Crypto

The VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF) closed its first day of trading on Nov. 16 with “respectable” trading volume, but one that pales in comparison to similar launches. Bitcoin futures ETFs provide investors exposure to potential future prices of Bitcoin without forcing them to hold any Bitcoin themselves. At market close on the Chicago Board of Exchange (CBOE), XBTF had accumulated around $9.5 million in assets under management (AUM), and saw around $4.6 million in daily trading volume according to investing.com. This is just a fraction of the first-day trading volume of $1 billion the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO) enjoyed on Oct. 19 on NYSE. BITO has since reached the top 2% of all ETFs by total trading volume. Tommy Horan, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Austral...

Animoca Brands’ virtual property and gaming firm The Sandbox is opening up part of its Metaverse to players for the first time via a multi-week play-to-earn (P2E) Alpha event. But only a handful of lucky players will get to enjoy the full experience. Sandbox’s virtual gaming world enables users to monetize their time spent in the Metaverse via a play-to-earn model. Players can purchase land and create NFTs within the game, and earn the Sandbox token (SAND) by completing various quests. They can also stake the token. According to a Nov. 17 announcement from the firm, the event will start on Nov. 29 at 1 pm UTC and will run until December 20. A select group of just 5000 users will have the chance to earn up to 1,000 SAND (worth around $3,500 at current prices) and three exclusive NFTs ...

More than a quarter of Australian crypto users surveyed in October plan to use digital assets as a part of their Christmas presents this holiday season. The survey by crypto wallet and services provider Crypto.com polled 2,020 Australians aged 18-59. Of those that had used crypto over the past 12 months, 26% responded that they would consider giving some away for Christmas or buying crypto-related gifts. More than half, or 53% of those planning to buy crypto gifts, said they would consider purchasing crypto assets, like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) for their loved ones this Christmas. The survey also found that crypto merchandise such as themed socks or hoodies might be popular gifts this holiday season as 43% of those planning to buy crypto-centric gifts said they were looking for thes...

Supply chain tracking network VeChain has just upgraded its consensus mechanism to what it claims is the “world’s greenest” method of verifying blocks on the chain. On Nov. 16, VeChain reached a milestone in its six-year history by upgrading its VeChainThor mainnet to the first phase of the Proof of Authority (PoA) 2.0 SURFACE consensus algorithm. VeChain is a supply chain tracking system that launched in 2015 and combines physical tracking with blockchain record keeping. PoA and Proof of Stake (PoS) differ from Proof of Work (PoW) in that they do not require mining to reach network consensus. PoA achieves consensus by verifying users’ identities, while PoS does this by staking coins in the network. The VeChain network runs with only 101 nodes. Fewer nodes reduce decentralization but incre...

Polygon, a layer two scaling solution for Ethereum compatible blockchains, stated in a press release provided to Cointelegraph that it has launched its zk-STARK powered Miden Virtual Machine for the development of decentralized applications, also known as DApps. 1/7 We are proud to reveal the newest member of the Polygon family – Polygon Miden, an upcoming STARK-based, EVM-compatible Rollup! The project is led by @bobbinth, former Facebook’s lead ZK researcher who led the development of Winterfell. A on why this is exciting… pic.twitter.com/5RqAJgnZlP — Polygon | $MATIC – We’re hiring! (@0xPolygon) November 16, 2021 zk-STARK stands for zero-knowledge Scalable Transparent ARgument of Knowledge. In layman’s terms, zero-knowledge technology allows one party...

The rehabilitation plan to compensate creditors from the now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox is now finalized following confirmation from a Japanese court. According to a Tuesday announcement from Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, the rehabilitation plan originally filed in the Tokyo District Court in February is now “final and binding.” The confirmation order of the rehabilitation plan in Japan’s court system is one of the final steps in a long process that began with a 2018 petition to compensate creditors of the exchange that collapsed in early 2014. Kobayashi said he would be in touch with “details of the specific timing, procedures and amount” of repayments to creditors who had made claims in accordance with the approved plan. Though it’s unclear whether the payments will be made in ...

Ether (ETH) traders might have a few reasons to panic after today’s 13% drop down to $4,100. The swift pullback appears to have broken a 55-day ascending channel that had a target at $5,500. Ether/USD price at FTX. Source: TradingView Those not worried about technical analysis will understand that the cryptocurrency’s 3.4% daily volatility justifies the 10% negative price swing. Still, one should not disregard externalities such as the United States infrastructure bill approval on Monday. The legislation requires that digital asset transactions worth more than $10,000 are reported to the Internal Revenue Service. It remains unknown whether that will be applied to individuals and businesses developing blockchain technology and wallets. Furthermore, on Nov. 12, the United States ...

Bitcoin (BTC) logged its worst daily performance since September as BTC price slid by 10% to under $59,000 on Nov. 16. On the other hand, the United States dollar jumped to its best level in sixteen months after spending across the American retail sector grew despite persistent COVID-19 fears and inflation concerns. The BTC price established an intraday low of around $58,600 on Coinbase, only to retreat higher to reclaim $60,000 as its psychological support. Its move downside appeared as U.S. President Joe Biden signed the $550 billion infrastructure bill into law, including new tax-reporting requirements for cryptocurrency users. Some used the news yesterday (Infrastructure Bill) to shake the tree and get some more cheap bags of #bitcoin for themselves. — David Gokhshtein (@davidgokh...

Multimedia film director and artist Yi Zhou is set to mint the first-ever royal nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the story of Italy’s House of Savoy. The digital works are made in collaboration with the House of Savoy’s (non reigning) descendent, Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, Prince of Venice. The House of Savoy is known for playing a pivotal role in the Unification of Italy, or the “Risorgimento”, over 150 years prior. Its then king, Victor Emmanuel II, acted as a symbol of the movement. Together with the Sardinia-Piedmont premier Camillo Benso, known as the Count of Cavour, revolutionary activist Giuseppe Mazzini, and general Giuseppe Garibaldi — the “brain,” “heart,” and “sword” of the Risorgimento, the four men led the cr...

Privacy-oriented browser Brave continues to deepen its commitment to cryptocurrency adoption by replacing its extension-based cryptocurrency wallet with a browser-native one. The company announced to Cointelegraph on Tuesday that it is prepping the official launch of Brave Wallet; a self-custody cryptocurrency wallet built into the Brave desktop browser, enabling users to store and buy cryptocurrencies like Ether (ETH). Brian Bondy, chief technology officer and co-founder at Brave, told Cointelegraph that the new wallet replaces Brave’s MetaMask extension fork named Crypto Wallets. According to the CTO, the new implementation that was “built from scratch, natively into the Brave Browser.” The new wallet is different from other web3 wallets like MetaMask in that it doe...