Crypto

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-VA), who was elected in 2020 to represent Tennessee after a stint as Ambassador to Japan, spoke to newly appointed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra regarding cryptocurrencies in a banking committee hearing, saying “I just want to make certain as you exercise those oversight responsibilities that we don’t stifle innovation in this arena.” “Digital ledger technology offers a tremendous amount of promise in terms of financial innovation and inclusion. It’s an industry where I think the United States is leading, has led, and I’d like to see us continue to lead there. Especially when we look at other countries like China and the Chinese Communist Party that has moved to ban private sector activity in that arena.” Hagerty introduced le...

Annual percentage yields, or APY, on crypto borrowing and lending platform Aave have surged to record levels after capital withdrawals sent the decentralized finance, or DeFi, protocol into a liquidity crunch. At the time of writing, variable APY on borrowing stablecoin Dai via Aave has surged to 24.88%, compared to approximately 6.50% the day prior. According to cryptocurrency researcher Igor Igamberdiev, blockchain personality Justin Sun was responsible for at least billions of dollars in withdrawals in the past few hours. Aave’s total value locked, or TVL, fell to $14.7 billion from $17.89 billion the day prior, based on data from DeFi Pulse. In a series of tweets, Aave developers revealed that financial modeling platform Gauntlet Network submitted an Aave Improvement Protocol, or...

2021 has been a breakout year for the cryptocurrency sector, as the passage of the first Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a sign that crypto is becoming more mainstream and has the potential to lead to an increase in investors’ exposure to BTC. The influx of new participants into the market throughout the year has had a profound impact on the overall culture of the crypto ecosystem. Ideas of privacy and a secure store of value have been overshadowed by the culture of memes as PePe’s and Wojacks have become endemic to crypto Twitter, where frens say “gm” to each other every day and respectfully call each other “ser.” And, now, the surging price of dog-themed meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) have once again captured the attention of the market, much to the chag...

The world of decentralized gaming has seen significant growth in 2021 as the rise of play-to-earn (P2E) gaming merged with NFTs to open the first pathway to the Metaverse. Aavegotchi is currently making inroads in the blockchain-based gaming sector with a somewhat novel approach that incorporates features from P2E gaming, NFTs and decentralized finance (DeFi). Data from TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $1.56 on Oct. 1, the price of GHST, Aavegotchi’s native token, has rallied 53% to a daily high at $2.40 on Oct. 29 as its 24-hour trading volume spiked 45% to $135.8 million. GHST/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Three reasons for the building momentum in the price of GHST are the ongoing Gotchiverse land auctions that require GHST to bid, several high-profile partne...

Bitcoin (BTC) is still in a corrective phase but Ether (ETH) has attracted strong buying, which pushed it to a new all-time high on Oct. 29. The successful Altair Beacon chain upgrade seems to have boosted sentiment and it also paves way for the merge with the Ethereum mainnet and the change to proof-of-stake. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy has continued to add to its already impressive Bitcoin stack. The company’s Q3 report shows that it added 8,957 Bitcoin, taking its haul to 114,042 Bitcoin as of Sept. 30, purchased at an average price of $27,713. The software firm’s appetite does not seem to have been satisfied yet and CEO Michael Saylor said the company “will continue to evaluate opportunities to raise additional capital to execute” its Bitcoin strategy. Daily cryptocurrency market performa...

Ardana, a stablecoin ecosystem built on the Cardano (ADA) blockchain, received $10 million in seed capital from a group of investors led by Three Arrows Capital and Ascensive Assets. Ryan Matovu, CEO and co-founder of Ardana, issued the following statement regarding the deal: “As the first all-in-one stablecoin ecosystem built on Cardano, our platform provides users with convenient access to liquidity, an ever-present concern in the hyper-competitive DeFi world. We are also able to leverage Cardano’s speed, scalability and security to offer a decentralized financial solution that works for everyone, and soon we’ll even be facilitating foreign exchange on-chain.” Users can send, receive, store, borrow and lend the stablecoin — known as dUSD — freely on the network. It will have a 1:1 ...

The cryptocurrency market is in high spirits on Oct. 29 after bulls managed to lift the price of Bitcoin (BTC) back near the $63,000 support zone and Ether (ETH) has established a new all-time high at $4,460.  ETH/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Here’s what anlaysts are saying about the market now that Bitcoin is finding support above the $60,000 level and Ether looks to enter price discovery. Bulls think BTC could hit $90,000 The bullish moves seen in BTC and Ether caused a moment of reflection for independent market analyst Crypto_Ed_NL, who tweeted that it “seems I was not bullish enough at $40,000” when a target of $73,000 was given. BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Twitter After taking the recent moves into account, the analyst indicated that the “target moved up to $90,...

The Australia Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued its response to public consultation on cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) alongside fresh industry guidance. On Oct. 29, the regulator released a set of regulatory requirements for funds looking to offer crypto ETPs, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and structured products, following months of industry consultation initiated in late June. According to the official guidance, ASIC has so far greenlighted ETPs based on major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) and expects more crypto assets to become a foundation for ETPs in the future: “As at October 2021, Bitcoin and Ether appear likely to satisfy all five factors identified above to determine appropriate underlying assets for an ETP...

Grayscale could launch its Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) as soon as July 2022, one of its executives has said. Speaking at a virtual event organized by MarketWatch on Oct. 27, Grayscale global head of ETFs David LaValle gave a nine-month timeline for approval by United States regulators. Grayscale: Now’s the time to file for an ETF Grayscale, which runs the largest-volume Bitcoin investment product globally, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), reiterated this month that it is “committed” to transforming it into an ETF. According to LaValle, the timing for submitting the application to do so this week was ideal. “We thought it was the perfect time to submit our filing,” he said. “Now that the Bitcoin futures products were somewhat off the plate of the SEC, they would be open to l...

Major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has ended futures and other derivatives trading in mainland China today, as planned. Earlier this month, cryptocurrency exchange announced on its website that it will settle all futures, contracts, and other derivatives activities for all Chinese consumers today, as part of the larger plan to cease operations in the country. According to previous announcements, Huobi, China’s largest exchange, will today completely shut down futures, contracts and other derivatives functions for all Chinese users. https://t.co/TNx4CvrzJ7 — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 29, 2021 Huobi was the first exchange to announce that it would withdraw from mainland China due to the Chinese government’s persistent refusal to lift its Bitcoin ban. On Sept. 24, the...

Tinkoff Investments, the online brokerage of major Russian private bank Tinkoff, is researching cryptocurrency investment services despite the Bank of Russia withholding the bank from launching such tools. Tinkoff Investments head Dmitry Panchenko claimed that the bank’s brokerage portal is considering projects related to cryptocurrency investment but it’s too early to discuss specific ideas. The company is now working on research and development initiatives targeting a range of crypto-related services, Panchenko said in an Oct. 28 interview with local news agency TASS. Tinkoff Investments is specifically looking at crypto products by companies like international payment giant PayPal, as well as crypto-friendly apps like Revolut and Robinhood. Panchenko emphasized that, despite local regul...