Cryptonews

Dec 13 2021

DAY LONG NEWS ROUNDUP: LATEST NEWS 13/12/21

Stuck in your everyday hustle and have no time for keeping a track of the crypto field? Well, if this is your problem then we can be your perfect partner. Here, we have listed some of the most important news articles of the crypto industry for you to keep yourself updated.

Following the BTC scam, Narendra Modi's Twitter account hacked 13.12.21

Following the BTC scam, Indian PM Narendra Modi’s Twitter account hacked

Hacking official social media handles of eminent personalities have seen a significant rise thanks to global technological proliferation. The recent victim to this hacking web was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose Twitter account was intruded on by some malicious tech geeks on December 12, 2021. With over 73.4 million followers, the official account of the Indian PM became a tool for hackers who used it to spread false information about Bitcoin becoming a legal tender and a 500BTC giveaway for the Indian crypto fans.

According to the report, the intrusion happened at around 4:00 PM EST. A Twitter user named Priya was among the people who saw the unforeseen tweet by the hackers claiming BTC to be the new legal tender in India. The tweet clearly mentioned a 500BTC giveaway by the government to all the citizens of the state. There was a post including a link that requested users to sign up and claim their rewards. This was for the second time when Modi’s Twitter account became prey for the hackers. Earlier in September 2020, his account was used by intruders to demand donations from people for the PM National Relief Fund for COVID-19.

Cryptocurrencies have been in a full swing across the global economic space especially after the slowdown brought in by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian government has started giving positive signals for crypto adoption within the country. In a recent virtual summit hosted by US President Joe Biden, PM Modi stated that cryptocurrencies should be used to strengthen democracy and not curse it. He added that by working together democracies can cater to the citizens’ needs and manifest the spirit of humanity.

The release of the Indian crypto bill has created a lot of chaos amongst the investors. The lack of clarity on the word ‘private’ cryptocurrencies has created unrest as people misinterpreted it to be a complete ban on crypto use. The former Finance Secretary, Subhash Garg, who was also the creator of the bill, has refuted the ‘ban’ rumors by calling it a misinterpretation by the users.

Novi Wallets set Whatsapp trial 13.12.21 (1)

Novi Wallets set Whatsapp trial

Striding through the crypto field like a leader, Meta (earlier Facebook) has extended support for its ‘Novi Digital Wallet’ project to WhatsApp, the popular messaging portal. With the digital wallet solution, Meta is planning to bring digital currencies to the mainstream business of its giant global community. The trials of the Novi wallet are doing rounds across Guatemala and other parts of the U.S via a pact with Coinbase exchange and now with WhatsApp, the team is looking forward to speed-up the entire testing regime.

As per the report, Meta will offer support for Novi wallet to only a ‘limited number’ of U.S customers. Talking about this, Novi chief, Stephane Kasriel stated that the initiative will ease money transfers amongst family and friends. The lead conveyed that the trials that have been conducted over the past six weeks have helped the team to figure out which features are most crucial for the users. The digital wallet will allow users to send money securely free of cost. The payments will be easily visible in the chat accounts of the customers.

The executive conveyed that the team will expand support for Novi wallet after analyzing the responses from the trial runs. He stressed that Novi will not affect the privacy standards of WhatsApp messages and calls which are thoroughly encrypted and safe. The past few months have seen constant inclination of Meta towards cryptocurrencies and Metaverse space as it strives to gain an upper edge in the fast-evolving digital hub.

Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez gets a portion of his salary in Bitcoin 13.12.21

Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez gets a portion of his salary in Bitcoin

Seeing the growing expansion of cryptocurrencies, it seems that there is no end to this global crypto fandom. Keeping up with the trend, the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez has decided to take a portion of his 401 (k) retirement savings in BTC tokens. For those who don’t know, Francis has always been a huge supporter of cryptocurrencies and was also the first US lawmaker to accept a part of his salary in Bitcoin earlier.

During an interview, Francis revealed his plans to convert a portion of his retirement earnings into Bitcoin based completely on his personal choice. He showed his strong belief in the supremacy of Bitcoin by calling it a good asset for making investments. The reelected mayor advocated that the price of BTC is likely to increase in the near future.

Talking about BTC, Francis said that the use of the open-source, immutable ecosystem of Bitcoin is the chief catalyst for its global success. The mayor started getting salary in BTC via a third-party payment processor called Strike. He aspires to build his territory as a crypto hub and is taking all the necessary steps to ensure that. The city authorities accept fee payments from Miami residents in Bitcoin. The chief is working hard to chalk out a reliable channel for Bitcoin transactions by 2022.

The government of Miami announced on November 12 that it would give BTC yield as a dividend directly to the credit of each eligible resident of the city. The authorities will divide and allocate the BTC earnings to locals fetched by staking MiamiCoin, Miami’s native crypto token. The city is looking forward to creating digital wallet solutions for the residents to further its crypto expansion.

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Blockchain Weekly Source

Dec 03 2021

DAY LONG NEWS ROUNDUP: LATEST NEWS 03/12/21

The world of crypto is like a deep ocean full of opportunities for those who are willing to take risks just at the right moment. To help you reap the early benefits of these opportunities, we are presenting the top news events of crypto on 3/12/2021. Have a look to improve your strategies:

Star Trek Creator’s Signature Revolutionizes NFT Usage (1)

Star Trek Creator’s Signature Revolutionizes NFT Usage

With NFT creating and breaking global records simultaneously with each passing moment, every speculation seems to be a reality in the near future. Keeping this supremacy right on track, the Non-Fungible Tokens have achieved something really huge this time. On November 30, the signature of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was transformed into an NFT named “El Primero” in Spanish or “The First” in English. The NFT is implanted into the DNA code of a living bacteria cell, making it a historical victory for all NFT fans.

As per the announcement, the signature dates back to 1965 when Roddenberry signed a deal with Lucille Ball’s Desilu Productions for financing Star Trek. Now, with the NFT token, Roddenberry’s signature has returned to a virtual life after 30 years of the death of the sci-fi genius. The Roddenberry Entertainment team has described the token as a one-of-a-kind “Living Eco-NFT” that resembles a perfect combination of science and sci-fi expertise. The project was unveiled as an art collectible during the Art Basel 2021 in Miami.

The team stated that as long as the bacteria survive, the cell can multiple at a speedy rate while creating more than a billion Eco-NFT replicas overnight. The CEO of Rational Vaccines, Agustin Fernandez collaborated with the Roddenberry team on the project. He stated that storing data in DNA offers a sustainable storage system packed with a holding capacity that is still not present in the industry. The NFTs will run on the Solana blockchain with support from Metaplex Studios. The encoding of NFT data into DNA for storing it in a bacteria cell was successfully conducted by Dr. Paul Predki. The NFT launch clearly shows Star Trek’s never-ending love for the digital collectibles market space.

Latest Research Report Calls ETH 'superior' Store of Value Than Bitcoin

Latest Research Report Calls ETH ‘superior’ Store of Value Than Bitcoin

Ever since the launch of cryptocurrencies, there has been a constant comparison drawn between Bitcoin and Ethereum’s store of value potential. While some stick strong with Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin, others vouch for Ethereum’s smart contract-based technological prowess. Now, in a recent development, four Australian researchers have released a report highlighting the supremacy of the Ethereum network over the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The researchers have put a question on Bitcoin being considered as the best store of value crypto channel by emphasizing Ethereum’s merits. Presented on November 18, the research report was co-authored by Ester Félez-Viñas of the University of Technology Sydney, Sean Foley of Macquarie University, Jonathan Karlsen of the University of Western Australia, and Jiri Svec of the University of Sydney.

The experts have laid special emphasis on the potential of the latest EIP-1559 upgrade that is playing a significant role in pushing ETH to evolve as the world’s first deflationary asset. Launched in August, the upgrade witnessed the network burn a part of the transaction fees. More than one million ETH has been burned from the total circulating supply of the token. The report has stated that the constant surge in ETH demand will increase the volume of burned tokens as well.

The researchers have proudly addressed Ethereum as less inflationary than Bitcoin. They have revealed that ever since the infusion of the EIP-1559 upgrade, the expected rise in the total ETH supply is only 0.98% which is quite less to a 1.99% increase in Bitcoin supply. Talking about Ethereum’s improved inflationary hedging features, the Australian experts feel that Ether can provide better long-term value storage than BTC. The crypto market is facing sudden fluctuations due to the economic slowdown pushed by the COVID-19 pandemic. With Bitcoin and Ethereum being the center of attraction, the tokens will continue to fight for the top slot. It will be interesting to see how the growing competition between Bitcoin and Ethereum affects the overall industry in these challenging circumstances.

India To Regulate Crypto and not Ban it, says Cabinet Document

It’s indeed a happy day indeed for all the Indian crypto fans who had lost all their hopes after the news of a ‘Suspected Ban on Crypto’ was made public. According to the local media reports, the central government will allow crypto trading through a regulated framework in the country. The authorities are in no mood to put a complete ban on cryptocurrencies that have now become a major part of the global financial system.

The news has come as a relief for thousands of crypto holders who feared the risk of losing their money post the imposition of the proposed ban on all private crypto projects. Foreseeing the anticipated future risks, Indian investors resorted to panic selling on local crypto exchanges like WazirX. The lack of clarity on the terms of the bill from the government created unrest in the Indian crypto industry. People felt confused about the status of crypto trading in the country.

However, the recent report by the Indian news portal NDTV on December 2 has brought smiles back to the faces of crypto fans. The platform based its news on the facts written on a cabinet note circulating in the government cluster. NDTV reporter Sunil Prabhu affirmed that the note cited various suggestions for regulating cryptocurrencies as assets falling under the supervision of the Securities Board of India or SEBI.

As per the announcement, investors will be asked to declare their holdings within a pre-decided time frame to the concerned authorities. They would have to then shift their assets to exchanges managed by SEBI. This reflects that there is a high probability of a ban on private wallets. The steps taken by the government will help to control money laundering and terror financing. The government is likely to put its plan of launching a CBDC with the Reserve Bank of India on halt so as to shift its focus completely towards cryptocurrencies. The report clearly mentioned that the government has no plans to accept crypto as a legal tender as also said by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

The reports from the NDTV channel are hailed by a huge section of crypto investors in the country. The government is likely to work on a CBDC project with RBI in the near future. The rise of cryptocurrencies on a global scale has urged developing countries like India to adapt to the changing scenarios with proper planning and strategy.

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Blockchain Weekly Source

Dec 02 2021

DAY LONG NEWS ROUNDUP: LATEST NEWS 02/12/21

Hello, crypto fans!!! Here is a list of some recent news across the crypto domain that captured the maximum attention of the users. Take a look and thank us later:

$106M worth of Metaverse Land Traded across 4 Top Platforms

Calling Metaverse land the new ‘trendsetter’ of the NFT field won’t be an exaggeration as the former continues to climb the success ladder with each passing moment. In the latest development, four blockchain-powered Metaverse projects have pooled more than $100 million through virtual land NFT sales last week. The data was released by DappRadar, a renowned DApp analytics firm in one of its posts on November 30.

According to the DappRadar team, the Metaverse land assets were the ultimate hot-commodities in virtual space. Leading firms like The Sandbox, Decentraland, CryptoVoxels, and Somnium Space fetched a collective trading volume worth $105.8 million between November 22 through November 28. Nearly 6,000 traders made the Metaverse sale figures soar to the top while giving a significant push to the price charts across the NFT space too.

The Sandbox is recognized as a revolutionary crypto gaming platform that allows users to play, create, and monetize their experiences in the virtual Metaverse land. With its strong market presence, The Sandbox was able to grab the biggest share of trade volume and got $86.56 million to its kitty. On the other hand, Decentraland settled for $15.53 million, CryptoVoxels got $2.68 million, while Somnium Space generated $1.1 million from the trade. Decentraland recorded the biggest virtual land sale over the last 30 days. On November 23, the firm traded a plot comprising of 116 pieces of land in the virtual Fashion Street District. The sale involved 618,000 MANA tokens amounting to $2.7 million in worth. The same day witnessed The Sandbox selling a tokenized mega yacht for 149 ETH representing over $666,000 in value.

The DappRadar team stated that the sudden rise in popularity of Metaverse can be directly attributed to Facebook’s recent inclination towards the industry via its rebranded form, Meta. The blog post highlighted that this is just the beginning of the Metaverse supremacy. The firm feels that virtual worlds carry high potential and soon Metaverse will become a mainstream industry.

Square Changes Name to Block To Explore Blockchain Technology

Serving as a well-known digital payment firm from the United States, Square has decided to change its brand name to ‘Block’ to show its inclination towards blockchain technology. In a Twitter post, Square stated that the rebranding will help the firm to work together with Cash App, the BTC exchange project tbDEX, and music and video streaming portal Tidal. Square Crypto, the crypto-oriented leg of the payment group will also change its name to Spiral before joining the Block ecosystem.

Talking about the significance of the word ‘Block,’ Square stated that it represents the neighborhood block community. This neighborhood includes sellers, a blockchain channel, musical block parties, code sections, building blocks, tungsten cubes, etc. The team was working meticulously to introduce the change for over a year. The blog clearly mentioned that the change merely represents a new corporate name while the vision, purpose, and working remains the same.

The rebranding news comes shortly after Square founder, Jack Dorsey announced his resignation as CEO of the social media giant, Twitter. The top post will now be chaired by the present CTO and board member, Parag Agrawal. Dorsey’s resignation made people speculate his deeper interests in crypto and blockchain through Square similar to Facebook that shifted its focus to the blockchain through its refurbished brand name Meta. The name change would be effective on or around December 10. There will be no organizational alterations to Block, Spiral, Tidal, tbDEX, and Cash App post the legal name change.

NFT Faces Glitch During Matrix NFT Drop Event

It’s raining NFTs!!! Yes, the world is going cray-cray about the digital collectibles that offer them a perfect mix of fun and rewards. This craze was recently witnessed during the Warner Bros.’ Matrix NFT avatar drop on the Nifty exchange where excessive overload caused infrastructural glitches. The NFT revelations were proposed to be made public on November 30 on Nifty’s meticulous exchange interface.

Earlier this month, the Warner Bros. studio announced that it would be unveiling 100,000 unique Matrix-themed avatar NFTs for fans. The cost of each Non-Fungible Token was fixed at $50. The NFT drop was a strategy adopted by the team to promote the upcoming Matrix Resurrections movie slated for a launch in the U.S on December 22.

To everybody’s surprise, the strategy worked really well for the studio as more than 300,000 Matrix fans lined up for the event. The huge demand compelled Nifty to start and stop the queue several times which eventually caused infrastructural issues. The multiple pauses caused several other issues as well including failure of the buy button, failed checkouts, fluctuating positions on the queue, etc. Nifty has apologized for the unforeseen inconvenience caused by the glitch on the network. The team has decided to offer a free ‘glitch in the Matrix NFT’ to every user who queued up on the launch date.

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Blockchain Weekly Source

Nov 30 2021

DAY LONG NEWS ROUNDUP: LATEST NEWS 30/11/21

The more exposed you are to the frequent changes in the crypto industry, the better are the results of your investments. Here, we are providing you with the most important news of 30/11/2021 related to crypto. Take a look:

Bitcoin transferred an average of $95K for every $1 fee

Shaping the crypto industry with its unmatched potential of transforming the payment system, Bitcoin Network is now settling more transactions for lower fees from users. In recent research made by the on-chain analyst, Dylan LeClair it was found that the value settlement capacity of the BTC network has seen a steady improvement. The enhanced efficiency was clearly visible a week before when an average value of $95,142 was settled by the Bitcoin chain for every $1 fee fetched from the users.

According to the report, the on-chain value processing capacity of Bitcoin has been on a constant surge since May 2021. This can be attributed to the fact that this period witnessed a heavy flow of money across the network because of the bullish trend. Dylan observed the change by studying the data reports of Glassnode, a popular analytics providing platform. The end results are derived by dividing the average transaction volume by the fee charged by the blockchain ecosystem. The final settlement costs were 0.00105% of the total $451.3 billion worth of value transferred across the network.

Bitcoin ranks 7th in terms of daily transaction fees stated in a data report by fee tracking portal CryptoFees. The weekly average of BTC is nearly $678,000, a figure that puts it way behind other blockchain networks like Ethereum, BSC, SushiSwap, etc. Presently, Ethereum is processing $53 million in daily fee charges which are 98.7% higher than what Bitcoin is doing. The average transaction volume of ETH when divided by the fees is $139 in value for every dollar charged as fees.

Another analysis by Bitinforcharts revealed that the mean transaction fee on the BTC channel is nearly $2.13 currently which is quite less in comparison to the value of $42.58 on Ethereum. This year has witnessed a whopping 50% fall in Bitcoin transaction fees. The difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin increased dramatically by the later part of July. The constantly changing dynamics of the crypto domain makes it a ‘worth taking risk for investors looking for quick earnings.

BIS Innovation Hub and Fed comes together for digital assets analysis

Hailing as the top-tier financial regulatory institution, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) has joined hands with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub. The partnership will offer necessary support to the newly-launched ‘New York Innovation Center’ helmed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. With this project, FRBNY is looking forward to exploring new-age technology, tools, and resources for developing the global financial ecosystem.

The news about the partnership was made official by the Federal Reserve chief, Jerome Powell during an interaction at the opening ceremony of the NY Innovation Center. The chairperson stated that the deal with BIS Innovation Hub will play a significant role in supporting the research and analysis programs related to virtual currencies. The teams will put in their joint efforts on the CBDC project and enhancement of cross-border payment settlement channels.

The New York Innovation Center will be managed under the leadership of Per von Zelowitz, the ex-PwC director of banking transformation. Choosing BIS Innovation Hub as a partner is likely to be a well-planned decision of the FBRNY team. BIS Innovation Hubs has always worked as a catalyst for projects focused on the integration of CBDCs with payment systems used by countries and banks worldwide. The network finds its presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto, London, Stockholm, etc. According to a BIS January survey, 86% of top-tier central banks have been working on CBDC projects.

The Federal Reserve chief conveyed that the use of modern technology, machine learning, AIs, and big data is changing the financial space dramatically. He even cited that some people are seeing this technological advancement as a catalyst for a digital revolution. Powell is awaiting a hearing from the Senate Banking Committee regarding his nomination for the second term as the Fed chief. The spearhead, in September, revealed that the authorities are striving to launch a CBDC soon and have no plans to impose a complete ban on crypto use.

Galaxy Digital raises $500 million for business expansion in convertible debt

Founded by billionaire investor Michael Novogratz as a crypto-financial service provider, Galaxy Digital has announced raising $500 million in the debt market space. The firm has decided to issue $500 million in exchangeable senior notes to reap in the benefits of the growing popularity around the virtual currency industry. With the collected funds, Galaxy Digital aims to expand its operational capacities and diversify its core initiatives.

As per the latest information, the funds released by the Galaxy Digital team will come packed with a seamless option of conversion into the company’s equity wealth. They will bear an interest rate of 3% p.a. with a fixed maturity in 2026. The cryptocurrency brokerage firm will utilize the newly-formed capital in expanding its coverage across the industry. This will include interventions into Non-fungible Tokens or NFTs. The firm has decided to invest $62 million of its total capital into 22 high-potential NFT-based projects.

For the unversed, CEO Mike Novogratz has always been an ardent supporter of cryptocurrencies and virtual tokens. He has encouraged investors to create nearly 1% to 5% of their investment portfolio with crypto. Recently in October, Galaxy Digital crossed $3 billion figure in assets under management class and became one of the biggest crypto investment firms in the world. The last quarter fetched a sum of $517.1 million from trading, investment, crypto mining, asset management, and other activities for the firm. The firm is registered in the Cayman Islands while its stock is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company is looking forward to listing its shares in the U.S in 2022 and is awaiting a positive nod from the SEC

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Blockchain Weekly Source

Nov 17 2021

DAY LONG NEWS ROUNDUP: LATEST NEWS 17/11/21

We cover the crazy world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and bring you the latest updates from 17/11/2021 to help you stay informed of the insane things that are shaping the future of finance and business around the world.

AMC Theatres to accept Shiba Inu via Bitpay in the upcoming two to three months

Adam Aron, the CEO of the famed AMC Theatres in the United States, announced on a Twitter post yesterday that the company is willing to incorporate Shiba Inu for their online payment services. It was declared that the feature will be available for use in the upcoming two to three months only.

According to the Twitter post, the integration plan was created when BitPay stated that they are about to provide support for the memecoin on their payment platform. BitPay is a renowned payment service provider in the cryptocurrency domain. They have been operational since 2011 and are quite adept in managing transactions with really high volumes.

The news was previously reported by the VR Soldier but the Tweet coming from the CEO himself has given the news a lot of traction. For those who are wondering why they did not see a major jump in the price of the cryptocurrency today, this is because the news was already out during the previous week itself. The saying in crypto goes that it is always wise to buy the rumour, and sell the news instead. Therefore it is understandable that the Shiba Inu prices may undergo a bearish trend today.

Polygon launches scaling solution for deploying DApps

Polygon is a globally popular layer two scaling solution for blockchains compatible with Ethereum. They have recently launched their own Midden Virtual Machine powered by the zk-STARK for developing DApps or better known as Decentralized Applications.

zk-STARK is basically an abbreviation for zero knowledge Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge. In simpler terms, this technology allows an individual to prove that they are capable of storing private data, such as passwords, without making sure that they do not leak anyhow. STARK is one of the methods or ways in which one can prove, obfuscate or even verify this data.The Polygon blockchain has invested over an amount of $1 billion in order to develop the zk technology.

A zk-STAR application is being widely used in complex Decentralized Finance (DeFi), healthcare products and decentralized car insurance services for the purpose of identity verification. This technology can redact critical information from digitized assets and even manipulate their size for quicker verification, for instance passport or driver’s license.

Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of the Polygon Blockchain network, stated that this technology would help overcome privacy issues and establish trust in products related to DeFi.

Deloitte and Avalanche Blockchain together forms a strategic alliance

Deloitte is undoubtedly one the biggest accounting firms in the world securing a place among the “big fours”. They are working in collaboration with some of the best companies around the world.

At present Deloitte is working in close association with the Federal Emergency Management Agency which is popularly known as FEMA. They are working on the execution of applications concerning disaster reimbursement for local and state government agencies. In order to carry out this task, they take the help of a tool known as CAYG or Close As You Go.

It is a cloud oriented tool that serves as a cost efficient, decentralized and transparent solution for the government partners. The Avalanche blockchain will help add efficiency, speed and authentication measures to the system, thereby enhancing it. Deloitte stated that the reason why they chose Avalanche is because of their eco-friendly advantages as a technology.

The Ava Labs will now focus their attention on the CAYG system and enhance it for better document retention, risk mitigation, cost effectiveness, reducing administrative hassles and most importantly, developing a resilient system on the whole.

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Blockchain Weekly Source