Crypto
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Motorcycle expert turns passion project into sports analytics platform on blockchain
Skill sets gained from working on trading strategies, technology, data science and a personal passion for motorcycle racing made Scott Robinson launch a sports analytics platform. With a bit of blockchain added to the mix, the founder of Apex146 found new ways to proceed in the sports analytics business. Starting as a passion project, Robinson made an internship program offered to a professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. With the help of students, he developed a framework that looks at athlete performance in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Using techniques he acquired working in capital markets and commodity trading at firms McKinsey & Company and Oliver Wyman, Robinson created sports performance analytics that can be applied to motorcycle racing. Scott Robinson, Founde...
Can Bitcoin break out vs. tech stocks again? Nasdaq decoupling paints $100K target
A potential decoupling scenario between Bitcoin (BTC) and the Nasdaq Composite can push BTC price to reach $100,000 within 24 months, according to Tuur Demeester, founder of Adamant Capital. Bitcoin outperforms tech stocks Demeester depicted Bitcoin’s growing market valuation against the tech-heavy U.S. stock market index, highlighting its ability to break out every time after a period of strong consolidation. “It may do so again within the coming 24 months,” he wrote, citing the attached chart below. BTC/USD vs. Nasdaq Composite weekly price chart. Source: Tuur Demeester, StockCharts.com BTC’s price has grown from a mere $0.06 to as high as $69,000 more than a decade after its introduction to the market, as per data tracked by the BraveNewCoin Liquid Index fo...
Top 5 cryptocurrencies to watch this week: BTC, LEO, MANA, KLAY, XTZ
Russia’s massive build-up of soldiers, warplanes, equipment and extended military drills near Ukraine’s borders increased fears of a possible invasion within the next few days. That could have renewed selling in Bitcoin (BTC), which plummeted below the strong support at $39,600. Among the gloom and doom, there is a ray of hope for crypto investors because data from Glassnode shows that more than 60% of Bitcoin supply has not been used in any transaction for more than a year. This suggests that long-term hodlers are not dumping their positions in the downtrend. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 Mike McGlone, chief commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, warned that Bitcoin could be in for a “rough week ahead” and cautioned that “inflation is unlikely to drop...
Future of finance: US banks partner with crypto custodians
Grayscale Investments’ latestreport “Reimagining the Future of Finance” defines the digital economy as “the intersection of technology and finance that’s increasingly defined by digital spaces, experiences, and transactions.” With this in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many financial institutions have begun to offer services that allow clients access to Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets. Last year, in particular, saw an influx of financial institutions incorporating support for crypto-asset custody. For example, Bank of New York Mellon, or BNY Mellon, announced in February 2021 plans to hold, transfer and issue Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as an asset manager on behalf of its clients. Michael Demissie, head of digital assets and advanced solutions at BNY ...
We are all going public: Privacy rules, tax shelters and the future history of art
After a banner year of 2021 for individual object sales through nonfungible tokens (NFTs), 2022 is poised to be the year of MetaFi. A recap of Beeple, Christie’s, Visa and endless aping-in celebrities hardly feels necessary, except to point out that we seem to be standing on (or perhaps have already crossed over) a fundamental precipice. While the rocket-propelled ascent of NFT prices will not continue forever, numerous voices have predicted that a mature tech stack for discovering, vetting, valuing, trading and protecting collections of digital assets will soon emerge, without a crash. But these optimistic takes may even be selling the area short. Namely, the premise of the “NFT-Fi” sector is to create value through liquidity, but it has remained an unstated assumption that this liquidity...
NFTs, payments and conferences: Crypto in Latin America in 2021
In 2021, Latin America saw a soaring rise in crypto adoption among the 20 countries and 14 dependencies that make up the region. A slew of conferences, associations, new regulations and nonfungible token (NFT) projects as well as the global bull market made last year an intriguing one for the region. Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting developments in the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem in Latin America in 2021. Colombian financial firms partner with crypto exchanges Early in 2021, the Financial Superintendence of Colombia authorized several partnerships between banking institutions licensed in the nation’s financial system and cryptocurrency exchanges. The nine partnerships included major names from the cryptocurrency industry such as Binance and Tyler and Cameron Wi...
What is the importance of blockchain in the RegTech ecosystem?
Financial regulators and service providers are looking for the best and most cost-effective solutions to help the banks and other financial institutions comply with the rules and do business in a compliant regulatory environment. As blockchain is already disrupting the conventional ways of doing businesses, thanks to its benefits in terms of enhanced transparency, faster procedures, decentralized and most importantly, cost-effective nature. In essence, blockchain provides the solutions for the existing problems faced by financial institutions in terms of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations. As the transactions in the blockchain system are immutable, they cannot be changed and altered, providing transparency regarding AML and KYC compliance. Customer onboard...
The Metaverse will bring a further erosion of privacy
Unlike some of my peers in the technology space, I don’t see the Metaverse as a virtual world in which we work, socialize and shop. Rather, I see it as a point in time, reached in 2020 and into this year because of the global pandemic, when the digital world became as important as the physical world. It’s a shift away from the idea that physical reality is superior and preferred over digital reality. Work for many has turned into a series of Zoom meetings, people are buying virtual real estate, and children are spending time with their friends in Fortnite and Roblox. Facebook’s rebranding as Meta signals that there’s no going back to the way things were before, as a critical mass of people has realized the benefits of operating within a digital reality. And with this crashing of realities ...
Weekly Report: Regulators and authorities around the world hone in on the crypto sector
The US is strengthening its regulatory efforts against crime involving crypto and related assets Warren Buffet’s right-hand man Charlie Munger compares Bitcoin to a venereal disease Ukraine’s parliament, this week, passed a bill to legalise digital assets legal in the country, with the vote receiving the majority of votes Here are the major headlines from the cryptocurrency sector that you might have missed this week: US authorities crack the whip on crypto crime even harder Deputy Attorney General of the US Lisa Monaco told the virtual Munich Cyber Security Conference on Thursday that the FBI is forming a new team, the Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit. The division would include investigators and experts in cryptocurrencies, blockchain analytics, and digital asset confiscation....
OpenSea planned upgrade stalls as phishing attack targets NFT migration
Just yesterday, OpenSea announced a smart contract upgrade, which requires users to migrate their listed NFTs from Ethereum (ETH) blockchain to a new smart contract. As a direct result of the upgrade, users that don’t migrate over from Ethereum risk losing their old, inactive listings — which currently require no gas fees for migration. Major nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has reportedly fallen victim to an ongoing phishing attack within hours after announcing a week-long planned upgrade to delist inactive NFTs on the platform. However, the urgency and short deadline opened up a small window of opportunity for hackers. Within hours after OpenSea’s upgrade announcement, reports across multiple sources emerged about an ongoing attack that targets the soon-to-be-delis...
Want to weed out ransomware? Regulate crypto exchanges
Just between July 2020 and June 2021, ransomware activity soared by a whopping 1,070%, according to a recent Fortinet report, with other researchers confirming the proliferation of this mode of extortion. Mimicking the prevalent business model of the legitimate tech world, ransomware-as-a-service portals popped up in the darker corners of the web, institutionalizing the shadow industry and slashing the skill ceiling for wannabe-criminals. The trend should be ringing a warning bell through the crypto ecosystem, particularly since ransomware attackers do have a knack for payments in crypto. That said, the industry that was once a Wild Wild West is now assuming a more orderly setting. Slowly but surely infiltrating the mainstream, it is now at the point where some of the largest central...
BTC helps our effort to unseat a 20+ year incumbent: Aarika Rhodes on Bitcoin Day
Aarika Rhodes, an elementary school teacher-turned congressional candidate, recently featured in the Bitcoin Day Sacramento 2022 event to discuss the impact of Bitcoin (BTC) in local politics. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Rhodes highlighted the difficulty for grassroots candidates like herself to compete against established members of the US Congress. Our campaign has officially adopted Lighting for campaign contributions.⚡️ This revolutionary technology creates accessibility and looks towards the future. I am excited to provide this option to our supporters across all 50 states. #Bitcoin — Aarika for CA-32 (@AarikaRhodes) November 30, 2021 “If it wasn’t for Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, a grassroots campaign like ours wouldn’t have made it this far with the amount o...
