Crypto
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Andre Cronje says Fantom will focus on DApp ecosystem expansion in 2023
In a new Medium post published on Dec. 26, decentralized finance architect Andre Cronje reaffirmed the goals and priorities for the Fantom ecosystem in 2023. Cronje, who previously created protocols such as Yearn.finance and Keep3rV1, also revealed that he accepted a position as a board member for both Fantom Foundation Ltd and Fantom Operations Ltd, which oversee the namesake directed acrylic graph ecosystem. “Our overarching objective over the next 12 months will be towards creating an environment for dapp developers to build out sustainable businesses, while differentiating ourselves from other layer 1 solutions.” One key point on Cronje’s 2023 Fantom roadmap is gas monetization, which would allow revenue share for decentralized applications, or DApps, as a development incentive. In add...
7 biggest crypto collapses of 2022 the industry would like to forget
2022 has been a bumpy year for the cryptocurrency market, with one of the worst bear markets on record and the downfall of some major platforms within the space. The global economy is beginning to feel the consequences of the pandemic, and clearly, this has had an influence on the crypto industry. Below is a breakdown of some of the biggest disappointments in the crypto space this year. Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge hacked In March of this year, Ronin, the blockchain network that runs the popular nonfungible token (NFT) crypto game Axie Infinity, was hacked for $625 million. The hacker took 173,600 Ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) from the Ronin bridge in two transactions. When the Lazarus Group started its attack, five of the nine private keys for the Ronin Network’s cross-chai...
SEC seeks to keep Hinman documents hidden in Ripple case
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested to seal the infamous Hinman Speech documents, claiming that they are not relevant to the court’s summary judgment decision. The Motion to Seal Summary Judgment Document was filed by the SEC on Dec. 22, requesting the sealing of various information and documents, most notably the Hinman Speech documents. The Hinman Speech documents refer to the speech given by former SEC Corporation Finance Division Director William Hinman at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in June 2018, where he reportedly stated that Ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is not a security. Ripple believes it is a vital piece of evidence to help them with its case against the U.S. regulator. In its latest motion, the SEC said ...
Hackers drain $8M in assets from Bitkeep wallets in latest DeFi exploit
While many are still enjoying the holiday season, hackers are hard at work, draining around $8 million in an ongoing BitKeep wallet exploit. On Dec. 26, some users of the multichain crypto wallet BitKeep reported that their funds were being drained and transferred while they were not using their wallets. In their official Telegram group, the BitKeep team confirmed that some APK package downloads have been hijacked by some attackers and have been installed with code that was implanted by hackers. They wrote: “If your funds are stolen, the application you download or update may be an unknown version (unofficial release version) hijacked.” As the hack continues, the BitKeep team urged its users to transfer their funds to a wallet that came from official sources like Google Play and the ...
ETH staking on top exchanges contributes to Ethereum censorship: Data
For most crypto ecosystems, being compliant with federal sanctions have a negative impact on its global reach. However, when it comes to Ethereum, investors have significant power to decide the degree of compliance the ecosystem obeys. Nearly 60% of all post-Merge Ethereum blocks comply with the United States sanctions put forth by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). While the crypto community stands against this transformation, many fail to realize their own contribution to helping Ethereum attain total OFAC compliance. One of the biggest factors harming Ethereum’s credible neutrality is the use of censoring MEV relays by crypto ecosystems and exchanges. Miner extractable value (MEV) relays work as a mediator between block producers and block builders, which are being used ...
Bitcoin exchange withdrawals sink to 7-month low as users forget FTX
Bitcoin (BTC) exchange users have forgotten all about the FTX scandal this Christmas, data shows. According to on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, exchange outflows have now hit their lowest levels in over six months. Still not your keys, still not your coins? As Bitcoin volatility sets a new record low in what is being called “Do Nothing December,” exchange users’ habits are also rapidly adjusting to the current climate. After seeing an overwhelming surge in light of the FTX meltdown, BTC withdrawals from exchange wallets have entirely reversed the spike which began around six weeks ago. Having hit a peak of 142,788 BTC on Nov. 14, outflows from the trading platforms tracked by Glassnode have declined over ten times. On Dec. 25, the latest date for which numbers are available, total exchan...
CZ addresses reasons behind Binance’s recent FUD
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao took to Twitter on Dec. 23 to share his perspective on the reasons behind the recent fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding the crypto exchange. According to CZ in the thread, Binance’s FUD is primarily caused by external factors – not by the exchange itself. One of the reasons mentioned by the CEO was that part of the crypto community hates centralization. “Regardless if a CEX helps with crypto adoption at a faster rate, they just hate CEX,” he noted. CZ also pointed out that Binance has been seen as competition by many industry players, with increasingly lobbying against the exchange and “loaning sums of money to small media that’s worth many times the media outlet’s market value, including buying the...
Time in the market: Ways to approach crypto investing in 2023
2022 was brutal for cryptocurrency and nonfungible token (NFT) investors. Bitcoin (BTC) hit its yearly low on Nov. 21, almost exactly a year after it reached its all-time high price of $69,044. After such a tumultuous year, how should crypto investors plan for 2023? Firstly, this space has critical risks worth considering before investing. Macroeconomic risks Investors must recognize the macro and systemic risks impacting the crypto industry as 2023 draws near. The war in Ukraine has led to an energy crisis caused by sanctions on Russian energy. The United States Federal Reserve’s monetary policy response to inflation continues to unsettle markets. The crypto contagion from recent bankruptcies continues injecting volatility into the market, with increasing regulatory pressure and miner cap...
French investors sued Binance for over 2.4 million euros in losses
Binance France and its parent company Binance Holdings Limited are being sued by 15 investors in France over alleged misleading commercial practices and fraudulent concealment, according to local media reports. In a complaint filed on Dec. 14, the plaintiffs claimed that Binance violated French laws by advertising and distributing crypto services before receiving registration from the country’s authorities. As reported by Cointelegraph, France’s financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, has granted Binance a license as a digital asset provider in May 2022. The license allowed the crypto exchange to offer services such as assets custody and crypto trading. The complaint reportedly contains screenshots showing Binance’s social media activity pri...
Women who made a contribution to the crypto industry in 2022
2022 saw the continued rise of disruptive blockchain-centric concepts such as decentralized finance, GameFi, nonfungible tokens and Web3. Notably, some of the related projects that thrived in 2022 were headed by women, which is a good indicator of progress in an otherwise male-dominated sector. The increased involvement of women in the cryptocurrency field signals growing inclusivity and maturation of the sector, which encourages diversity and the embrace of ideas that resonate more with underrepresented subsets of the population. That said, a group of eminent women reached unprecedented levels of accomplishment in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries in 2022 due to their ambition, innovation, leadership skills and dedication. Cointelegraph had the chance to speak with Nodira...
What are Handshake (HNS) domains, and how do they work?
A particular topic of interest in the blockchain space is the emergence of blockchain-related projects in the domain name system (DNS) and domain ecosystem. Handshake, in particular, has been gaining attention among decentralized technology enthusiasts for its potential to revolutionize how people think about and interact with domains, especially in the context of Web3. What is a handshake (HNS) domain? Handshake (HNS) is a decentralized, permissionless naming protocol that allows for peer-to-peer communication and provides an accessible alternative to centrally managed domain names, such as .com, country-code domains and other generic domains. As a decentralized peer-to-peer domain naming protocol, Handshake aims to serve as a DNS chain alternative to the current default root chain. Also,...
BTC price foregoes Santa rally as Bitcoin volatility hits record low
Bitcoin (BTC) failed to deliver a Santa rally for Christmas 2023 as Dec. 25 offered even more sideways BTC price action. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Bitcoin volatility index plumbs lowest ever levels Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD clinging to a tight trading range around $16,800. The pair had stubbornly refused to offer any form of volatility through much of the week, with an absence of a macro trigger reinforcing lackluster performance. “Bitcoin’s volatility is at an all-time low,” William Clemente, founder of crypto research firm Reflexivity, noted alongside a chart of the Bitcoin historical volatility index. Bitcoin historical volatility index 1-week candle chart. Source: TradingView He added that the total crypto...
