day low. According to the firm, there is evidence to show that retail traders are reaching peak anxiety, which bodes well for a possible BTC recovery.

According on-chain analyst Wil Clemente, there is a bullish divergence between Bitcoin’s declining price, and the amount of strong hands accumulating. “Strong hands” refer to Bitcoin entities with little history of selling.

“Over the last two weeks, clear bullish divergence between BTC supply moving to strong hands and price.”

Will Clemente/Twitter

November is 5 days away from closing red for Bitcoin, and will leave only one month left in 2022 for the king crypto to reach many of the bullish “end-of-year” price predictions. November will also likely be the first month that quant analyst PlanB’s floor model will break, unless Bitcoin manages to rally all the way to $98,000 in a hurry. With that said, PlanB and many other analysts agree that Bitcoin’s long term price action does seem on track to hit the six-figure mark sooner rather than later.

The post Bitcoin Whales Scoop Up Tasty Discounts appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Bread Wallet is an open-source cryptocurrency software wallet meant for mobile use, with a focus on user-friendliness. It is a decentralized application that doesn’t connect to any central server, and instead connects directly to each cryptocurrency’s blockchain.

Founded in Switzerland in 2015, Bread Wallet has acquired over 10 million users. It’s utility token is BRD. In a new announcement, Bread Wallet says users on the platform will not see any change, but will have the option to migrate into Coinbase Wallet.

“At this time, nothing will change in the BRD wallet app and as always, your funds are safe and secure. You may continue to transact normally. In the future, BRD wallet users will have an optional migration path to self custody with Coinbase Wallet, which will include a special gift. Stay tuned for more details to come in 2022.”

And, according to Coinbase:

“We have great news – the BRD team will be joining CoinbaseWallet to help accelerate web3 adoption. The team brings deep expertise in self-custody for crypto wallets, which will help Wallet enable more people to safely and securely access the decentralized world of crypto.”

Following the news, the BRD token exploded, and may not be done yet. According to data from CoinGecko, BRD went from $0.16 to $1.51 in a matter of hours for a gain of 841%. Currently, BRD has cooled off slightly and is now trading at $1.30, but still looking very strong.

CoinGecko

Earlier this month, Conbase also acquired Indian startup Agara. Agara is in artificial intelligence support platform with operations in both India and the US. According to Coinbase, the acquisition was part of a bigger effort to improve its customer support department.

“We plan to leverage Agara’s powerful Deep Learning and Conversational AI technology to automate and enhance our customer experience (CX) tools. Improving our CX remains a top priority for Coinbase — in the past few months we have increased our support staff headcount by 5x and announced that we’ll deliver 24/7 phone support and live messaging by end of year. Through this acquisition, we’ll be able to provide our customers with new personalized, intelligent, and real-time support options.”

The post Coinbase Acquires Bread Wallet: BRD Token MOONS 840% appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a new report, Grayscale says that they see the Metaverse as the third big step in the evolution of digital communities, with Decentraland (MANA) leading the charge.

“The internet has always been about connecting people. Over the past three decades, internet technology has evolved, and the way we all interact with the web has evolved with it. Much has changed, but three key eras of online-based communities could be thought of as:

• Web 1.0 – Netscape connected us online
• Web 2.0 – Facebook connected us into online communities
• Web 3.0 – Decentraland connected us into a community-owned virtual world”

Grayscale

Grayscale says that established Web 2.0 companies, such as social media giant Facebook, will be forced to disrupt their business models by opening up new ecosystems and getting rid of “competitive moats.”

“We don’t yet know the path Facebook will take with their Metaverse ambitions, but they—like other Web 2.0 companies—will need to make this challenging shift inthe face of pressure to meet quarterly results for shareholders.”

While most of the metaverse narrative has been focused in on the gaming side of things, Grayscale believes that gaming is only one facet to a concept that could be exponentially bigger. The firm sees the metaverse growing to capture industries like advertising, social commerce, digital events, hardware, and developer/creator monetization.

“The total market cap of the leading Web 3.0 Metaverse crypto networks sits at ~$27.5 billion. This pales in comparison to the ~$900 billion market cap of Facebook, the ~$2 trillion market cap of the gaming sector, and the $14.8 trillion market cap of Web 2.0 companies that could shift to the Metaverse or risk disruption…

The market opportunity for bringing the Metaverse to life may be worth over $1 trillion in annual revenue and may compete with Web 2.0 companies worth ~$15 trillion in market value today. This potential has attracted companies like Facebook to pivot towards the Metaverse, which may serve as a catalyst for other Web 2.0 tech giants and investors to follow.”

At the time of writing, metaverse-related coins have been popping off left right and center the past month or so. Decentraland (MANA), is the second biggest metaverse coin on the market after the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity (AXS). At the time of writing, MANA has gone up 537% in the last 30 days, currently switching hands at $5.17.

The post Crypto Giant Grayscale: Metaverse $1 Trillion in Opportunities appeared first on Coin Bureau.

At the time of writing, CRO is up 384% in the last 30 days, according to data from CoinGecko. In the same timeframe, Bitcoin is down 7%.

CRO suddenly finds itself jostling for a position in the top ten crypto assets by market cap. Excluding stablecoins Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC, CRO is the tenth-largest coin on the market, currently only $3 billion behind Avalanche (AVAX),and just ahead of meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB).

Crypto.com is a full-package crypto exchange that allows trading, holding, staking, wallets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and more. It also offers its own crypto.com VISA card enabling its users to spend their digital assets with investors.

Founded in 2016, Crypto.com has soared in popularity and brand awareness over the course of 2021’s bull market.

Image via Shutterstock

Last week, the company snagged what is thought to be the largest naming rights deal in all of sports history. The Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the NBA’s LA Clippers and LA Lakers, as well as the NHL’s LA Kings, will soon be called “Crypto.com Arena” starting this Christmas.

The name will officially change when the Lakers host the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA’s annual Christmas showcase.

Crypto.com also has sponsorships with Formula One, the UFC, Italy’s Serie A, Paris St-Germain and the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, as well as the Philadelphia 76ers. Additionally, the site has slated Hollywood actor Matt Damon as its new brand ambassador, and the celebrity now shows up on Crypto.com’s homepage.

According to the Financial Times, Crypto.com has estimated revenues of $1.2 billion. It has over 3,000 employees, and CEO Kris Marszalek expects the company to have over 100 million users by the end of 2022.

The post CRO’s Massive 380% Rally: CRO Could Be Top Ten Crypto appeared first on Coin Bureau.

At a speech to the AFR Super & Wealth Summit, Longo says that crypto’s rise to prominence has been nothing short of phenomenal, and “impossible to ignore.” He addresses statements from Australian senator Andrew Bragg, who recently asserted that for too long, “banks have cast aside cryptocurrency as an illegitimate fringe pursuit.”

“Wherever we land from a policy perspective, Senator Bragg’s committee was right to highlight the fact that crypto is on our doorstep, here and now, and being driven by extraordinary consumer and investor demand.

The implications for consumers are potentially huge. It is almost an article of faith that no one should invest in something they don’t understand. Who among us can say they really understand crypto-assets and cryptocurrencies?”

Image via Shutterstock

Longo seemed to be careful not to be overtly optimistic nor pessimistic about the rise of crypto. Instead, the chairman went on to highlight the significance of the new industry, and the need for regulators to decide how to react. According to him, many crypto assets are currently not to be considered “financial products, which makes it difficult for financial advisors to offer counsel.

He asks, “What can they do when clients are banging down the door wanting to divert their savings into Ethereum or Dogecoin, a currency originally conceived as a joke?”

Longo hinted that exchange-traded funds ETF do offer some protection and certainty as regulated products on exchanges, but says “for the most part, for now at least, investors are on their own.”

He also highlights the significance of Australia’s Commonwealth Bank (ACB), the biggest in the country, offering crypto services to clients.

“The fact Australia’s largest bank is already proposing a means of crypto-exposure for its retail customers is telling. Yes, it’s only a pilot project, but the overall direction is clear. This debate is no longer on the fringes of the financial services industry.”

Earlier this week, Australia’s $46.8 billion Rest Super fund, announced it would be investing in crypto for its 1.8 million members.

The post ASIC Head Says Rise of Crypto ‘Impossible to Ignore’ appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Citi will be hiring 100 new recruits for the crypto division overseen by Puneet Singhvi, head of digital assets for its institutional clients group (ICG). Singvhi was previously head of blockchain and digital assets at the banks trading arm.

Singhvi will be reporting to Emily Turner, head of business development at Citi. Turner said that the bank is optimistic on the digital asset space, “including the benefits of efficiency, instant processing, fractionalization, programmability, and transparency.” She also added that the branch will be “engaging with key internal and external stakeholders including clients, startups and regulators.”

Image via Shutterstock

Citigroup’s hiring spree and efforts to get a foothold in the crypto industry are not out of the blue. The bank began offering digital asset trading services to family offices and investment managers earlier this year, and both its current and former CEOs have made publicly pro-crypto statements.

Last month, CEO Jane Fraser said in an interview with Yahoo Finance that it was “clear that digital assets will be part of the financial services and financial markets,” adding that the bank was already seeing clients “very active in the space.”

“Real-time payments, both in the sense of they’re frictionless, they’ll become more global, they’ll become ubiquitous. Real-time payments will be here in the near term, and digital currencies may be part of that future.”

Former CEO Vikram Pandit, who headed Citi between 2007 and 2012, also recently predicted that every large bank and securities firm would soon have to contemplate to themselves: “Shouldn’t I also be trading and selling cryptocurrency assets?”

He also emphasized the efficiency that digital currencies could offer central banks.

“My big hope is that central banks around the world understand the benefit of a central bank digital currency, and move on to accept, adopt them.”

The post Banking Titan Citigroup Launches 100-Staffer Hiring Spree For New Crypto Division: Report appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Catching the eye of the market lately is the metaverse sector of crypto, or coins that pertain to the blossoming virtual reality industry. Currently, it’s The Sandbox (SAND) that is pulling off the most parabolic growth, which is up a whopping 600% in the last 30 days at the time of writing, and 91% in the last 7 days.

The Sandbox is an Ethereum-based virtual world where users can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences on the blockchain using SAND, the network’s utility token. The Sandbox also allows for the minting of your own non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which can then be uploaded to the marketplace or integrated into games or experiences.

Users can buy their own virtual land on The Sandbox in the form of LAND tokens, and then populate it with “ASSETS”, which are entities designed with the intention of providing content to various experiences. Multiple LANDs can be combined to form an “ESTATE”.

SAND is currently number 3 on CoinGecko’s list of metaverse coins and number 41 in the entire crypto space overall.

Besides the general popularity and awareness of the metaverse, the Sandbox is also enjoying its own specific fundamental catalysts, potentially benefiting its price.

Earlier today, rumors of a partnership with clothing and apparel icon Adidas were confirmed when the company gave the Sandbox a shoutout on Twitter.

adiVerse anyone?

What should we build, together in @TheSandboxGame? https://t.co/VbAdIi9cxN

— adidas Originals (@adidasoriginals) November 22, 2021

What Adidas plans on doing inside the Sandbox’s metaverse (or “adiverse”) remains unclear, but the market responded positively to the announcement nonetheless, giving SAND a 30% boost on top of an already red hot streak. 

The Sandbox also has partnerships with big names like The Smurfs, Animoca Brands, Atari, and The Walking Dead. 

SAND’s market cap is currently at roughly $4.8 billion, making it about half the size of play-to-earn metaverse coin AXS of Axie Infinity, and about 20% smaller than virtual world Decentraland (MANA). 

The post Metaverse Narrative Accelerates As The Sandbox (SAND) Defies Crypto Correction This Week With 100% Rally appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The idea is to have an entirely new city between ​​La Unión and Conchagua, and power it from energy harnessed from a nearby volcano. The country has partnered with development firm Blockstream to create Bitcoin bonds that El Salvador will use to fund the project.

When the city is operational, president Nayib Bukele says that there won’t be any taxes except a value-added tax (VAT). Bukele says half the VAT’s revenue would be used to fund the bonds, and the other half would be used for basic city services like garbage collection.

“Invest here and make all the money you want,” president Bukele said. “This is a fully ecological city that works and is energized by a volcano.”

Based on illustrations from the Bukele’s administration, the city will be a circular and geometrically precise in nature. At its center, a large “B” for Bitcoin.

“There will be a plaza with a “B” for Bitcoin carved into it, allowing light to enter the exhibition halls of the Bitcoin museum. This is where people will learn about the evolution of money: from stones to blockchain perfection.”

Casa Presidencial/Twitter

Bitcoin City aims to have both residential and commercial areas, entertainment venues, restaurants, services, an airport, a train station, and a port.

Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of Blockstream, said that the new Bitcoin bond will be launched on the company’s Liquid Network. It will have the ability to give out special dividends on an annual basis generated by a staggered liquidation of BTC. He adds that the the network allows for accepting investments as small as $100, to “democratize access to the bond.”

“This bond offering is something we think will be attractive to a wide range of investors ranging from cryptocurrency investors, investors seeking yield, HODLers, and ordinary people. We believe this bond has the potential to accelerate hyperbitcoinization and bring about a new financial system built on top of Bitcoin.

Today, the president of El Salvador and I have announced that they will be issuing a $1 billion US “Bitcoin Bond” on the Liquid Network. The $1 billion US raised will be split between a $500M allocation of bitcoin (BTC) and a $500M infrastructure spend for building out energy and Bitcoin mining infrastructure in the region.”

The post El Salvador Launches Futuristic ‘Bitcoin City’ Project Backed by $1 Billion in BTC Bonds appeared first on Coin Bureau.

According to a report from Cointelegraph, Consensus Networks, which won a contract with the Navy in May to develop a logistics system called HealthNet, has selected IoTeX to provide the framework for the system.

Using IoTeX, Consensus Networks aims to provide real-time monitoring and logistics to hundreds of thousands of soldiers, all with top-notch security and the ability to scale at will.

Nathan Miller, CEO of IoTeX, told Cointelegraph that the project was 50% complete, and set for release sometime in early 2022.

Image via Shutterstock

For now, the project focuses on the Navy, but Miller says the system could be used for a number of different scenarios. He says it uses an “integrated data environment and an interface to track medical suppliers from manufacturer to patient in order to reduce delivery time and waste.”

“For example, it will be great for elderly homes by helping them with better care without driving or being driven to a healthcare facility… The system will help track their health and predict their needs and get them sorted, so they do not have to visit clinics…

It is hard to believe that today automobile manufacturers, such as Ford, have a better network for ensuring the health of their vehicles in the shop or on the road than the medical sector has to monitor and safeguard the health of people.”

IoTeX is a decentralized network focused on the growing internet of things (IOT) sector. Powering the network is its utility token, IOTX, which is able to connect devices like cameras, computers, or sensors with decentralized apps (DApps). IOTX is also a cryptocurrency which can be used for transactions, staking, and registering new devices on the network.

IOTX currently costs $0.40, up over 15,000% from its lows in March of 2020.

The post US Navy Exploring Using IoTeX to Monitor Supply Chain Logistics: Report appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Geoffrey Huntley, a former computer gaming entrepreneur who now lives “a minimalist lifestyle in a van,” modeled The NFT Bay after popular torrent site The Pirate Bay.

On the site, users can download ripped versions of Crypto Punks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Crypto Puppies and other popular NFTs.

Mere hours after the site’s launch, The NFT Bay received 1.2 million visitors.

Geoff Huntley/Twitter

While NFTs are supposed to authenticate digital ownership and uniqueness, Huntley says that people do not understand what they’re investing in. In Huntley’s GitHub commit, he claims that an NFT is only a hyperlink to an image hosted on various web 2.0 platforms, and has little to do with the blockchain. He also implies NFTs have a negative impact on the natural environment.

“People are dropping millions on instructions on how to  download images. That’s why you can right click save-as because they are standard images. The image is not stored in the blockchain contract. As web2.0 webhosts are known to go offline (404 errors) this handy torrent contains all of the NFT’s so that future generations can study this generations tulip mania and collectively go…

WTF? We destroyed our planet for THIS?!”

The new torrent site echoes ongoing debate over the intrinsic value of NFTs, and the idea that you can simply “right click, then ‘save as'” one. Huntley acknowledges the value in digital ownership and says it has a place in the world, but that the current state of the industry is filled with “greed/scamming.”

He also shared an unfortunate email he got from a supporter, asking “coiners” if they believed they were “on the right side of history.”

Geoff Huntley/Twitter

“Fundamentally, I hope through http://thenftbay.org people learn to understand what people are buying when purchasing NFT art right now is nothing more then directions on how to access or download a image. The image is not stored on the blockchain and the majority of images I’ve seen are hosted on web2.0 storage which is likely to end up as 404 meaning the NFT has even less value.”

At the time of writing, the NFT Bay is still online and it’s unclear if there will be any legality issues surrounding the site.

The post End of Non-Fungible Tokens? Torrent Site With Every Ethereum and Solana NFT Launches appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The funding round was led by crypto investment management firm Morgan Creek Digital, with further contributions from 10T, ParaFi, Newflow Partners, Marcy Venture Partners, and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), and others. It gives Gemini a valuation of $7.1 billion.

Jumping out on the list is the CBA, which partnered with Gemini earlier this month to provide crypto trading services to over six million Australians.

In a press release, Morgan Creek’s general partner Sachin Jaitly explained why the firm decided to lead the funding round.

“We are leading the first outside investment in Gemini because of our shared conviction in crypto and belief in the company that Cameron and Tyler are building. Their vision for the role of crypto in redesigning money, the financial system, art, and the Internet, and their track record of incubating and scaling innovative technologies, gives us confidence in Gemini’s ability to continue to be an industry leader.”

Gemini’s move to control the metaverse comes after social media giant Facebook rebranded to “Meta” and laid out its plans for a metaverse. Meta’s concept was criticized by those within the crypto community for being the antithesis of their decentralized vision of what the metaverse should be.

Image via Shutterstock

In an interview with Forbes, Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who battled Mark Zuckerberg in court in 2004 over alleged intellectual property theft involving Facebook, mentioned that they wanted to take the decentralized route in creating the metaverse.

Cameron Winklevoss said, “There’s these two parallel paths, in terms of technology right now.”

“There’s a centralized path, like Facebook or Fortnite, that is one step away from being a metaverse, and that’s totally fine. But there is another path, which is the decentralized metaverse and that’s the metaverse where we believe there’s greater choice, independence and opportunity, and there is technology that protects the rights and dignity of individuals.”

After the raise, the Winklevoss brothers are expected to keep 75% ownership of Gemini.

The post Crypto Exchange Gemini Raises $400 Million To Save World From Facebook’s Version of Metaverse appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The virtual auction will feature two pieces from legendary artist Banksy, including “Love Is In The Air,” and “Trolley Hunters.”

The event comes months after Sothebys became the first auction house to accept cryptocurrency for physical works of art. This will be the first time that crypto is used for live bidding in an art auction.

“Together, these milestone offerings not only spotlight the artist’s position as the leading disruptor of the art world whose work resonates with the boundary-pushing ethos of the crypto community, but they demonstrate the innovative spirit in which Sotheby’s continues to experiment with and expand the possibilities of the auction format.”

According to Sotheby’s, ETH is the preferred cryptocurrency in the digital art and non-fungible token (NFT) community, given that the Ethreum network is the main ecosystem where NFTs are minted and transactions take place.

While the bidding increments will be given in ETH, Sotheby’s says that winning bidders will have the option of paying the hammer price either in fiat, Bitcoin (BTC), or USD Coin (USDC).

Also being sold at the auction is a copy of the United States Constitution. In anticipation of the Constitution being sold, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) formed with the goal of purchasing it at the auction. ConstitutionDAO raised more than $40 million in less than a week in order to place bids at Sotheby’s auction. The funds raised came from over 15,000 participants with an average contribution of $2,000. One anonymous donor contributed $4 million.

ok it is a little past midnight and we have now raised 40 MILLION DOLLARS to buy this constitution

today has been absolutely incredible, but its time for me to slep

see you all in the morning, we tweet at dawn [CHIRPBIRDICON] #wagbtc pic.twitter.com/dIu3KPLxDf

— ConstitutionDAO (, ) (@ConstitutionDAO) November 18, 2021

After winning the auction, the DAO aims to get possession of the Consitution, and keep it available to the public instead of whisked away into a private collection.

David Silverman, a contributor to the initiative, outlined the advantages of using DAO over a regular fundraising process.

“There isn’t really any analog that can spin that up in less than three days’ time… And using cryptocurrency to handle the donation flows guarantees that everyone is able to contribute around the world without having to wait, you know, worry about waiting for banking clearance and currency conversions and all kinds of other settlement.”

The post Iconic British Auction House Sotheby’s To Allow Live Bidding On Banksy Art With ETH appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Pal has been gauging Ethereum’s current bull cycle from the perspective that it is at the same point in its adoption cycle that Bitcoin was between 2013 and 2017. Being a relatively newer technology, earlier on in its introduction to the world means a more parabolic upward move for ETH than BTC, according to the Real Vision CEO.

Pal suggests that the backbone of macro price movement for crypto is network effects, or the concept of a network growing in value as its users grow. To him, network effects happen in waves with recognizable patterns, and this is what explains the staggeringly similar price movements between Bitcoin back then, and Ethereum today.

Raoul Pal/Twitter

Zooming in on the day-to-day price action, the macro investor says Ethereum just went through a sell-off that was, according to his chart, exactly on cue. What’s even more interesting, is what comes next.

“I have been showing this spooky chart of ETH now vs BTC in 2017 in various forms. This is my live CIX on Bloomberg…. even nailed this sell off….to the day and price. What happened next? A 300% rally. From tomorrow (ish).”

Raoul Pal/Twitter

Pal says he doesn’t expect bang-on accuracy with the comparison, but that “something like a 100% to 300% rally is highly probable into year-end.”

“After that, it’s a tougher call but I think it possibly elongates and sees significantly higher prices.”

Pal has been adamant that during this cycle, ETH will be the better bet, mostly because of the aforementioned adoption cycle theory. Last month, he said his portfolio allocation was something like “70% ETH, 5% Bitcoin, and then a tail of others.”

“So why that allocation? Nothing against Bitcoin, it’s not against anything else, it’s because I’m a financial markets guy and we use risk curves. So at certain points in the cycle, in the middle of the bull market you want to take as much risk as possible, so you want to go to the more speculative end of the market.”

Time will tell if Pal’s “ETH vs BTC in 2013” model continues to play out, but other analysts are also on board with a sudden rally after the current correction bottoms out.

Using Elliot Wave theory, analyst Crypto Ed says that the bottom is more or less in for Bitcoin and that a powerful price impulse to $90,000 is setting up.

“Maybe a bit early to post as the bottom might not be in yet, but I’m getting excited when checking next targets which don’t seem to be that far away!
In case I’m right with bottom in already or around $57k, the target is more or less the same…..
$90.000 and a little bit.”

CryptoEd/Twitter

The post Scary Chart Suggests Gigantic Ethereum Rally Incoming, Says Real Vision’s Raoul Pal appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking with Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal, Bankman-Fried said that a year ago, he would have given a very “low probability” that NFTs would bridge the gap between crypto and the mainstream. Now, he gives that scenario a “decent” level of probability.

“I don’t want to confidently say that will happen because I think it could be payment rails instead. I think there are a few things it could be. But I would now put NFTs in that top category probability-wise, along with a couple of other things in terms of what brings a non-crypto native audience to crypto for something other than financial investing.”

The CEO says that NFTs could become mainstream through a number of different avenues, including integration with video games, or ticketing for venues and events.

“I think that we’re seeing really active movements on those fronts and it totally makes sense as a product.”

Image via Shutterstock

Bankman-Fried wouldn’t be the first crypto exchange boss to see the potential in NFTs. Last month, Coinbase announced it was launching a new platform called Coinbase NFT. According to Coinbase, the new platform will be a “peer-to-peer marketplace that will make minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs easier than ever.”

In Coinbase’s Q3 earnings call, CEO Brian Armstrong said that he wouldn’t surprised if NFTs became “as big or bigger” than regular crypto trading, and revealed that Coinbase was looking to make their new NFT marketplace something similar to Instagram, “opposed to, say, an auction like eBay or something like that.”

“I think having people that you can follow, your favorite artists or creators and having a feed of content that gets populated from those people you follow, that could be really powerful. And in addition, you can go in there and buy an NFT if you really like it and you’ll kind of showcase in your own social profile.”

The post Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX Says NFTs Will Bring Crypto to The Masses appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Running what Changpeng Zhao (CZ) says is Binance’s first advertisement ever, the exchange took up an entire page of London’s Financial Times with the words “CRYPTO IS EVIL.”

Underneath the eye-catching phrase, Binance warns:

“When it comes to crypto,

Don’t let the headlines fool you.

There’s a world beyond Bitcoin and Dogecoin, one where financial opportunity is accessible to everyone, not just the privileged few.

Crypto belongs to all of us. But there’s still work to be done if we want this breakthrough innovation to become part of our daily lives. Like seat belts in a car, a more regulated crypto market provides greater protections for everyday users.

To welcome the next billion users, Binance is working with regulators and policymakers to support a global framework that protects users without limiting growth and innovation.”

Binance/Twitter

The exchange then presents a bill of rights-like set of fundamental standards that they think every crypto trader should be granted.

The list includes things like privacy, protection from bad actors, safe custody of funds, and proper amounts of liquidity.

Number ten on the list is: “Crypto regulation is inevitable.* Users have the right to share their voice on how the industry should evolve with their blockchain platform of choice.”

The new bill of rights comes after Binance facing regulatory scrutiny over the better part of the year. In the US, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reportedly investigated Binance for alleged insider trading and market manipulation by “trading on customer orders before executing them.”

In the UK, The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) alleged that Binance’s U.K. subsidiary was operating without approval, and similar allegations have arisen throughout Europe and East Asia.

Today, CZ, whose net worth is estimated to be somewhere in the ballpark of $2 billion, said in an interview with AP that he was considering giving away the vast majority of his wealth.

“Personally, I’m financially free. I don’t need a lot of money, and I can maintain my lifestyle in this way. I do intend to give away most of my wealth like many wealthy entrepreneurs or founders did from Rockefeller until today. I do intend to give away 90, 95, or 99% of my wealth.”

Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange by far. As of November 8th, it was pulling in an average of $26 billion in 24-hour volume, more than $20 billion more than Coinbase.

The post Global Exchange Binance Releases Crypto Bill of Rights For Traders appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The bill, which contains more than $1 trillion in spending for everything from roads and bridges, to $5 billion for electric school buses, also includes a piece that redefines the meaning of “broker” in the digital asset space.

Under the new bill, a vast range of entities working in the industry could be classified as brokers, and thus required to issue a 1099-like form disclosing who their customers are to the government. They would also be required to report every transaction over $10,000.

Though the crypto provision doesn’t take effect until 2024, those in the space have lamented the new legislation, including US officials.

Image via Shutterstock

Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) have introduced a new bill that attempts to tweak Biden’s infrastructure package to bring in a more crypto-friendly definition for “broker.”

In an announcement yesterday, the senators said that their new bill would amend the definition to exclude “miners and stakers, as well as wallet providers and developers, and would ensure that only those digital asset intermediaries that actually have access to material customer information are required to report to the IRS.”

Ostensibly, Wyden and Lummis’ bill aims for crypto exchanges to be the only major entity affected by the provision.

“With the infrastructure bill on the verge of becoming law, it’s critically important to protect innovation in the digital asset space,” Senator Wyden said.

“Our bill makes clear that the new reporting requirements do not apply to individuals developing blockchain technology and wallets. This will protect American innovation while at the same time ensuring those who buy and sell cryptocurrency pay the taxes they already owe.”

Lummis said that passing the bill and embracing the crypto space was imperative to “maintain America’s position as the global financial leader.”

Lummis has been vocally pro-crypto in the past, and is the first known senator to publicly hold Bitcoin. She has also advocated for holding Bitcoin as a retirement asset.

The post President Biden Signs Infrastructure Bill Into Law As Senators Try to Amend Crypto Provision appeared first on Coin Bureau.

When asked by Andrew Ross Sorkin of CNBC whether or not he owned any Bitcoin or Ethereum, Cook said “I do, yeah,” adding that it’s a “reasonable” addition to a diversified portfolio.

“I’ve been interested in it for a while, and I’ve been researching it and so forth and so I think it’s interesting.”

The CEO was also asked whether or not Apple was considering integrating crypto into their business model. He clarified Apple likely wouldn’t hold crypto on its cash balance or accept it as payment, but vaguely alluded to other things.

“It’s something that we’re looking at. It’s not something we have maybe plans to do… There is things that I wouldn’t do, like our cash balance. I wouldn’t go and invest it in crypto, not because I wouldn’t invest my own money in crypto, but because I don’t think people buy an Apple stock to get exposure to crypto. So if they want to do that they can invest directly in crypto if it remains. So I wouldn’t do that, and I’m not planning to in the immediate future to take crypto for our products as a means of tender. But there are other things that we’re definitely looking at.”

Image via Shutterstock

Cook refrained from elaborating on what exactly Apple was looking at. The possibility of corporate giants such as Apple putting BTC on their balance sheets has often been named as a potential catalyst for parabolic growth in Bitcoin.

Michael Saylor, CEO of business intelligence software firm MicroStrategy, has advocated for companies to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets and even urged Elon Musk to do so before Tesla ended up buying over 40,000 BTC.

Currently, MicroStrategy has the largest public corporate holding of Bitcoin with over 114,000 BTC valued at roughly $6.9 billion. Behind MicroStrategy is Tesla, Galaxy Digital Holdings, Voyager Digital, and payments platform Square.

Speculation on which company will be the next to put crypto on their balance sheet include Facebook, Twitter and Google, all firms whose founders or CEOs have either made pro-crypto comments or dabbled in the industry themselves.

The post CEO of Apple Tim Cook Says He Owns Cryptocurrency – Is Apple The Next Tech Titan to Hold BTC? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking with CNBC, Scarramucci references ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood’s thesis of Bitcoin adoption exploding in the coming years, pushing the price up to roughly $500,000. The hedge fund manager says “If Cathie Wood is correct,” there will be at least a billion Bitcoin wallets sometime between 2024 and 2025.

“These coins will easily trade at half a million dollars a coin. Remember you don’t even have Bitcoins for every millionaire in our society to own one coin.”

Scaramucci, a former White House Press Secretary under the Trump Administration, also addressed the hot topic of Bitcoin replacing gold as a store-of-value asset. While he predicts gold and Bitcoin will probably rise together, he sees BTC getting the more “exponential” gains while the yellow metal makes modest increases.

“When you get a technical property where there’s a massive improvement, that has a tendency to eclipse things, and so we had DVDs and we moved to Netflix and streaming. The Satoshi Nakamoto whitepaper basically put us into a new era, and the technical properties associated with Bitcoin are infinitely better than gold. You can move it costlessly, you can store it virtually costlessly, and it has this ledger that is completely missile locked.”

Image via Shutterstock

Scaramucci is not a Bitcoin maximalist either. In September he revealed that Skybridge was working on a $250 million fund for Algorand (ALGO). Algorand is an open source proof-of-stake (POS) blockchain that strives to be “carbon negative,” and Scaramucci thinks it could capture the hearts of traditional finance.

ALGO is up 638% on the year, which is actually quite modest compared to other coins like Shiba Inu which are up over eighty million per cent.

“I said I want to raise a fund, an ALGO-based fund that participates. We’ve raised $100 million so far, capping the fund at $250 million.

I’ve got a Bitcoin [BTC] fund. I have an Ethereum [ETH] fund. And we will soon have an ALGO fund. And I think those are three major blockchains, cryptocurrencies that are going to win and design the future.”

The post Bitcoin Will Easily Reach $500,000 A Coin: SkyBridge CEO Anthony Scaramucci appeared first on Coin Bureau.

It’s unclear whether this is a top signal or a foreshadowing of a massive retail-fueled boom in the space, but the analytics are staggering nonetheless. 

According to DappRadar, NFT marketplace OpenSea has seen a sudden jump in activity following a few months of relative decline. The platform’s users have doubled and its total transaction volume has tripled since the beginning of November. 

OpenSea’s top NFT project over the last week is currently the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which has seen volume of over 15,000 ETH in the last seven days, up 227% from the previous week. The runner-up on OpenSea is the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, with a 346% increase in volume in the same time frame. 

The Bored Ape collections received exposure last week when late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon revealed he was a proud owner of one. Speaking with top NFT artist Beeple, Fallon casually replied “yeah” when asked if he owned an Ape. The Bored Ape Yacht Club ranks second all-time as far as total transaction volume, right behind the legendary Crypto Punks.

Image via Shutterstock

Crypto data aggregator platform CoinGecko is riding the NFT wave with its new “GeckoCon” conference slated for November 17-19. The event will feature seminars, workshops, presentations, and more from a collection of top industry insiders. The conference will have over 50 sessions and 200 speakers, including music mogul Akon, creator of “Akoin” and the mind behind the ambitious plan to build a new crypto-powered city in his native Senegal.

Bobby Ong, co-founder of CoinGecko said “NFTs are taking the world by storm!” and that the space was an aspect of the blockchain and crypto space that anyone can relate to. Ong is also of the opinion that NFTs will serve as the “bridge for non-crypto natives to start their journey into the cryptoverse.”

NFT-related coins have been one of the top-performing sectors in the crypto space this year. According to CoinGecko, Axie Infinity (AXS) leads the category with a market cap of $9.3 billion. Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game where players can collect, breed, and battle creatures called “Axies.” After becoming wildly popular in the Philippines, AXS exploded all the way to $160 after opening the year up at around $0.50. Other big names include Theta Network (THERA), Decentraland (MANA) and Flow. 

The post NFT-Related Searches On Google Explode To New All-Time Highs As Nascent Space Heats Up appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking alongside Blockstream’s Samson Mow in an interview with CNBC, Saylor doubles down on his theory that the endless inflation of fiat currencies will ultimately mean a comparatively stronger and stronger BTC, which has a fixed supply.

“If you look at the world currencies, they’re inflating at 10% or more a year for the past 30 years, maybe as much as 14% a year. You can expect they’ll keep inflating of the next 30 years and so Bitcoin measured in currencies of the world and in currency derivatives is going to keep going up, with volatility albeit…”

“In Argentina, the dollar used to trade at a dollar per peso, and now the dollar is approaching two hundred pesos. The dollar is going up forever against the Peso, the dollar has gone up forever against the Venezuelan bolivar. So a strong asset is going to go up a weak asset forever. Since we know that nobody in the universe can create anymore Bitcoin.”

Image via Shutterstock

Commenting on Bitcoin’s competition with gold as a store of value asset, Saylor emphasized that the yellow metal is not as verifiably fixed as the top crypto. The CEO, whose company holds over $7.2 billion worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet, also believes that “bankers can re-hypothecate gold” and notes that much more paper gold exists than physical.

“Bitcoin is the dominant digital monetary network and because it’s dominant and because it’s fixed, it means that it’s the most reliable, highest integrity, scarcest thing in the financial universe.”

Saylor first began buying Bitcoin in August of 2020, shortly after the fallout from the pandemic-induced economic crisis. Since then, his business intelligence software company MicroStrategy has amassed the largest corporate holding of Bitcoin.

The billionaire’s forecast of Bitcoin going up forever falls in line with many popular Bitcoin analysts, most notably pseudonymous quantitative analyst PlanB, whose stock-to-flow (S2F) model predicts an average price of $840,000 between 2025 and 2028, and presumably upwards from there. PlanB also predicts Bitcoin’s scarcity will eventually allow it to replace much of the gold, real estate, and other store-of-value markets.

The post Here’s Why Bitcoin Will Go Up Forever, According to MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In an interview with CoinDesk TV, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he’s exploring a new system where the city will distribute BTC dividends from the yields on staking its new crypto. Suarez wants to build a digital wallet that residents can use to trade and receive their dividends.

“We’re going to take our first draw on the first $20 million, and we’re going to stake the remaining balance in Bitcoin. So what we’re going to get as a yield on the staking is Bitcoin, and… We’re going to be the first city in America to give a Bitcoin yield as a dividend directly to its residents, so we’re going to create digital wallets to our residents and give them Bitcoin directly from the yield of MiamiCoin.”

Suarez revealed that the city had earned over $21 million from MiamiCoin already. If annualized, that amount would add up to roughly one-fifth of Miami’s entire yearly tax revenue, which theoretically suggests that in the long run, according to the mayor, the new system could eliminate the need for residents to pay taxes.

Image via Shutterstock

“Why are we making such an emphasis on Bitcoin? We’re seeing inflation at over 6% which I think is an underreporting of inflation, and we see the price of Bitcoin surging, it clear that people are taking their money out of dollars, and putting in a currency and in a store of value that they feel confident in because it’s not driven by people who manipulate it for their own policy ends.”

Suarez has some friendly competition with New York mayor-elect Eric Adams, who has launched an “NYCCoin” and has promised to receive his first three paychecks in Bitcoin. Similar to Suarez, Adams wants to make New York an epicenter of crypto innovation. He promised to “build a pipeline of talent” of young people who understand the technology into New York and ramp up the ecosystem.

“Part of the meetings I’ve been having is to bring together the whole Bitcoin industry. We need to do several things with it. Number one, we need to look at what’s preventing the growth of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in our city, what is in the way of that. I’ve met with the mayor of Miami and we’re going to have a friendly competition…

He has a MiamiCoin that is doing very well — we’re going to look in the direction to carry that out.”

Both cities’ new cryptos are powered by non-profit CityCoins, which aims to make it easy to support one’s city through blockchain-based tokens. At the time of press, MiamiCoin (MIA) is trading at $0.024. Mining for NYCCoin started on November 10.

The post Miami Residents to Receive ‘Bitcoin Yields’ For Staking New MiamiCoin appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, Griffin admits he’s still highly skeptical of the crypto industry, and lists a host of different aspects of the space he’s still apprehensive about, such as environment concerns, security, and illicit activity.

From his perspective, crypto is still in its very early innings, and will likely transform into something completely different with all new players in the future. Griffin, whose net worth is over $21 billion, says that Bitcoin will be replaced by something on the Ethereum blockchain with more efficient technology.

“I think we’re going to see Bitcoin be replaced conceptually by Ethereum, and replaced conceptually by the next generation cryptocurrencies that will have the benefits of higher transaction speeds, lower costs per transaction, perhaps people will start to think about how to deal with security and fraud prevention better.”

Image via Shutterstock

After Ethereum replaces Bitcoin, Griffin predicted that ultimately digital fiat currencies become the dominant instruments that rule all the blockchains.

“I think the train is in some sense still in the station. I think we’re still trying to understand, if we want to hit this world of decentralized finance, and we want a payment system that’s low cost and effective, is it going to be solved by the crypto community, or is it going to be solved for example by a digital dollar?”

He notes that China is “making a bet all-in on a digital renminbi,” suggesting that the US and the rest of the world follow suit.

While he remains skeptical of crypto in general, he did admit that he wished he bought Bitcoin a couple of years ago when a 21-year-old intern recommended it to him.

The post Ethereum Will Replace Bitcoin: Citadel’s Ken Griffin appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The new division will be called “Twitter Crypto” and will focus on “all things blockchain” according to Tess Rinearson, who has been slated to lead the project.

In a thread, Rinearson says that one of the first priorities of the new division will be exploring how to support creators in using decentralized apps (DApps) to manage virtual goods and currencies, and to support their work and communities. She also says the branch will work in collaboration with Bluesky, Twitter’s efforts at a decentralized social media platform.

“And, of course, we’ll be working closely with the Bluesky team to help shape the future of decentralized social media (and to make sure that Twitter stays on the cutting edge of this new landscape, too!).

Twitter Crypto will underpin all of this work, and serve as a ‘center of excellence for all things blockchain at Twitter. We’ll be hiring for roles in engineering and product. If this sounds exciting, please get in touch!”

Image via Shutterstock

That Twitter would launch such a division may not be a big surprise given CEO Jack Dorsey’s pro-crypto history. Dorsey is an owner and founder of payments giant Square, which has the fifth biggest public corporate treasury of Bitcoin, and records billions in profit from Bitcoin-based transactions. He even testified to Congress with a Bitcoin clock in the background.

Dorsey’s Twitter also announced in September that it was enabling its users to be tipped in BTC, and has also hinted it would be integrating more crypto payment features in the future like “Ticketed Spaces.”

Dorsey also has his eye on the Bitcoin mining industry. Last month, Dorsey announced in a tweet that Square was exploring a new Bitcoin mining system, saying that BTC mining wasn’t accessible enough to the average person.

“Mining isn’t accessible to everyone. Bitcoin mining should be as easy as plugging a rig into a power source. There isn’t enough incentive today for individuals to overcome the complexity of running a miner for themselves.”

The post Social Media Giant Twitter Launches New Crypto Team to Integrate Blockchain to Platform appeared first on Coin Bureau.

At the time of writing, LRC is up over 755% over the last two weeks, according to CoinMarketCap.

LRC is the governance token of Loopring, an Ethereum-based software that aims to incentivize a user network to operate platforms that enable the creation of crypto exchanges. The project aims to allow developers to build exchanges on top of its network as an alternative to the high costs associated with decentralized exchanges (DEXes) that are built directly on Ethereum.

To do this, it utilizes zero-knowledge rollups, or zkRollups. Using zkRollups, Loopring claims that its exchanges will be able to settle trades faster and cheaper by completing key computations off the Ethereum network.

CoinMarketCap

LRC’s parabolic rally appears to be based on a rumor that it has partnered with GameStop for a new non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace.

First reported by GameStop enthusiasts GMEdd.com, Loopring source code submitted on GitHub made reference to a “gameStopMeta” under a commit titled ‘NFT feature.’ This comes after GameStop posted a job requiring experience in “web3.0, blockchain gaming, and even an NFT marketplace.”

“On Tuesday, code was committed to the Loopring GitHub repository by Loopring developer W. Tang.

The amended code in the branch “NFT-DEV” under the GitHub commit titled ‘NFT feature‘ makes reference to “gameStopMeta” and an IPFS URL.

IPFS is a distributed system for storing and accessing files, websites, applications, and data. IPFS was noted to be used by GameStop previously during their first NFT project reveal.”

While there is no official announcement from either Loopring or GameStop, the markets don’t care. Following the spread of the rumor in late October, LRC took off from a starting price of around $0.38. It is now sitting $3.74 with no signs of slowing down as of yet.

The post Loopring On Endless Tear, Up 755% In Less Than Two Weeks appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking in an interview on the GoldSilverBitcoin Show, McGlone says there’s an impetus on the US to embrace crypto to get a leg up on its economic rivals. Noting that China’s trend of relatively authoritarian measures has spread to the crypto industry, McGlone says that over a billion people without access to digital assets could be a big opportunity for the US.

“So imagine this, the narrative of 1.4 billion people not being allowed to access the internet… [and] electricity, its automobiles, it’s airplanes, and now they’re not being allowed to get involved in digital assets. Most notably Bitcoin, Ethereum, NFTs, crypto dollars.

To me, this is a classic case of a pretty significant cold war developing centered in cryptos.”

Because of China’s decision not to adopt crypto, the strategist predicts that we’ll all look back at 2021 as “potentially the beginning of the end of the Chinese economy,” and the point where the country reached its peak while the US accelerated.

“Every day that Bitcoin and Etheruem go up, its everyday pressure on the Chinese communist party, and there’s a lot of despondent citizens in China who are not being allowed to partake in this.”

McGlone says that Bitcoin, Ethereum, and crypto-based dollars are the “three musketeers” driving the markets to higher valuations, and stresses the significance of the USD being the main settlement layer thus far in the space’s development.

Mike McGlone/Bloomberg

“Three Crypto Musketeers Driving $3 Trillion Market Cap – Representing a better way to transact, a strengthening ecosystem and here-to-stay asset class, #cryptodollars are the most significant advancing part of the digital-money revolution and the third leg of the crypto stool.”

The finance veteran ultimately sees Bitcoin as being in the development phase of becoming a hedge against inflation superior to gold.

“People say it’s an inflation hedge. Yeah, someday it will be, but right now it’s in that price discovery, stage, and that’s the big difference. And its in the process of replacing gold in portfolios.”

The post China and USA In Middle of Crypto Cold War: Bloomberg’s Mike McGlone appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a new report, Glassnode suggests that Bitcoin investors have a higher conviction rate than ever before. On top of high prices, the firm says Bitcoin is boasting highs in other metrics like hash-rate, and the proportion of mature coin supply.

“Long-Term Holders have distributed a very small fraction of their holdings, as is typically observed in all prior cycles. However, despite hovering just below ATHs, on-chain activity remains only marginally above bear market levels. Additionally, exchange balances continue to deplete, and miner hashrate and USD revenue are approaching new highs.

This combination of strong supply dynamics, mining network recovery, and relatively low network activity points to a fairly constructive outlook for Bitcoin over the coming weeks.”

Glassnode also shines a light on a metric known as the revived supply. Revived supply refers to coins that have come back to life after sitting dormant for over one year. The analytics firm notes that a BTC investor who is able to hold their coins for more than a year have a better-than-average gauge of market risk, and what is considered expensive vs cheap coins. The condition of this metric is currently characteristic of early bull runs or late bear markets, according to Glassnode’s data.

“What we can see is that around 6.5k BTC are being revived on a daily basis at present. What is also apparent is that this is a relatively low level compared to the 2017, 2019 and 2021 bull runs where over 20k BTC were revived per day. In fact the current levels of revived supply are similar to the spending patterns throughout late 2019 to 2020 which are mostly considered a late stage bear market.”

Glassnode

The firm says that these supply dynamics paint a “compelling picture” that suggests long-term investors of Bitcoin are preferring to hold onto their Satoshi stack, only taking strategic profits rather than exiting the market completely.

Further supporting a high conviction rate amongst investors is the relative lack of selling over the last three months. Glassnode points out that over 85% of the coin supply has remained dormant since August 2021.

“Investors are just not spending their coins.”

While the cryptospace may feel a bit lively, Glassnode says that on-chain activity is suggesting that “hype and euphoria” is drastically below the levels seen in 2017 and Q1 of 2021, and that transaction volumes are also consistent with late-stage bear markets.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $67,113, according to CoinMarketCap.

The post Investor Conviction At All-Time Highs As Bitcoin Smashes Through $68,000 Level appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Brave, which currently has over 42 million active users, only offered support for Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregators and wallets. In an announcement, Brave says the Solana network offers benefits such as faster transaction speed and cheaper fees which, in their words, “help in the adoption of DeFi and Web3.”

Brave

“High transaction fees seen on Ethereum (due to increased interest in crypto and DeFi) have held some users back from transacting. Solana is the fastest blockchain in the world and provides the opportunity to scale blockchain transactions for as little as $0.001 – $0.002 USD per transaction, providing significant cost savings for users.”

The integration will enable Solana’s DEX aggregator swaps, non-fungible token (NFT) support, the sending of SPL tokens, and creating accounts.

Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave, said that more and more users and creators require tools for fast and affordable access to the decentralized Web, adding that the Solana integration aims to pave the way for “the next billion crypto users to harness applications and tokens.”

Brave was released in 2019 and from the beginning catered to crypto and privacy enthusiasts. It allows users to earn Brave’s Basic Attention Token (BAT) for viewing ads. In late 2020, Apple created new iOS guidelines that prevented its users from earning BAT, but users on other operating systems can still do so.

According to the announcement, Solana will “encourage developers to promote BAT on DApps built on Solana and on the Solana network in general.” Solana will also enable the implementation of the Themis protocol developed by Brave on the Solana Network, a key milestone in the BAT 2.0 Roadmap.

BAT, which is the 88th largest crypto by market cap, jumped immediately after the news and has since recorded a 28% gain on it, currently changing hands at $1.27. Solana is currently trading at $245, cooling off after seeing 55% returns over the last 30 days.

The post Solana Partners With Brave Browser to Become Default for DApp Support appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival event with Bloomberg’s Haslinda Amin, the Orogen Group chairman gave a time of one to three years before every bank and securities firm starts thinking: “shouldn’t I also be trading and selling cryptocurrency assets?”

“My big hope is that central banks around the world understand the benefit of a central bank digital currency, and move on to accept, adopt them,” Pandit said.

The financial veteran said that moving money around the world while trying to modernize a paper-based banking system is a “cumbersome” task that comes with plenty of “deadweight” costs.

Pandit also said that he foresees a future with “a central bank digital currency, which is available to you and me, and every other retail participant around the world.”

Image via Shutterstock

Citigroup’s current CEO is perhaps even more bullish on the crypto space than its former. In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, Citi’s CEO Jane Fraser asserted that that “it’s clear” that digital assets will be part of the future of both the financial services and financial markets. She added that she was already seeing clients very active in the space.

“Real-time payments, both in the sense of they are frictionless, they’ll become more global, they’ll become ubiquitous. Real-time payments will be here in the near term, and digital currencies may be part of that future. We see benefits from the digital asset space: instant processing, fractionalization, programmability, and transparency.”

Fraser said that one of her goals was to connect Citi’s clients to wallets, and that the bank was “enabling our businesses and our corporate clients to accept consumer payments.”

The main hurdle, according to the CEO was the overall youth of the space and lack of “guardrails.”

“I would say we’re proceeding thoughtfully and with appropriate caution here. Why’s that? There’s still a lot of questions about how the space evolves. Around regulatory clarity, around some of the scalability, around resiliency, certainly around some transparency, and making sure that there are the appropriate guard rails in the system, particularly for retail clients. We don’t want them participating in areas that they’re not necessarily well-equipped to understand the risks.”

The post Every Big Bank WIll Eventually Start Trading Crypto: Former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Barry Silbert, CEO of crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group kicked off this week’s trading by ominously telling his 627,000 followers that this week would be big.

So far, Silbert’s prediction has been accurate with multiple large-cap cryptocurrencies adding capital to the space with significant gains. After suddenly jumping nearly over 7%, Bitcoin is once again threatening to take out all-time highs after a somewhat anticlimactic breakout three weeks ago.

Analysts who are proponents of Bitcoin closely following previous bull market cycles are saying that based on historic patterns, BTC is right on the edge of a parabolic move.

Followers of quant analyst PlanB will also be watching any bullish Bitcoin price action closely as he predicts a closing price at least above $98,000 this month.

Ethereum is also on the move, continuing a parabolic uptrend that began in early October. ETH is currently up 30% over the last month with a market cap dominance nearing the 19% range.

Binance’s utility token BNB has also been contributing to crypto’s growth as of late, rallying 54% in the last 30 days. According to crypto hedge fund manager Zhu Su, BNB could end up being one of the big under-the-radar surprises this bull run.

“Look, everyone is discussing whether sol/eth pump or sol/eth dump is max pain. There’s a coin in between these called BNB and it going 5x is prob the actual max pain…Not saying it will happen this month, but just saying I think the CT timeline would be literally filled with pain if it happened.”

The jump in digital asset markets comes just as Bitcoin’s anticipated Taproot soft fork goes live. According to taproot.watch, the new upgrade will happen in 830 blocks, or an estimated 6 days. Taproot is the first significant upgrade since Segwit in 2017, and is expected to improve Bitcoin in a number of ways, such as allowing developers to set more conditions for wallets to enhance their functionality, as well as enhancing privacy measures.

The post Crypto Market Cap Reaches Record $3 Trillion Mark As Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin All Pump appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Speaking in a new installment of Real Vision’s Adventures in Crypto, Pal says the wealth transfer that will occur through crypto will dwarf previous redistributions because of the sheer accessibility of the industry.

“We have never in all of human history been given an opportunity that an entire asset class, not a stock, not a single token, an entire asset class goes up 100x in value probably by the end of this decade…

This is I think the largest distribution of wealth, and the fastest distribution of wealth in all recorded history. Because, unlike most other wealth distributions, things like railroads, phones, even computers, and even the internet, they accrued to giant companies. This is accruing to tokens which anybody can participate in because you can own a fraction of the token.”

The Global Macro Investor founder has long been a proponent of using Metcalfe’s law, or network effects, to gauge where the crypto markets are headed. Metcalfe’s law, which stipulates that a network’s value is equal to its number of users, is what Pal thinks is the key component driving macro trends in most of the digital asset space. He also thinks it occurs in cyclical waves which ultimately start showing up in the price charts.

Global Macro Investor/Raoul Pal

Pal says that right now, the “big disruptor” of the space that is permeating into other industries is the non-fungible token (NFT) sector, but that he thinks eventually it will be social tokens. He posits a reality where anyone can be involved in a certain community that has tokens, and if the community is vibrant and attractive, the value of the token goes up over time. This would, in Pal’s words, make it so your “cultural interests align with your investment interests align with your business interests align with all of your activities.”

He uses Chiliz (CHZ), which is the token that powers sports fintech platform socios.com as an example of where he thinks social tokens are headed.

“We’re seeing that with things like Chiliz, which is still pretty nascent, and its tokenization about sports clubs. Their token’s still not worth a lot of money considering… What does Manchester United have as a fan base? A billion people? And their token is probably worth $50 million. So it’s really early days as people are trying to understand how these tokenized communities can work, and how do you actually add value because it can’t be a cash grab, it’s got to be participation.”

The post Crypto Is The Fastest, Largest Redistribution of Wealth In All Recorded History: Raoul Pal appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Responding to Anthony Pompliano’s tweet asking who the first American politician to accept their salary in BTC will be, Miami mayor Francis Suarez said “I’m going to take my next paycheck 100% in bitcoin…problem solved!”

Coming in to one-up Suarez, Adams also responded saying:

“In New York we always go big, so I’m going to take my first THREE paychecks in Bitcoin when I become mayor. NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries! Just wait!”

It’s not clear yet if either mayor wants to receive their salary in a fixed number of Bitcoin, or US dollar-denominated amount of BTC.

Image via Shutterstock

Adams’ promise comes following a string of pro-Bitcoin comments. Speaking with Bloomberg radio, the new mayor hinted that he was taking notes on Suarez’s crypto-friendly approach in Miami.

“Part of the meetings I’ve been having is to bring together the whole Bitcoin industry. We need to do several things with it. Number one, we need to look at what’s preventing the growth of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in our city, what is in the way of that. I’ve met with the mayor of Miami and we’re going to have a friendly competition…

He has a MiamiCoin that is doing very well — we’re going to look in the direction to carry that out.”

Mayor Adams also vowed to “build out a pipeline” of young talent that understand blockchain technology and can come in and help create the crypto ecosystem, adding that “we can’t have a one-sided city where certain groups and areas are doing well and those in the inner cities are not.”

So far, Miami’s Suarez has led the way this year in integrating Bitcoin into the public system. In September, he told Anthony Pompliano that he was working to create “a crypto-friendly environment for our state,” and to change how Bitcoin is classified as far as regulation, banking, and holding it on the public balance sheet.

“Every day that Bitcoin becomes more and more mainstream, I think is a good day for the city to hold it as an asset, particularly given some of the levels of inflation that we’re seeing in the C.P.I (consumer price index) over the last few months.”

The post New York City Mayor Wants His First Three Pay Checks In Bitcoin appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The new initiative, dubbed “Objective Moon”, centers on a 100,000,000 EUR investment from Binance which will go towards three key components. Funds will be directed towards the development of a Binance Research and Development hub in France, the creation of a Decentralized Ledger Technology (DLT) accelerator, as well as new online Education Program to “develop blockchain and crypto industry talent” in the country.

France Fintech is comprised of multiple large partners, including Rothschild & Co, Mastercard, and AXA.

Alain Clot, Chairman of France Fintech said in an announcement that he beleives France is optimally positioned in terms of “regulation, talent and expertise” to be a leading cornerstone in Europe’s crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. He added that the he expects France’s role in the industry to accelerate with the collaboration with Binance.

“At Binance, we recognise the quality of French and European tech, crypto and blockchain talent, and we are convinced that with the launch of Binance’s major operations and investment in France, we can significantly contribute toward making France and Europe the leading global player in blockchain and crypto industry.”

Image via Shutterstock

At a conference, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao highlighted that he felt France had a unique crypto-climate that put extra focus on technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

“France is one of those very advanced communities that understand crypto I believe at a very deep level. They are strong entrepreneurs here, and the people who invest and who are involved in crypto in France… are typically different than some of the other countries. Here, I feel they’re more looking at technological innovation and also investments, whereas in some other countries they’re really looking at [crypto] as the holding of value…France has a very strong mathematical and engineering background. We see a lot of engineers here which is also important for crypto development.”

CZ also adds that with China essentially shutting the crypto industry down, Europe has come into view as more important part of Binance’s market. He also says the country’s stance on regulation is “really open” compared to other market sectors.

The post Binance To Drop $115 Million On Building New Crypto Ecosystem in France appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Noting that it’s not that hard to find altcoins that go up in US dollar terms in a bull market, Cowen says that at bare minimum, altcoins should be going up against Bitcoin long term to be worth holding. The analyst says that he would take it a step further and make sure they can also keep up with Ethereum. In his opinion, ETH can be viewed as the “altcoin” index, and if a crypto isn’t able to outperform it, than it may not make sense to hold if macro investing is your jam. 

“In a bull market, a monkey could pick out altcoins that go up against the US dollar. It does not take any insider information or anything like that to figure out altcoins might go up against the US dollar.”

The popular analyst looks at a several big altcoins that have had nice trends in USD terms, but have underperformed in their ETH valuations.

“Ethereum Classic. I’ve seen a lot of people ask me about this one. Will it likely trend up against the US dollar if bitcoin remains in a bull market? Yes, but it’s 83% down against Ethereum since December 2017.”

Benjamin Cowen

“Monero is another cryptocurrency and honestly I like Monero. It’s like the OG privacy coin, who doesn’t like Monero? Will Monero likely trend up against the US dollar over time? Yeah, it probably will, I mean unless some really strict regulations come out worldwide, then there’s still a decent chance it’ll go up against the US dollar as long as the bull market’s in full swing. Doesn’t change the fact that it’s bled 92% against Ethereum since December 2017…

DASH is another example. I’ve seen people recommend this one a lot. Look, as measured from the wick in January 2018, DASH is down 98% against Ethereum. You say ‘you’re cherry picking’. We’ll take it from the candle, we’re down 97%…Will DASH likely trend up against the US dollar in a bull market? It’s possible. But what if it bleeds against Ethereum?”

With most altcoins bleeding out against Ethereum being the main theme, Cowen says it doesn’t have to be this way. He says there are plenty of coins that at least oscillate against Ethereum, such as Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), Terra (LUNA), and more. The analyst takes note of how an altcoin’s macro trend against ETH can eventually shift momentum, such as in the case of Chainlink. 

While LINK/ETH going parabolic for over 2 years straight starting in 2018, Cowen points out that it’s been bleeding against Ethereum over the last year. Cowen asserts LINK/ETH is something you “better believe” he’s watching closely, adding that he will be “acting accordingly” if it keeps bleeding. 

“In order for these cryptocurrencies to not bleed against Ethereum, they can’t just go up. They have to go up at least in tandem with Ethereum. If they can’t, they get left behind.”

The post Which Altcoins Will Bleed Out Against Ethereum? Analyst Benjamin Cowen Says Most Cryptos Getting Slaughtered in ETH Terms appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Backing up SOL’s price action is its emergence into the non-fungible token (NFT) arena, competing with other established blockchains. According to CryptoSlam, Solana is now the fourth biggest blockchain for NFTs. It ranks underneathe Flow, Ronin, and of course Ethereum. Notable NFT projects built on Solana include the Degenerate Ape Academy, gaming project Aurory, and Galactic Gecko Space Garage.

Image via Shuttersock

While Solana still has miles to go before its NFT volume comes anywhere near Etheruem, its growth trajectory is impressive, ostensibly coming out of nowhere over the last three months. According to DappRadar, Solana’s top 3 NFT markplaces did nearly $35 million in transaction volume in less than a week last month.

Recently, electronic music icon Deadmau5 announced he would be teaming up with abstract artist Gregory Siff to release collectible NFTs on the Solana blockchain using the metaverse studio Looks Rare. Deadmau5 has released NFTs before, and has also performed a metaverse concert on Ethereum-based Decentraland.

While Solana continues its expansion into the NFT space, other high-profile apps also showcase their utility. Secretum, a decentralized, encrypted, messaging app with built-in crypto investing and trading platform also seeks to launch on the Solana blockchain. It allows for anonymous sign-ups, default encrypted messaging, self-destructing messages, no user-data gathering, and a host of other features that many people wish were included in traditional platforms.

With an emphasis on utility and use-cases permeating the digital asset investment space, Solana is finding itself in a comfortable spot. At the time of writing, Solana is trading at $225.

The post Solana Making Moves: Overtakes Cardano and Sets Sights On NFT Dominance appeared first on Coin Bureau.

With social media giant Facebook rebranding itself to “Meta,” the narrative surrounding the emergence of the metaverse – and what that means for crypto – has intensified. Facebook’s revamp preceded huge rallies in multiple metaverse-related tokens like Decentralnd (MANA), The Sandbox (SAND), and Starlink (STARL).

IntoTheBlock notes that while Facebook is correct in tapping into an important long-term trend, the tech giant’s ambitions aren’t exactly in line with the vision of a metaverse controlled by decentralized communities.

“Though certainly ambitious, Facebook’s plans is subject to some of the inherent limitations of the web 2.0 model. Overall, this is expected to result in an opaque and less secure network where value created does not accrue to its users as would be the case in a decentralized platform like Ethereum.”

The firm warns that all users on Facebook’s metaverse will be required to sign in with their personal information which will be visible to the company on all of the other platforms it owns. Companies who want to build on top of Facebook’s metaverse will ultimately risk competing against the firm when they launch their applications.

IntoTheBlock

On the other hand, the insights firm says that blockchain and Web 3.0 can solve these issues by making  “platform users, builders and owners ” equal to each other on the same decentralized web.

“Tokens can serve as incentive mechanisms to attract users and builders and can then be used to vote on decisions about the metaverse. While this does not guarantee everyone will be happy with results, it does allow participants to have an impact on where the platform is going.

Users and builders don’t have to trust an entity to act on their best interests. Through the blockchain people can openly validate activity taking place and if they don’t like what is going on they could simply fork the network.”

IntoTheBlock also names security as another weak point in a centralized metaverse, using Facebook’s recent outage as a prime example of this vulnerability. On a blockchain, the network is secured by the nodes all working with each other, and in the case of Ethereum, over $33 billion has been staked. In order to influence consensus, the firm notes that someone would need at least a third of everything at stake before attempting to attack the network.

The research firm says that overall, “there’s a stark difference between what a web 2 and web 3 metaverse could look like,” adding that while we are still very early in the development process, “a crypto metaverse promises a more inclusive aligned and secure network.”

Read the full report here.

The post Centralized VS Decentralized: Insights Firm IntoTheBlock Examines the Battle for the Metaverse appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Parachains are the limited number of blockchains running in parallel on the Polkadot and Kusama networks. There will eventually be as many as 100 parachains all secured by a central chain called the Relay Chain. The parachain auctions provide a fair, permissionless way for projects to earn a spot on the Polkadot or Kusama Relay Chains.

The motion to enable parachain registration and crowdloans has passed Polkadot's council and gone to a public referendum. If passed, parachain teams will be able to register their parachain and open their crowdloan on Nov. 4, 2021 at approx. 19:15 CET. https://t.co/5ouDWBmnvc

— Polkadot (@Polkadot) November 1, 2021

After a successful round of auctions for Kusama’s parachains, Polkadot is gearing up for its first batch, and investors appear to be confident for what’s to come based on DOT’s price action. Contenders for Polkadot’s parachains include decentralized application (DApp) Acala, financing protocol Centrifuge, and Layer 1 EVM (Ethereum virtual machine) implementation Moonbeam Network.

Auctions will take place candlestick style, where there is no fixed amount of time that it lasts, leaving bidders unsure when it will end. This aims to prevent bidders from “sniping” other offers at the last second.

Polkadot kicked off a rally earlier last month, and is currently up 60% in the last 30 days, and 15.% in the last week. With it’s recent upward price movement, Polkadot now ranks as the 7th biggest cryptocurrency, ahead of Ripple’s XRP and memecoin Shiba Inu (SHIB).

The post Polkadot Hits All-Time Highs, Breaks Above $50 As Parachain Auctions Approach appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The latest high profile “rug pull,” or crypto project that deliberately vanishes with all their investors’ funds, was “Squid Game” (SQUID), inspired by the popular Korean Netflix series. According to its whitepaper, SQUID was supposedly meant to be a “play-to-earn” token on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) for a game that ultimately ended up never existing.

“We present to you the first Game Token on the Binance Smart Chain Network. Squid Token is inspired by the famous Netflix Series “Squid Game”, the way that the game will happen is simple and easy to follow, all you have to do is participate in the presale, the top 10 presale holders (based on amount of holdings) will be given VIP entrance to our game application. The Squid Token application will have a price pool, the price pool will be 2% of the amount raised on the presale and 10 of you will be able to participate in the games in the application and 3 of you will split the price pool. All you have to do is play and survive.”

Hitting the market at $0.01 last Tuesday on decentralized exchange (DEX) PancakeSwap, SQUID rapidly skyrocketed roughly 75,000% to $2,861 in less than a week. Following some reports of investors not being able to cash out on on PancakeSwap, the price of SQUID went to zero in literally less than a second. 

SQUID is still technically live, trading at around $0.003, according to CoinMarketCap where its chart says it all.

CoinMarketCap

CoinMarketCap now has a banner over the coin warning investors that it was rugged, and has zero affiliation with the real Squid Game franchise. 

“There is growing evidence that this project has rugged. Please do your own due diligence and exercise extreme caution. This project, while clearly inspired by the Netflix show of the same name, is NOT affiliated with the official IP.”

Bobby Ong, a cofounder of CoinGecko, told Insider that “The scam has completed its cycle, and the price has just dropped significantly…” adding that the “Website and social media accounts being deleted is a very obvious sign that it is a scam.”

Earlier in the week, investors were likely rugged in another crypto project called Anubis DAO, a fork of the OlympusDAO. After raising nearly $60,000 worth of Ethereum for its ANKH token, all funds were suddenly drained out of the liquidity protocol and sent to a series of unknown wallets. Etherscan has now labeled the address responsible for taking the funds as a “Heist” and involved in the “AnubisDAO liquidity rug.” 

Speculation surrounding the cause of the AnubisDAO incident varies from a potential phishing attack, to a member on the inside of the project going rogue. There is no explaination as of yet and some developers are reportedly cooperating with police. 

The post Rug Pull Epidemic Intensifies As ‘Squid Game’ Crypto Goes to Zero In Less Than a Second appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Bitcoin Archive/Twitter

Bitcoin’s closing price was roughly 3% away from analyst PlanB’s floor price prediction of $63,000, though that level was already hit earlier in the month. PlanB is now shooting for $98,000 in November, or about a 58% gain over the next 30 days. 

Some analysts are looking to previous bull markets to forecast what’s next for BTC. TechDev, for example, has his eye on the monthly relative strength index (RSI), which is currently grinding its way up past the 70 mark. He points out that in the previous bull cycles, the monthly RSI has made two separate waves to the upper end of the scale before price tops out. If Bitcoin is indeed about to form another blow-off top in the coming months, the RSI pattern would perhaps look like a more spread out version of 2013’s cycle. 

“We are now headed toward our second monthly RSI peak like every cycle before.

Nowhere near a top.

Trust the indicators.”

TechDev/Twitter

On-chain analysts are also generally in agreeance of a healthy market structure. Glassnode analyst TXMC says Bitcoin pretty much looks like a “coiled spring.” In a thread, the analyst says that the realized HODL (RHODL) ratio, which compares old coins to young coins, is “screaming” that BTC is midway through a bull market which began in 2019. Peaks in RHODL have correlated with blow-off market cycle tops, according to Glassnode’s data.

“It’s aligned with the 2013 double pump bull run, matching where price usually breaks the ATH, and has called each previous macro top in history.”

TXMC/Twitter

While on-chain activity is relatively quiet, even at all time highs, the Glassnode analyst says it’s nothing to worry about for bulls as retail traders don’t “need to be here for price discovery” until the next big narrative comes along. 

The on-chain analyst also points out one thing about the current Bitcoin bull market that makes it unique to others. TXMC says that the liquid supply of BTC, or the number of coins owned by people with a history of selling, has been steadily going down relative to illiquid supply ever since March of 2020. This appears to be an unprecedented phenomenon, and could suggest increasing pressure on supply.

“Liquid Supply, the BTC owned by entities with a history of selling, has been in decline since March 2020 after a decade of growth.

HODLers are taking more and more supply away from this class of investors.

No previous bull run has seen Liquid Supply in steady decline.”

TXMC/Twitter

All eyes will be on the flagship crypto in November to see if it can live up to it’s bullish monthly breakout. 

The post Bitcoin Records Highest Monthly Close Ever, What’s Next for BTC? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

First reported by Business Insider, the US Attorneys Office in Los Angeles said that in April of this year a hacker managed to send a fake Coinbase notification to someone’s phone almost immediately after they had purchased a large batch of BTC. It’s unclear how or if the hacker knew about the recent purchase.

The notification reportedly told the user that their account had been locked and further action was required. They were instructed to call a phone number in order to regain access.

An unknown individual answered the call and instructed the user to sign into their account and make a series of changes, one of which was for the user to provide remote access to the account.

“Once granted access to the Victim Account, UI-1 (unidentified individual) increased the daily transaction limit and also attempted to deactivate certain notifications and alert settings on the Victim Account,” said Assistant United States Attorney Dan G. Boyle.

It took less than ten minutes for the bad actor to flush millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin and Stellar Lumens (XLM) from the victim’s account.

Image via Shutterstock

Investigators tracked the crypto being sent through an elaborate set of transactions, and identified at least one part of the batch going to Huobi Global. However, the crypto sent to Huobi only accounts for $600,000 worth of the users stolen funds, and it’s still not clear what happened to the rest. Authorities say investigation is ongoing and there have been no arrests.

Dolly M. Gee, district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, has order Huobi to freeze the funds in an effort to catch the perpetrator.

Coinbase was in the news last month when it was revealed that over 6,000 of their customer’s accounts were hacked and had crypto stolen from them. According to a letter sent to victims, Coinbase discovered that hackers were able to get ahold of their users’ emails, passwords, and phone numbers associated with their accounts.

“While we are not able to determine conclusively how these third parties gained access to this information, this type of campaign typically involves phishing attacks or other social engineering techniques to trick a victim into unknowingly disclosing login credentials to a bad actor. We have not found any evidence that these third parties obtained this information from Coinbase itself.”

The post A Coinbase User Lost 206 Bitcoin Worth Almost $12,000,000 After Being Tricked By Fake Notification appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In the company’s latest earnings call, CEO Michael Miebach says he sees huge opportunities in multiple areas of the nascent industry, and confirms that the space has become one of Mastercard’s key points of focus.

“So the first is we see significant volumes in terms of people actually investing in crypto and selling crypto. So as an asset class, there’s a lot going on. And I think, we have a role to play to facilitate consumers wanting to do that if that’s what they choose to do.”

Mastercard announced last month that it was acquiring blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace as part of its dive into crypto. Financial details of the acquisition have not yet been revealed. The acquisition of CipherTrace came only two days after Mastercard announced they were acquiring open banking platform Aiia.

This month, Mastercard announced it was partnering with Bakkt to integrate crypto services to all its banks and customers.

“Mastercard customers can now enable consumers to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency, deliver unique, crypto-centric loyalty opportunities, and streamline issuance of branded crypto debit and credit cards.”

Image via Shuttersrtock

Miebach emphasized on the earnings call the importance of these partnerships to Mastercard, and said they were “good from a volume perspective.”

“There’s real activity. When it comes to crypto as a payment tool, then we take a somewhat differentiated view on that versus the — we just stepped into that. We’re saying at this point in time, the most likely chance of this kind of technology to work for payments is issued through a government in the form of central bank digital currency. We’ve said that on a couple of calls before.”

While Mastercard is ramping up its crypto adoption, the company is not new to the scene. The payments behemoth was one of the original investors in crypto venture capitalist giant Digital Currency Group (DCG).

The post Mastercard Gets Deep Into Crypto, CEO Says Big Opportunities Await In the Industry appeared first on Coin Bureau.

With ETH potentially entering price discovery, and Bitcoin seemingly finding support at $60,000, positive market sentiment has reemerged.

Macro investor and former Goldman Sachs executive Raoul Pal took to Twitter today to announce that he’s never been more irresponsibly long as he is now.

“Just so we are clear – I am more than irresponsibly long ETH right now. I now have leverage but via calls. This is by far and away the biggest personal position of my entire life by a factor of 10 (or more).

My view horizon for this part of the trade is 6 to 9 months.”

Pal has previously asserted that ETH is the better trade over Bitcoin based on it being earlier in its adoption cycle and backed by booming network effects. He does however still hold Bitcoin and a selection of other more nascent cryptos as part of some “big future” plays.

“I obviously also own BTC and a whole bunch of other crypto (layers 1’s, Defi and interoperability stuff). I think the most undervalued plays for the future (not now) are Rally.io (RLY), Chiliz (CHZ), Dapper Labs, The Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), and other metaverse and social tokens.”

The Real Vision CEO has also suggested that Ethereum’s current bull run is following that of Bitcoin’s between 2013 and 2017, which implies ETH goes well past the $20,000 mark.

“The ETH 2021 vs BTC 2017 parallel continues its weird wizardry…”

Raoul Pal/Twitter

Pal said earlier this month that he was guessing ETH would be somewhere near $15,000 at the end of the year and about $40,000 by the end of the current run.

The resurgence of bullish sentiment in the crypto is also reflecting in the derivatives market. Over on Deribit, BTC and ETH bulls can now buy calls options with strike prices of $400,000 for BTC and $50,000 for ETH by with September 22nd expiries. Anyone buying these calls is hoping for a 555% increase for Bitcoin and a 1062% rally for Ethereum.

Big Strike Alert: 50k Sep22 in #ETH and 400k Sep22 in #BTC strikes introduced!

Are buying calls on those strikes only for dreamers?

— Deribit (@DeribitExchange) October 25, 2021

The bull market briefly came into question yesterday when Bitcoin pulled off a classic “scam wick” that brought it from above $61,000, down to $57,600 (lower on some exchanges), and then back above $62,700 in less than an hour and a half, according to TradingView data. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is $61,274, and Ethereum is $4,353.

The post Ethereum Breaks All-Time Highs As Bitcoin Hangs Out Over $60,000 appeared first on Coin Bureau.

“It was a long wait, but worth it.

We just bought the dip!

420 new Bitcoin”

The country’s latest purchase of 420 Bitcoin puts its total stack in the treasury at 1,120 BTC, worth about $66,000,000 at current prices. It is the first purchase since September when Bukele announced they had purchased 150 BTC. 

Bukele also revealed details behind how the country is taking profits through a trust fund.

“How do we make a profit if 1 BTC = 1 BTC?

We have a trust fund accounted in USD, but the trust is funded by both USD and BTC.

When the BTC part revalues in comparison to the accounting currency (USD), we are able to withdraw some USD and leave the trust with the same total.”

El Salvador first adopted Bitcoin as legal tender on September 7th in the face of some backlash. The country saw several protests against the measure that voiced concerns over Bitcoin potentially encouraging money laundering, the drug cartels, and corruption. Protesters have also set some Bitcoin ATM machines on fire, complaining of technical difficulties especially during the first week of their rollout.

Unfazed by those skeptical of the BTC rollout, the country has continued to invest resources into the Bitcoin ecosystem. Last month, President Bukele announced that the state had built a Bitcoin mining rig that utilized geothermal energy from volcanoes. The president tweeted a screenshot showing the first batch of BTC generated from the volcanoes. 

pic.twitter.com/5u4uR0E8zn

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) October 1, 2021

The Chivo wallet also enticed Salvadorans into trading the world’s top crypto. The application used to have a scalping feature that allowed users to freeze the price for one minutes to compare the quote to other exchanges before buying or selling. Salvadorans were trading Bitcoin so much that Chivo decided to pull this feature after concerns that there was excess speculation occurring.

Hemos tenido que deshabilitar temporalmente la opción de ver el precio del Bitcoin congelado durante un minuto.

Lamentablemente, muchos de nuestros usuarios lo utilizaban para hacer “scalping”, que es legal, pero sin tener la opción de una tasa congelada.

Hilo:

— chivo (@chivowallet) October 18, 2021

The above tweet translates to:

“We had to temporarily disable the option to see the Bitcoin price frozen for one minute. Unfortunately, many of our users used it for scalping, which is legal, but without having the option of a frozen rate.”

El Salvador is the only country in the world for now that publicly holds Bitcoin, much to the chagrin of BTC enthusiasts such as Anthony Pompliano.

“It is absurd that the United States is being outcompeted by El Salvador for who owns more bitcoin.

Our national policy should be to match every single BTC purchase that is made by a foreign government.

The next competition won’t be number of nukes, but how much bitcoin you own.”

The post El Salvador Buys The Dip (Again), President Bukele Grabs Another 420 BTC appeared first on Coin Bureau.

One wallet that’s turned a few heads is one that that originally invested in SHIB in August of 2020. As reported by Morning Brew, we may be looking at the greatest trade in the history of all investing. 

The Ethereum network shows the address of 0x1406899696aDb2fA7a95eA68E80D4f9C82FCDeDd purchasing roughly $8,000 worth of SHIB with some ETH when it was trading at around $0.0000000001 a coin. At the time, this was only about a month into SHIB’s existence, with only a few thousand dollars in daily volume being traded. 

With SHIB now trading at around $0.00007828, this early meme coin investor has netted more than $5.7 billion in profit. 

Morning Brew/Ethereum

As amazing as the returns are, many traders will be quick to point out that the market for SHIB is very unlikely to have the liquidity to handle $5 billion in sell orders. At the time of writing, the address holds roughly 20% of the circulating supply of SHIB. How much of the profits the investor is able to take out of the system remains to be seen. 

Shiba Inu currently has a market cap of roughly $42,932,673,908, which is almost double that of Deutsche Bank. At the time of writing, it has become a bigger crypto than Dogecoin (DOGE), and also briefly overtook smart contract platform Polkadot (DOT). 

Scott Minerd of Guggenheim Investments, who manages over $325 billion in assets under management, said last week that he regretted not putting some capital into SHIB.

“Back in February or March, if you’d invested a thousand dollars into Shiba Coin, you would have $2.1 million today…I wish I’d invested a hundred thousand,” Minerd said. Perplexed by SHIB’s rise to prominence, he admitted that he didn’t “fully understand” the crypto market, 

“The one thing I learned as a bond trader years ago when you don’t understand what’s happening, get out of the market.” 

The post Someone Just Turned $8000 Worth of SHIB Into $5.7 Billion appeared first on Coin Bureau.

Aside from a few select altcoins, almost the entire crypto market followed Bitcoin’s lead today by making a downward move. As is often the case, excess leverage may have played a part in the correction. According to Bybt, a total of 182,855 traders were liquidated across 8 diferent exchanges, costing retail crypto speculators over $900 million. According to the data, Binance had the most liquidations, and Ethereum cost traders the most amount of money with over $300 million in losses. Aside from Etheruem, the majority of liquidations were spread across Bitcoin, Polkadot, XRP, Dogecoin, Solana, Cardano, and notably, Shiba Inu (SHIB). 

Image via Shutterstock

Everytime Bitcoin corrects, the high-flying price targets up in the six figures always recieve skepticism. PlanB, who predicts a minimum of $63,000 BTC for this month’s closing price and $98,000 for next month, is unfazed by the market downturn. 

Classic
– step 1: liquidate all leveraged longs
– step 2: pic.twitter.com/UwHcpj8CjI

— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) October 27, 2021

And looking at Etheruem, macro investor and Real Vision Group CEO Raoul Pal sees the latest downturn as just another stepping stone to an eventual price rise. Pal has always asserted that Ethereum is likely following Bitcoin’s price trajectory from between 2013 to 2017. Based on this thesis, ETH could still correct significantly and the idea would remain intact. 

“The ETH 2021 vs BTC 2017 parallel continues its weird wizardry…”

Raoul Pal/Twitter

Popular crypto analyst TechDev has been testing another circulating theory that posits Bitcoin following what gold did in the 1970s, not just now but also in 2017. He overlays Bitcoin’s 2017 market cycle with that of gold in the 1970s, plus adds BTC’s current run. While heavy on the speculation, the similarities are still interesting. The analyst says this correction, which currently puts Bitcoin about 12.3% away from its all-time high, is nothing to worry about for bulls.

“I can almost promise you…

If you’re freaking out over this minor ABC correction…

You’re probably exiting the market in November.”

TechDev/Twitter

Crypto analyst Gert van Lagen has speculated that Bitcoin is forming a similar pattern now that it did at the $40,000 level. His comparison shows BTC making a classic head and shoulders pattern while the relative strength index (RSI) forms a downward channel. Back then, right when the head and shoulders pattern completed, BTC shot up to eventually make new highs. 

“$BTC [6h]: compare the RSI channels at the $40k-$42k bear trap and the current situation at the $62k-$65k Wyckoff support.

This head and shoulders could still be very well a bear trap.”

Gert van Lagen/Twitter

The post Bitcoin Below $60K for the First Time in 10 Days – Should You Buy the Dip? appeared first on Coin Bureau.

At the time of writing, 1INCH is trading at $5.59, up 35% in the last 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap. However, at one point, 1INCH had reached as far as $8.65 after running all the way up from $4.11 for a 110% rally.

1inch is a decentralized exchange aggregator (DEX) that uses an algorithm to help users find the best possible trading prices for tokens. Rather than swapping tokens from one liquidity pool, it will aggregate across different pools and give a suggestion for the most efficient trade. It is currently able to search through at least 33 different protocols when looking for the best quote. The ERC-20 token is up 748% from it’s all-time low in December.

Upbit also announced support for two more altcoins at the same time as 1INCH: open source decentralized finance (DeFI) protocol Aave, and encrypted messaging platform Mask Network (MASK), both of which experienced more modest rallies after the announcement in comparison with the 1INCH moon shot.

Aave did a 35% rally after the listing but has since given up most of its gains and is now trading at $355 at the time of writing. MASK on the other hand spiked sharply from $9.64 to $15.60 and has been slowly trending down since.

CoinGecko

All three altcoins were able to pull of their rallies during a market wide downturn that saw Bitcoin plunge below the $60,000 level for the first time in 10 days. This may have put a cap on the altcoins’ price spikes as the usual fear quickly gripped the crypto markets. Other big coins like Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano are down about 3%, 4%, 7% respectively at the time of writing.

The post 1INCH Explodes Over 100% As Crypto Exchange Upbit Announces Listing appeared first on Coin Bureau.

In a Twitter thread with a user named “@ShibaInuHodler” who said “Hey Elon Musk how much SHIB are you holding!!”, the tech billionaire calmly replied, “none”. Musk then revealed his portfolio before giving an honest warning about crypto investing.

“Out of curiosity, I acquired some ascii hash strings called ‘Bitcoin, Ethereum & Doge’. That’s it.

As I’ve said before, don’t bet the farm on crypto! True value is building products & providing services to your fellow human beings, not money in any form.”

While SHIB took a considerable dip after Elon’s response, it quickly recovered and has ultimately remained completely unfazed, keeping its bull market intact. The coin, which was started by pseudonymous developer Ryoshi, has essentially shocked the entire crypto space by becoming one of the best performing digital assets of all time, and the 11th biggest in the world. At the time of writing, SHIB is up 83522885.6% since November of 2020.

Shiba Inu’s ecosystem primarily focuses on its decentralized exchange (DEX) called Shibaswap. Other than SHIB, it also has a governance token called BONE, and another coin called LEASH which has no specific use case. There is a circulating supply of 500 trillion SHIB, and a total supply of 1 quadrillion.

Image via Shutterstock

While Musk isn’t a believer in SHIB, Tesla still sparked a semblance of positive market sentiment yesterday when it revealed in their earnings report that the company was considering accepting BTC as payment again in the future. Musk previously decided to stop accepting BTC for Tesla products because of his concerns with the Bitcoin network’s impact on the environment.

“During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we purchased an aggregate of $1.50 billion in bitcoin. In addition, during the three months
ended March 31, 2021, we accepted bitcoin as a payment for sales of certain of our products in specified regions, subject to applicable laws, and
suspended this practice in May 2021. We may in the future restart the practice of transacting in cryptocurrencies (“digital assets”) for our products and
services…

We believe in the long-term potential of digital assets both as an investment and also as a liquid alternative to cash. As with any investment and consistent with how we manage fiat-based cash and cash-equivalent accounts, we may increase or decrease our holdings of digital assets at any time based on the needs of the business and our view of market and environmental conditions.”

Tesla currently has the second largest public corporate treasury of Bitcoin, with at last 43,200 BTC according to bitcointreasuries.net, well behind Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy.

The post Elon Disappoints SHIB Holders, But Tesla May be Accepting Bitcoin Payments Again appeared first on Coin Bureau.

ADA entered this year trading at $0.18, and hit an all-time high of $3.09 in early September for a gain of 1616% in nine months. After two months of healthy uneventfulness and resilience around the $2.00 range, Cardano could be ready to move according to multiple analysts.

Widely followed analyst Benjamin Cowen, known for longer time frame technical analysis, said yesterday that ADA has “completely outperformed” his initial expectations for 2021. With that said, Cowen doesn’t necessarily see the crypto as being over extended and in need of a bear market just yet.

The analyst says that ADA is in the “why doesn’t ADA do anything?” phase, which he suggests is often the time just before another parabolic price movement. Using logarithmic regression bands, Cowen says an explosion to the $10.00 level by early 2022 is completely possible, but also not as conservative and realistic as he’d like to be.

Cowen suggests that a better way not to get set up for disappointment would be to assume a slightly longer market cycle that sees ADA bounce around more or less in its current price range until the new year, before making the big move up.

“A healthy way to get there would be a move up in a few months to maybe a $3.00 to $4.00 ADA, where we go down to support for a while, then maybe a move to like a $6.00 to $7.00 ADA half a year after that, and then a rally to $10.00 ADA. That would be a healthy way to get there. A more unhealthy way to get there would be… if we just rallied up at the end of the year going into early $2022 and let’s just say we hit like a $9.00 ADA by the end of the year or by early next year. If we had a $9.00 by early next year, the we’re looking at basically dropping down two regression bands and moving up probably too quickly for the market to sustain it in the short term and then we would probably get a sizeable pull back, maybe back to the current prices, honestly.”

Benjamin Cowen

Being bullish on Cardano, Cowen says there’s nothing wrong with ADA staying boring for a while because it gives one time to accumulate more, plus take advantage of staking.

Other traders like Cardano Dan, think ADA has been in a giant ascending channel dating back to the COVID-19-induced crash on March 2020. Based on this thesis, ADA is still currently in the lower half of the channel with an upside target somewhere between $9.00 and $12.00 by early 20222.

Cardano Dan

This chart from Dan Gambardello is also optimistic, depicting a monthly trend taking us somewhere between the $15.00 and $31.00 range in mid to late 2022.

Dan Gambardello

While ADA investors and traders keep their eye on the charts, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has kept extra busy with the company’s agenda to place its blockchain in key parts of the African economy.

Great meeting with his excellency President Évariste Ndayishimiye about the future of Burundi's digital transformation pic.twitter.com/r4HK7kIN9i

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 25, 2021

And before Burundi, we had a wonderful meeting about the Blue Economy with President Hussein Ali Mwinyi in Zanzibar. pic.twitter.com/jOqUmj0VeB

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 25, 2021

Whether Hoskinson and Input Output Hong Kong’s (IOHK) activity in Africa provide the fundamental spark that ADA needs for another leg up remains to be seen, but market sentiment is generally very positive. At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $2.15.

The post Is It Time For Cardano to Pop? Here’s What The Analysts Think About ADA appeared first on Coin Bureau.

The hugely popular analyst has garnered attention lately for sniping Bitcoin’s “worst-case scenario” for monthly closing prices two months in a row in August and September. With October’s close coming into view, a lot of traders might have their eye on $63,000, PlanB’s floor price for BTC this month. Moving forward, the quant analyst is pegging $98,000 for BTC in November, and a bold prediction of $135,000 for December.

Aug>47k
Sep>43k
Next targets: Oct>63k, Nov>98k, Dec>135k pic.twitter.com/C45nfQkQSC

— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) October 1, 2021

Speaking with Laura Shin on the Unchained podcast, PlanB reiterates his calls.

“Well, it’s a bit of luck, of course, involved there, it has to be. One cannot be that precise, but at least all those targets were met. So $47,000, $43,000, and we’re waiting for a close of the month now. But $63,000 is in the books so… If that continues, and frankly I would be very surprised if it doesn’t, that would be a black swan event that we haven’t seen in the last ten years, but if that continues, we’ll go to $98,000 in November already. And then $135,000 in December, so that will be a really nice Christmas this year if that comes true. “

Some analysts believe that Bitcoin has entered a new era where it will no longer go through bubble-like market cycles triggered by the 4-year halvings. Instead, some Bitcoin veterans like Pantera Capital’s Dan Morehead say we probably won’t see huge, parabolic run-ups followed by devastating collapses anymore. These pronounced cycles, say, will turn into a more modest drift upward like the S&P 500.