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Showing posts from April, 2021

Interview: Making Bitcoin Easy With Simon Lapscher Of Liquality

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Simon Lapscher of Liquality wallet discussed his focus on atomic swaps with Bitcoin. bit.ly/3f7o14k http://dlvr.it/Ryn67M

Hotbit crypto exchange shuts down for maintenance after attempted hack https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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The Chinese crypto exchange says funds are “SAFU” and that the emergency maintenance could take up to two weeks. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2QKlWn5 via IFTTT

Coinbase to acquire Skew crypto data analytics platform https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Some of Skew’s institutional clients include One River Asset Management and Susquehanna International Group. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3eDU2Bg via IFTTT

Interoperability May Be The Single Biggest Threat to Ethereum’s Dominance #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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While it may still be the primary network hub for defi activities, smart contracts, and NFTs, bridges built using competing networks like Tezos could pose a serious challenge to Ethereum’s market share in these areas. New Solutions to Old Problems Could Undermine Network’s Potency In the time since the network’s unveiling, Ethereum-killers have abounded with claims that they would displace the network with faster transactions, more scalability, lower fees, and effectively do just about everything better. Despite all the hype surrounding these answers to Ethereum’s flaws, no network has been able to displace the network’s appeal in totality. Yet, Ethereum’s deficiencies are currently coming under attack from all sides, and more so than ever before. The recently unveiled WRAP Protocol from Bender Labs is one of several arrows that could seriously maim Ethereum’s status. This highly interoperable decentralized protocol will enable the transformation and transfer of Ethereum tokens, ...

Turkey jails 6 in probe into missing Thodex crypto exchange CEO https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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The arrested siblings of the missing Thodex CEO reportedly own millions of dollars worth of crypto. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2PzHfqY via IFTTT

NFT Roundup: Drumpfs Hit the Market, Dole Takes A Bite Out of Hunger, Digitalax Introduces Fashion Hybrids, and Burgundy Wine Collectibles Arrive #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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The fever surrounding non-fungible tokens continues to spread as it penetrates new areas and industries. Political memes have now entered the NFT fray, Dole is fighting food insecurity with a humorous angle, Digitalax is bridging the physical and digital fashion divide, and even acclaimed wine is getting a taste for digital collectibles. Drumpfs Mint Trump’s Tweets for Charity Capitalizing on the momentum of Meme PAC’s viral presence in the American political conversation, 18-year incoming Columbia freshman and President behind the famed youth political action committee (PAC) Jackie Ni is introducing political NFTs. Through Strategic Meme Group (SMG), where Ni serves as Chief Meme Officer, unique digital political collectibles will be minted and auctioned to monetize former President Donald Trump’s tweets for charitable purposes. The so-called “ Drumpfs ,” which mark the first undertaking of SMG, will be presented as cubes with different images affixed to each side. One side of ea...

Uzbek presidential agency proposes legalizing domestic crypto trading https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Uzbekistan wants to lift its ban on cryptocurrency purchases after barring residents from buying crypto in 2019. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3gRa9yi via IFTTT

New Jersey County Liquidates Bitcoin Seized in 2018, Profiting Almost 300% #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Individuals and companies are not the only ones who take advantage of the significant bitcoin prices surging across the board, despite recent pullbacks. In New Jersey, United States, a county yielded profits after liquidating seized cryptocurrencies during a drug investigation. Authorities Gained Control of the Cryptos in 2019 According to NBC New York , local authorities from Monmouth County got the bitcoin ( BTC ) during a raid in the context of an illegal narcotics distribution crackdown in 2018. Investigators found that such digital assets were part of the profits gained by the criminals due to its drug sales. Approximately, the county netted 300% in profits from the liquidation when BTC was exchanging hands around the $57,000 threshold, selling it at around $198,000, said the media outlet. Per the report, in 2019, the county filed a forfeiture complaint after the suspect pleaded guilty. That said, the county gained ownership of the seized crypto. Christopher Gramiccioni, the...

100M euro digital bond was a CBDC test, says Banque de France https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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European financial institutions are using pilots to make a case for the digital euro. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3eOeU9c via IFTTT

SEC enforcement chief steps down just days after appointment https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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The official's conduct in past litigation was brought into question by a U.S. District court judge. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2PBse85 via IFTTT

Intercontinental Exchange sells Coinbase stake for $1.2B https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Intercontinental Exchange has sold its 1.4% stake in Coinbase to reduce the company’s debt. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3sZZhAo via IFTTT

We all know the issues with DeFi — but what are the answers? https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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High costs and transactions prioritized by gas fees often make using DeFi protocols challenging to say the least. Does it really need to be this difficult? from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3t5ow4n via IFTTT

Digital Asset Marketplace Apifiny Prime Granted FINRA Broker-Dealer License Approval #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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On Thursday, Apifiny, a global digital asset trading and mining network, announced the company’s subsidiary Apifiny Prime has been granted a broker-dealer license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The firm now joins the ranks of brokerage and exchange businesses like Coinbase, Etoro, and Circle. FINRA Grants Apifiny Prime a Broker-Dealer License The leading regulator that oversees American broker-dealers, FINRA has granted a broker-dealer license to Apifiny Prime. The license allows Apifiny to make private investor placements and vend securities, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and other types of financial products. Apifiny was founded by Haohan Xu in 2018 after he saw inefficiencies across global bitcoin exchanges, and said that he “took advantage of this by buying and selling bitcoin across different exchanges.” Haohan Xu detailed in the company announcement concerning the FINRA approval, that his firm has grown significantly and saw a “4x increase in monthly ...

Australian senate committee calls for national blockchain land registry https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Australia’s senate committee on technology and finance wants lawmakers to establish a national blockchain land registry. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3xDiUSa via IFTTT

Bitcoin mining in China set for 'stricter supervision' due to carbon concerns https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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China is reportedly paying more attention to the crypto mining sector, amid concerns of its growing carbon footprint. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3xCtol2 via IFTTT

Metis: First Ever Community-Minted NFT Attracts Buyers With an Early Bid of 7 ETH #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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PRESS RELEASE. The first ever community-minted NFT launched at OpenSea this week, attracting a bid of 7 ETH for this historic event and giving 256 lucky users the opportunity to share the proceeds of the NFT auction with the artist. That large bid is the latest stage of a highly popular campaign, one that saw the opening rounds of NFT minting happen in a matter of minutes, instead of the expected span of five days. More than 12,000 clients enrolled wallets to the MetisDAO.org website as part of the NFT contest. The NFT is named “Rebuilding the Tower of Babel”, connecting the idea of the old Biblical Babylonian tower and its mission of uniting people around the world who speak different languages with the city of the future and the huge potential of blockchain technology. Bidders can bid on the NFT from now until the auction’s end Monday, May 3 at 1:53 pm UTC. Elena Sinelnikova, CEO and co-founder of Metis, said the venture shows the spirit of collaboration that a community-m...

The Benefits of Coupling Ethereum With Bitcoin Cash: Smartbch Sidechain Testnet Is Now Public #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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On Thursday, the Smart Bitcoin Cash team announced the launch of the Smartbch testnet explaining that developers and decentralized app makers can now experiment and develop with the high-performance, EVM-compatible Bitcoin Cash sidechain. Further, Bitcoin.com News spoke with Wang Kui the lead developer of the Smartbch project. The Smartbch tech lead told our newsdesk about the inner workings of the sidechain that can connect with the Ethereum network. Testnet for Smart Bitcoin Cash, a Bitcoin Cash Layer-2 Project Is Live During the last few weeks, the Smartbch project has been a topical conversation within the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community. The reason for these conversations is because the Smartbch team has revealed a project that is EVM and Web3 compatible, but far cheaper in terms of transaction fees. This is because the Smartbch project is a sidechain built on Bitcoin Cash and it leverages the BCH chain’s lower transaction fees. Bitcoin.com has reported on the project on a few...

Fidelity launches institutional cryptocurrency analytics platform Sherlock https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Sherlock will provide fundamental and technical analysis for fund managers and investors. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3eC4wRG via IFTTT

BNY Mellon fund laments: ‘We should have bought Bitcoin, not gold' https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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SEC filings show that America’s oldest bank has attributed the underperformance of its small-cap ETF to failing to buy MicroStrategy shares after the firm invested heavily in BTC. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3u4L6LS via IFTTT

Nvidia again limiting crypto mining on its RTX-3060 gaming graphics card https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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After accidentally unlocking its own hash rate limiter in a driver update, Nvidia has announced it will lock new cards again by reducing the mining capacity by 50%. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2Sgz6J9 via IFTTT

$400M gaming VC fund Bitkraft teams up with Delphi on blockchain gaming https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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The collaboration will seek investments in the gaming and blockchain industry. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3u4yeoQ via IFTTT

Bitcoin vs Ethereum: Investment Bank JPMorgan Explains Why ETH Is Outperforming BTC #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Investment bank JPMorgan has published a report explaining why ether is outperforming bitcoin. Citing several key reasons, the firm concluded that “there is evidence of more resilient liquidity, less reliance on derivatives markets to transfer and warehouse risk, and more durable underlying demand base – for now at least.” JPMorgan Says Ether Outperforms Bitcoin JPMorgan published a report on Tuesday entitled “Why is ETH outperforming?” The analysts with the firm’s Fixed Income Strategy for the U.S. wrote: In recent days, one of the more interesting developments in cryptocurrency markets has been the outperformance of ether ( ETH ) relative to other tokens. Noting that bitcoin is “more of a crypto commodity than currency,” JPMorgan said that “ ETH is the backbone of the crypto-native economy and therefore functions more as a medium of exchange.” The analysts then asserted that “To the extent owning a share of this potential activity is more valuable … ETH should outperform BT...

Task Force Pushes Biden Administration to Tighten Cryptocurrency Regulation #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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A public-private task force has submitted a report to the Biden administration that includes recommendations to tighten the regulation of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, with the aim to combat ransomware. “The cryptocurrency sector that enables ransomware crime should be more closely regulated,” the task force wrote. White House Urged to Tighten Crypto Regulation A task force, organized by the Institute for Security and Technology, submitted a report entitled “Combating Ransomware” to the Biden administration Thursday with 48 recommendations, some of which aim at tightening crypto regulation. The recommendations were developed by the Ransomware Task Force (RTF), which the report describes as “a broad coalition of volunteer experts from industry, government, law enforcement, civil society, cybersecurity insurers, and international organizations.” Its goal is to “provide a strategic framework for a systemic, global approach to mitigating the ransomware problem.” The report clai...

Our Man in Shanghai: Huobi looks to become Grayscale of Asia, Yao Ming’s NFT wine, and Chinese crypto investors go to the dogs https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Huobi tackles the institutional market, you can now own an NFT of basketball star Yao Ming drinking red wine, and China’s digital yuan starts to target the private sector from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3xB4UIL via IFTTT

Peer-To-Peer Bitcoin Trading Rising Across Africa

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The conditions for growth are ripe as the continent embraces the freedom of Bitcoin. bit.ly/3f7o14k http://dlvr.it/RykFGW

Report: Chinese Officials Are Examining Bitcoin Energy Use

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Beijing is reportedly examining the energy of “cryptocurrency miners” within the region, which may come to impact bitcoin mining operations. bit.ly/3f7o14k http://dlvr.it/RyjmXK

Former U.S. Chamber Of Commerce VP Joins Square To Lead Bitcoin Policy

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Cash App operator Square has hired a former U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president to lead its Bitcoin policy. bit.ly/3f7o14k http://dlvr.it/RyjBkY

Swiss Stock Exchange SIX and Borse Xetra list physically backed Ether ETP https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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The New York-based exchange-traded product sponsor and asset manager WisdomTree has launched a physically backed Ether ETP on Borse Xetra and SIX. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3e2hEjV via IFTTT

Bitcoin set to close first ‘red’ April in 6 years as Ethereum keeps hitting all-time highs https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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BTC/USD is set to end the month around 8% down, the first such losing streak since 2015 despite an even more impressive Q1 performance. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/32ZKTO8 via IFTTT

County in New Jersey makes 250% profit from crypto seized in 2018 https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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County authorities captured the cryptocurrency during a 2018 drug bust in Long Branch. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3aNOq6d via IFTTT

UnoRe Ecosystem for Investors #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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PRESS RELEASE. UnoRe , the first decentralized reinsurance platform, is now allowing retail users to invest in risk. This opportunity is a part of the project’s vision to revolutionize the reinsurance industry, one that has been traditionally gatekept, preventing any significant innovation in hundreds of years. UnoRe aims to take steps towards alleviating the extreme global wealth gap – a typical millennial now holds 41% less wealth than a similarly aged adult in 1989. In contrast, the world’s richest 1% currently have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people combined. That’s over 90% of everyone else! The inaccessibility to wealth-generating tools such as reinsurance is a contributing factor to this enormous inequality – reinsurance as an industry has always been one exclusive to the wealthiest factions of society and out of reach for regular investors. Those with significant capital have leveraged this reliable asset class in order to balloon their already-inflated ne...

Fed to Keep Rates Near Zero, Treasury Purchases to Continue, Powell Expects ‘Transitory’ Inflation #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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In a policy meeting on Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve told the public that monetary easing will continue and the benchmark interest rate will be kept near zero. Just like previous statements from Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members, the committee within the central bank is not concerned about inflation and says that it should only have “transitory effects” on the American economy. Inflation to Have ‘Transitory Effects,’ While ‘Recovery Is Uneven and Far From Complete’ The most recent FOMC meeting held on Wednesday was no different than the past number of committee gatherings which explained that the central bank is still dealing with pressure from the pandemic. A press release that followed the meeting highlighted that the “pandemic is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world.” The Federal Reserve, however, has seen indicators that “economic activity and employment have strengthened,” but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell ...

Venezuelan Programmer Who Created the Petro Token Regrets Participating in the Project — Works on an Alternative Token #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Venezuela’s government-backed cryptocurrency is not having the acceptance its cabinet expected, as the latest reports suggest. The petro’s creator, who now lives in exile, wants to build another crypto that gets the adoption its original creation did not in the nation. Jiménez Believed the Petro Could Have Given Venezuelans a ‘Measure of Freedom’ Per a report published by Deutsche Welle, Gabriel Jimenez, a 31-year-old-programmer, is looking to pursue a “cryptocurrency revolution” in Venezuela with Reserve, a brand-new token he created. Jimenez – now residing in the United States – is not a stranger to the crypto community, nor Nicolás Maduro’s government, as he was once commissioned to create the state-backed petro (PTR). Interestingly, he wasn’t a fan of the government, as he actively participated in the street protests against Maduro. However, Jiménez thought that creating the petro token was an excellent idea to give Venezuelans “a measure of freedom” by bypassing U.S. financi...

UK revenue authority to target cryptocurrency tax evaders https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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The U.K. tax authority is trying to crack down on wealth hidden in "unsanctioned" currencies. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3gNRW4E via IFTTT

Top Korean crypto exchanges reopen brick-and-mortar customer centers https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Both Coinone and Bithumb have reopened their customer centers in the capital city in response to a surge in domestic interest in cryptocurrencies. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3t0ERqX via IFTTT

Polygon’s New $100M Fund Aims to Attract Next Million Defi Participants #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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As part of its ongoing efforts to make the decentralized finance ecosystem more accessible through infrastructure development, this layer2 scaling solution has introduced a $100 million fund designed to lower the barriers to entry for yield farming and lending. #Defiforall to Support Development Over Next 2-3 Years Decentralized finance (defi) has emerged as one of the most explosive blockchain developments over the past year as new products and services offer a new means for token holders to monetize their crypto holdings. The push has been so extreme that the total value locked (TVL) in defi protocols has crossed back above $60 billion , trending just shy of the record amount reached mere weeks ago. Yet, defi remains one of the most complex areas of the blockchain universe for newcomers as the steep learning curve and high capital requirements push more minor participants to the fringes. Enter Polygon, an Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development solution. Formerly known a...

Beijing investigates crypto mining farms to improve energy efficiency https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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Bitcoin's electricity bill has been attracting the attention of regulators worldwide. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3xGOleL via IFTTT

Binance could face heavy fines over stock tokens warns German regulator https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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The exchange has failed to publish relevant accompanying documents along with its recently launched stock tokens. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3u4y6px via IFTTT

African Property Development Firm Partners Online Leasing Platform in a BTC for Solar Cells Scheme #Bitcoin https://ift.tt/2IUgeem

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South African property developer, New Age Properties, says it has partnered with Sun Exchange, an online leasing platform, as part of an effort to bring cheap and clean energy to low-income earners. Bitcoin for Solar Cells According to the two companies’ working arrangement, Sun Exchange, which also accepts payment in BTC form, will enable buyers of solar cells to lease electricity to Watergate Estate, one of South Africa’s first low-cost gated community housing project. Meanwhile, a local news report explains how the consummation of this partnership will represent a key milestone for the South African property developer, Anver Essop. In addition to fulfilling his desire to bring to “green, safe and cheap homes across South Africa”, the arrangement with Sun Exchange also helps Essop realize his objective of bringing the perks or benefits associated with South Africa’s affluent gated communities to low-income earners. “We thought, why don’t we give people the same product we buil...