Crypto
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New bill aims to ‘mitigate risks’ to US from El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate which seeks to mitigate perceived risks posed by El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as a legal currency. The proposed Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador Act (ACES) aims to “mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system” such as money laundering and terrorism funding. The bill was introduced by Republican Senators Jim Risch and Bill Cassidy with Democratic Senator Bob Menendez signing on. Senator Risch wrote in the Feb. 16 announcement that: “El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender raises significant concerns about the economic stability and financial integrity of a vulnerable U.S. trading partner in Central America.” Senator Cassidy wrote that “recognizing Bitcoin as official currency op...
4% of crypto whales are criminals and they have $25B between them: Chainalysis
Chainalysis data shows that 4068 criminal whales (roughly 4% of all whales) are hodling more than $25 billion worth of cryptocurrency between them. The blockchain analytics firm defines criminal whales as any private wallet that holds more than $1 million worth of crypto with over 10% of the funds received from illicit addresses tied to activity such as scams, fraud and malware. The data is from the “Criminal Balances” section of the Crypto Crime Report that explores criminal activity on the blockchain over 2021 and early 2022. The wide-ranging report also covers topics such as Ransomware, Malware, Darknet markets and NFT related crime. “Overall, Chainalysis has identified 4,068 criminal whales holding over $25 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Criminal whales represent 3.7% of all cryptocu...
Crypto is like ‘venereal disease’ and should be banned: Charlie Munger
Charlie Munger, the ancient vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet’s right hand man, has no issue with providing his honest thoughts on cryptocurrency: He hates it. Speaking at a shareholder’s Q&A session at the annual meeting for LA-based newspaper company, Daily Journal Corp, the 98-year-old investing icon likened crypto to a sexually transmitted disease. “I certainly didn’t invest in crypto. I’m proud of the fact that I avoided it. It’s like some venereal disease.” Munger continued to express his contempt for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, adding, “I wish it had been banned immediately… I admire the Chinese for banning it. I think they were right and we were wrong to allow it.” Munger and Buffet are no strangers to criticizing ...
RCMP asks crypto exchanges to halt trading for wallets connected to truck convoy protests
As reported by Canadian news outlet The Globe and Mail, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Canada’s federal police force) sent letters to several cryptocurrency exchanges demanding that they “cease facilitating any transactions” with more than 30 specific cryptocurrency wallet addresses linked to the ongoing truck protests in the country. The letter writes: “Any information about a transaction or proposed transaction in respect of these addresses, is to be disclosed immediately to the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.” Just two days prior, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, representing the ruling Liberal Party of Canada, invoked the Emergencies Act in response to a convoy of truckers occupying the nation’s capital (Ottawa) in protest of COV...
NEO price climbs after China’s BSN gives the project the green light on NFT marketplaces
As the field of viable layer-1 blockchain protocols continues to expand, with newer entrants trying to solve the issue of high transaction costs and slow processing times, older projects find themselves utilizing their history and track record to set themselves apart and secure a market share that will ensure their survival through the next market cycle. Neo (NEO) fits the bill described above, and the project is attempting to stage a revival in 2022 as governments around the world slowly open to the fact that blockchains and digital currencies have certain benefits and capabilities that can be integrated into public and private enterprise. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of NEO has climbed 60%, since hitting a low of $16.10 on Jan. 24, to hit...
Twitter enables users to give and receive Ethereum tips natively
In September 2021, Twitter enabled Bitcoin payments as the first cryptocurrency payment option available via its tipping jar. On Wednesday, the social media platform added a slew of fresh payment services to these existing tipping options, including Ether (ETH). Have you set up Tips on your profile yet so it’s easy for people to show their support? Yes: Cool, we’ve added Paga, Barter by Flutterwave, Paytm, and the option to add your Ethereum address. No: What are you waiting for? Here’s how: https://t.co/Id5TwTpnCF — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) February 16, 2022 Users looking to receive ETH tips simply need to enable the platform’s tipping features and add an Ethereum address to the dedicated section of their profile. However, an attempt to add an ENS doma...
Bitcoin price is ‘likely starting the next push up’ if $42K holds as support
The cryptocurrency market remains in a state of flux as investors are once again focused on what steps the U.S. Federal Reserve might take to combat rising inflation and markets wobble as the situation in Ukraine remains tense. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of Bitcoin (BTC) has hovered around the $44,000 support level and traders are hopeful that an inverse head and shoulders chart pattern will lead to a sustained bullish breakout. BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView Here’s a survey of what several analysts in the market are keeping an eye on moving forward as global issues from inflation to war continue to make their presence felt in the cryptocurrency market. On-Balance Volume shows a bullish reversal Insight into what may lie ahead for Bi...
The Music In Coinbase’s Viral Super Bowl Ad Was Produced By Com Truise and Samples The Beatles
Coinbase’s viral Super Bowl advertisement was a hit. For Coinbase, it was a hit to their servers. The commercial was simply a QR code that bounced around the screen like the classic DVD logo in the 90s. It was a simple and ingenious marketing strategy, and the traffic that Coinbase received during the ad’s 60-second run time temporarily crashed the company’s servers. But the music was also a hit. The track from the commercial was created by electronic music veteran Com Truise, who sampled the melody of a motown classic and produced an eerie chillwave song. “Money (That’s What I Want)” was originally written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford. Barrett Strong was the first artist to record and release the track in 1959 before The Beatles and The Kingsmen ea...
Portal, a true cross-chain DEX built on Bitcoin to eliminate the use of wrapped tokens
Last month, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin aired his concern about the security of cross-chain bridges, most of which have become highly susceptible to attacks in the recent past. In a Reddit post, Buterin said that while blockchains remain trustworthy even after a 51% hack, cross-chain bridges provide the hackers with the opportunity to move the stolen funds to other chains through the wrapping of tokens and locking of funds on another chain through cross-chains is trustless and centralized. Centralization and wrapped tokens put the assets of the users at risk. The Portal DEX Portal is a true cross-chain DEX built on Bitcoin and it believes in a future of multi-chain without wrapped tokens or use of third-party custody in moving coins from one chain to another to ensure the safety of...
Wormhole hack illustrates danger of DeFi cross-chain bridges
Solana has become one of the fastest-growing smart contract blockchain networks since it was first officially launched in March 2020. The total value locked (TVL) on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols on the network grew from nearly $152 million in March 2021 to $8.08 billion at the time of writing, as per data from DefiLlama. Simultaneously, the network has also been subject to several network issues and outages. Most recently, the Wormhole token bridge was hit by a security exploit on Feb. 3 that culminated in the loss of 120,000 wrapped Ether (wETH) tokens, worth over $375 million at the current price of Ether (ETH). This exploit was the biggest so far in 2022 and the second largest DeFi hack ever, following the Poly Network hack where over $600 million was stolen from t...
Terra’s Mirror Protocol shows first signs of bottoming after price gains 30% in 48 hours
Mirror Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built atop the Terra blockchain, was among the biggest gainers in the last 48 hours, primarily as its native token MIR rallied by over 30% to $1.48, its highest level since Jan. 22. MIR/USD four-hour price chart. Source: TradingView Has Mirror Protocol bottomed out? MIR price rose despite an absence of concrete fundamentals, a sight pretty common across crypto assets. As a result, its rally may have been purely technically-driven, especially because it originated after MIR had dropped by more than 90% in value from its May 2021 high near $13, making the token extremely oversold. IncomeSharks, an independent market analyst, called MIR’s rebound move a “no brainer,” noting that its multi-month drop had left ...
Chainlink Verifiable Random Function v2 goes live on mainnet
On Wednesday, blockchain oracle solution Chainlink (LINK) announced the release of Chainlink Verifiable Random Function, or VRF, v2. As told by its developers, the new, improved version of the random number generator can reduce transaction fees by 60% compared to v1. Randomness is a core component of making nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, and gaming applications fair and secure. On their own, blockchains and smart contracts cannot guarantee randomness, but rather require an oracle network to deliver such solutions on-chain. Since its launch, Chainlink VRF (v1) has become the most widely adopted random number generator solution in the blockchain industry, fulfilling more than 3 million request transactions and currently providing verifiable randomness to more than 2,200 unique smart contracts ...
