Okcoin launches $165M collective investment to push Bitcoin adoption
Cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin, along with the Stacks Accelerator and Stacks Foundation, announced on Thursday the start of the “Bitcoin Odyssey,” a one-year commitment among investment firms to invest $165 million in inventive solutions to help drive Bitcoin (BTC) adoption.
The Bitcoin Odyssey is funded by Digital Currency Group, GBV Capital, White Star Capital and GSR, among other organizations, to respond to the rise in interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) and new technological capabilities made possible with Stacks.
Princeton launches blockchain research initiative with $20M from crypto-alumni
Prestigious Princeton University has launched an initiative to study the "Decentralization of societal power" through blockchain technology in an effort to explore the vast depths of it's social capabilities.
"The initiative will convene scholars across disciplines to understand the potential benefits and pitfalls of blockchain and other technologies, and their potential to disrupt centers of societal power."An official post from the university states that it will help it understand "The underlying engineering behind blockchain and related technologies".
FTP Connect Stripe for Crypto Payments and KYC
Payment giant Stripe launches support for crypto payments for FTX clients. This will speed up registration and identity verification.
Now it will be easier for new FTX users to understand how to buy their first cryptocurrency. They can do it faster and easier using debit cards and banking apps.
Privacy Coins Monero, Zcash Lead Crypto Market Rebound
Top privacy coins like Monero and Zcash are surging in price today, with several of them posting overnight gains of 10 to 20%. The largest privacy coin Monero, which has a market capitalization of over $3.5 billion, shot up 18.8% in the last 24 hours and trades for around $195.43.
Oasis, Secret and Horizon, respectively the third-, fourth- and fifth-biggest privacy coins by market capitalization, are also rallying hard.Privacy coins vary in method and utility, but broadly speaking, they use cryptographic techniques to obscure identifying information like addresses and transaction amounts from prying eyes.
$95M of Shorts Liquidated as Bitcoin, Ether Rise 8%
More than $95 million worth of short positions were liquidated in the past 12 hours as the crypto market rebounded from yesterday’s support levels.Almost 88% of traders betting against an increase in crypto prices booked losses as exchanges closed leveraged positions due to a partial or total evaporation of the trader’s initial margin, data from analytics tool Coinglass show.
Crypto exchange OKX saw $44 million worth of short losses, the most among all crypto exchanges, followed by $22 million on Binance and $11 million on Bybit, data show.Some $47.45 million of bitcoin futures were liquidated in the past 12 hours.
Avalanche Fund launches incentive program for US$ 290 million
Avalanche Foundation launches Avalanche Multiverse, an incentive program for developers, for $290 million (4 million AVAX). The program is aimed at developing the functionality of ecosystem subnets.
FTX creates FTX Europe
The FX cryptocurrency exchange continues to expand its presence and creates FTX Europe branch. The company has already received the approval of the Cyprus financial market regulator CySEC.
Users of the European region will have the opportunity to trade various cryptocurrency products based on advanced FTX trading technologies and other digital assets.
Coinbase has blocked about 25,000 addresses
Coinbase reported that it intends to comply with the sanctions. The exchange has already blocked about 25,000 addresses associated with Russian individuals or legal entities. The blog says that the exchange conducted its own investigation and considers the owners of the addresses involved in illegal activities.
Coinbase handed over information about them to the authorities.
Anton Nell and Andre Cronje will stop supporting approximately 25 DeFi applications on April 3
Among them:
‣ yearn․fi
‣ keep3r․network
‣ multichain․xyz
‣ chainlist․org
‣ solidly․exchange
‣ bribe․crv․finance
Data Shows Weak Hands Are Selling Bitcoin At A Loss
Glassnode analytics company has published a report analyzing the real price distribution by unspent transaction outputs (UTXO) in the Bitcoin network which shows the distribution of coin supply at the price it last moved on-chain. This enables you to determine which investors sold their BTC at a profit and which ones are at a loss.
From May 10, 2021, to Aug 21, many traders bought bitcoins at prices ranging from $54,000 to $60,000. But when the massive market decline began, many rushed to get rid of the falling asset. The selling period lasted for 71 days.
Meta Mask has stopped working in some countries, the developers said
The alleged culprit is the API for Infra, the blockchain node infrastructure network.
Crypto donations for Ukraine nears $30 million mark as support continues
Ukraine continues to record a significant inflow of crypto donations with the value approaching the $30 million mark, currently standing at $27.2 million as more well wishers express support amid the ongoing Russian invasion.
Crypto exchange Binance is also leading a $10 million emergency fund towards supporting Ukrainians impacted by the war, bringing the total confirmed donations to $27.2 million.Worth noting is that the donations are still ongoing at a value that might be higher than $27.2 million in crypto.
Crypto Scams on Dating Apps on the Rise (Report)
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted almost every single aspect of life. Since the physical contact between humans had to be reduced to a minimum, love dates and romantic activities became increasingly popular on dating applications.
One such example is the 33-year-old Tho Vu, who fell in love with a mysterious lover named Ze Zhao. After messaging on Hinge for several months, the couple started planning their wedding and honeymoon. Unfortunately for Ms. Vu, the man pretended to love her and reportedly drained $300,000 worth of bitcoin from her.
The founder of cryptocurrency investment platform BitConnect, an Indian national, has been indicted on charges of orchestrating a global Ponzi scheme worth USD 2.4 billion
The founder of cryptocurrency investment platform BitConnect, an Indian national, has been indicted on charges of orchestrating a global Ponzi scheme worth USD 2.4 billion, federal prosecutors said.As alleged in the indictment, BitConnect operated as a Ponzi scheme by paying earlier BitConnect investors with money from later investors.
Kumbhani and his co-conspirators also concealed the location and control of the fraud proceeds obtained from investors by commingling, cycling, and exchanging the funds through BitConnect's cluster of cryptocurrency wallets and various internationally based cryptocurrency exchanges, the Department of Justice alleged.
Ukraine Military Group Receives $400,000 in Bitcoin Donations in One Day: Report
In 2021, about $570,000 in Bitcoin donations went to pro-military Ukrainian groups. Today alone, almost $400,000 in BTC has been sent to just one of those organizations, "Come Back Alive," according to analysis from U.K.-based blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
"This group provides support to the Ukrainian army by supporting their soldiers," Elliptic research lead Jess Symington told Decrypt over the phone.The donations "suddenly shot up" right around the Russian invasion, according to Elliptic.
Coinbase Wallet expanded support for Ledger hardware wallet ✳️
Cryptocurrency wallet Coinbase Wallet, owned by well-known cryhttps://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*TF-3THDGIwoNKgLDptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has rolled out support for browser extensions for Ledger hardware wallets. The Coinbase Wallet extension, available from the Chrome Web Store, is a non-custodial wallet that allows users to store and transact cryptocurrencies and non-transferable tokens (NFTs).
By adding Ledger support, Coinbase users can use a physical Ledger device to store private keys to their wallets offline.
"We want to give everyone the ability to use DApps and access WebZ, and to do that we need to create the easiest-to-use and most affordable self-storage wallet in the ecosystem. Today's release solves ... the security problem."
Cardano to Launch Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending Network in Africa This Year
Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder of Cardano, has disclosed that the popular blockchain project is planning to launch peer-to-peer (P2P) lending in Africa, as part of efforts to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations.
The project, which will create a “one global economy” instead of two economies that are divided between the haves and the have-nots, will mitigate income and wealth inequalities among nations.“Another thing that I think is really cool on the horizon we’re doing this year is that we’re finally able to do peer-to-peer lending into Africa.
Alchemy Pay partners with Paytend
The Alchemy Pay team announced a partnership with Paytend on Twitter over the weekend. Following this partnership, Alchemy Pay’s client crypto services can now offer users the option to pay directly in euros, eliminating the need for costly conversion to US dollars.
Alchemy Pay is a payment system focused on retail transactions at the Point-of-Sale and peer-to-peer remittance. Users can make payments in fiat, stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies on traditional payment systems. Alchemy Pay’s ACH token has lost 2.74% of its value in the last 24 hours and currently trades at $0.05192.
Forbes accuses former TenX CEO of hacking The DAO ♨️
Forbes journalist Laura Sheen investigated the 2016 hack of The DAO project. According to her, Austrian programmer Toby Henisch was behind the $60 million theft.
According to the article, Laura Sheen brought in specialists from the analytics company Chainalysis. They analyzed the transactions related to the hacking of The DAO project and linked them to the wallets belonging to former TenX project CEO Toby Henisch.
According to Chainalysis, the hacker who hacked The DAO sent 50 BTC to his Wasabi Wallet and conducted a mixing operation to conceal the source of the funds. He then transferred the bitcoins to four cryptocurrency exchanges. An employee of one of these exchanges said that the funds from the wallet were exchanged for Grin, an anonymous cryptocurrency.
This IP address, which also hosts Lightning Network nodes, belongs to the TenX project.
Intel unveils 3,600-watt ASIC Bitcoin mining rig
Intel's first ASIC mining solution isn't quite as powerful or as efficient as existing offerings from companies like Bitmain, MicroBT, and Canaan.The company has already started taking orders, and among its first clients are Jack Dorsey's Block and Bitcoin mining company GRIID.
The silicon giant also unveiled a 3,600-watt mining rig based on no less than 300 BMZ1 chips with a total system hash rate of 40 terahashes per second. Cryptocurrency mining energy consumption has been a hot topic for a while now, and leading Bitcoin mining outfits have been trying to reduce the stigma around it.
Cardano Foundation Doubles Reward Offered to Hackers for Uncovering Bugs on Its Blockchain
The Cardano Foundation recently said it has doubled the payout offered to hackers and bounty hunters that identify bugs or vulnerabilities within the Cardano blockchain.
The Cardano Foundation recently announced the start of a promotion that will see it double the value of the reward given to bounty hunters that discover vulnerabilities within the Cardano ecosystem. From this program, we aim to strengthen the Cardano brand through this public bug bounty program, covering essential items to access and manage crypto assets that are issued on the Cardano blockchain.
J.P. Morgan Creates Blockchain Resistant to Quantum Computer Hacking Threat 🛅
J.P. Morgan Chase announced the start of work on creating a blockchain that is resistant to cyberattacks using quantum computers.
To improve the network's security, it will implement a quantum key distribution (QKD) method for encrypting information.
The blockchain has a data transfer rate of up to 800 gigabits per second, and it supports up to 258 communication channels with the AES-256 symmetric blockchain encryption algorithm. The key to decrypt messages changes every second.
"We are gearing up to release quality quantum computers that will change the perception of the level of security of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies for the foreseeable future.
We are proud to be at the forefront of putting QKD technology into practice," said Marco Pistoia, head of the FLARE research group at J.P. Morgan Chase.
OpenSea will delist inactive NFTs on Ethereum 💊
All users of the popular NFT platform OpenSea will need to migrate their existing NFT lists to the new smart
OpenSea, one of the most popular markets for non-transferable tokens (NFTs), has released an update to its smart contract to delist inactive NFTs.
All users of OpenSea's popular NFT platform will need to migrate their existing NFTs to the new smart contract (currently hosted on the Ethereum blockchain) due to the update.
OpenSea issued a statement saying that NFTs issued before Feb. 18 will automatically disappear within a week by Feb. 25:
"This new update will ensure that old inactive lists on Ethereum expire safely and allow us to offer new security features in the future."
Ethereum will be worth $7,609 in 2022 📡
Ethereum could peak at $7,609 in 2022, according to the latest Finder.com survey of an expert panel of 33 industry experts. That would be a 102% increase in ETH from the levels of the beginning of the year. However, according to the average forecast, the coin will end 2022 around $6,500.
Experts in the fintech, cryptocurrency and NFT segments took part in the survey. For example, Fred Shebesta, founder of Finder, expects ETH to rise to $7,000 and then fall to $6,000 by the end of 2022 amid high competition from other cryptocurrencies. As he explains, despite Ethereum's widespread global popularity and strong developer base, the network is still in a highly competitive environment, which is not at all typical of bitcoin.
Paul Levy of the University of Brighton believes that ETH could reach $9,000 and end this year around $8,000.
Brazilian Hashdex Launches DeFi ETF on Stock Exchange 📝
Brazilian crypto-asset manager Hashdex launched a DeFi exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Brazil's B3 stock exchange on Thursday, but the ETF only received $10.5 million from investors, about one-tenth of what the company expected to receive, according to a February report.
The Hashdex ETF, which trades under the ticker symbol DEFI11, was expected to raise $96 million, but attracted only 2,200 investors.
Developed in collaboration with global crypto index provider CF Benchmarks, DEFI11 reflects CF DeFi's modified composite index, an index that features Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE), Compound (COMP) and Maker (MKR) tokens and others.
The index also supports the DeFi protocol, including identity verification and scalability solutions such as Polygon (MATIC), Chainlink (LINK) and The Graph (GRT).
Ronaldinho becomes global ambassador of Graph Blockchain
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, the retired Brazilian footballer who used to play for FC Barcelona – commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho or simply Ronaldinho – has become an official global ambassador of Graph Blockchain, a blockchain company.
Ronaldinho will work with Graph Blockchain’s solely owned subsidiary New World. New World is an augmented reality (AR) non-fungible token (NFT) platform. As global ambassador, Ronaldinho will help to create exclusive events and NFT experiences for fans and supporters. Ronaldinho will work to establish New World as the “pioneer of mass-adopted AR NFT experiences to the world.”
AVAX, MATIC, Uniswap witness explosive on-chain activity, on track for massive price rally
Altcoins AVAX, MATIC and Uniswap witnessed a massive spike in adoption and on-chain activity in Q4 2022. Analysts at Messari Crypto have noted the rising activity and users on AVAX, MATIC and Uniswap networks.
Messari Crypto, a leading cryptocurrency intelligence platform, published a report on the performance of AVAX, MATIC and Uniswap in Q4 2021. The number of active addresses on the Avalanche network hit a new all-time high, fueled by network partnerships and rising demand for the token.
Avalanche Total Value Locked Surpassed $11 Billion, Coming Closer to BNB
The total value of AVAX locked has surpassed $11 billion as the market once again switched its attention from traditional cryptocurrencies to decentralized financial solutions like crypto lending, farming and others, according to DeFi LIama.
According to the DeFi LIama tracking service, the total value locked in AVAX has surpassed $11 billion as the majority of allocated funds stay in the AAVE protocol, which allows users to provide lending services to others.
BlockFi will pay a fine of $100 million
The SEC has accused crypto lender Blackfin of selling unregistered securities. The company will be forced to register a new product in accordance with the law and pay a fine of $100 million.
The fine will be divided into two equal parts. Half will be received by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and another $50 million by state regulators.
Sanctions May Be The Driving Force For An Increased Number Of Countries Adopting Bitcoin As Legal Tender
Bitcoin has come a long way from being a fringe asset to being adopted by an entire country. However, it still has a lot to do for nation-states to begin mass adoption but there appears to be a more rapid route.
Sanctions have been used as a subtle means of control by international organizations against a country. The concept has also been used by nations against other nations as a means of control like the US issuing sanctions to Iran and North Korea.