Crypto
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Fear of the unknown: A tale of the SEC’s crusade against synthetics
On the opening day of Messari Mainnet 2021, New York City’s long-awaited first crypto conference since the start of COVID-19, reports came blazing in via a viral tweet that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had served a subpoena to an event panelist at the top of an escalator in broad daylight. While it’s still not entirely clear who was served (or why), this isn’t the first time the SEC has encroached upon the crypto industry in full view of the public. Let’s go back a mere two months. On July 20, 2021, SEC Chair Gary Gensler issued his remarks outlining the SEC’s scope of authority on cryptocurrency: “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a stock token, a stable value token backed by securities, or any other virtual product that provides synthetic exposure to underlying secur...
Proshares’ Bitcoin ETF sees $1B in first day volume, BTC price hits new high, and Coinbase partners with NBA and WNBA: Hodler’s Digest, Oct. 17-23
Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Bitcoin officially hits new all-time high above $65K Bitcoin (BTC) surged to new all-time highs this week, breaking the former ceiling of $64,900 from April as the asset went into price discovery mode before topping out around $67,000. The bullish momentum coincided with the successful launch of ProShares’ Bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF). Many onlookers are expecting the price to increase in the coming weeks and months, with the more optimistically inclined even suggesting that up to $300,000 ...
Which blockchain is the most decentralized? Experts answer
Mance is the co-founder and CEO of Hedera Hashgraph, a next-generation distributed ledger technology that claims to possess higher speeds and security guarantees than existing blockchain solutions. “When we talk about decentralization, I think it’s very important to be specific about what we mean. When talking about layer-one protocols, precisely what is being measured when we talk about decentralization? Two separate categories of decentralization are important: 1) governance and 2) transaction ordering. First, governance: How many different entities (people or organizations) are involved in making decisions on the product roadmap, pricing of services, payments of rewards and other governance-related decisions? Are these entities all known by name, or can they be anony...
Even with Ethereum 2.0 underway, L2 scaling is still key to DeFi’s future
The Ethereum network has come a long way over the last few years. Everything from the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) to the recent London upgrade has made the network the most compelling attempt to instill a ‘world computer,’ but there’s still work to be done. For global adoption to be the backbone of Web 3.0, the network will need the benefits that the Eth 2.0 upgrade promises to offer. However, to scale for a new wave of decentralized applications (DApps), it’s going to take a lot more, and it’s looking like layer-two solutions may be the only answer. Related: Want to improve blockchain infrastructure? Work under layer-two solutions The promises of Eth 2.0 In August, Ethereum saw the implementation of its highly touted London upgrade. This hard fork represents the first stop ...
Wall Street jinx? Traders weight ‘sell the news’ potential after Bitcoin ETF launch
Wall Street opened its doors for the first Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Oct. 19, with the listing of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO) on the New York Stock Exchange. The fund attracted more than $1 billion in trading volume on its first day, while BTC price rallied to a new record high of $67,000. But the spot gains did not stay for too long with BTC paring some gains going into the weekend. Bitcoin price corrected by almost 11% from its all-time high to reach levels below $60,000 on Saturday, raising fears about selloffs that typically come after the launch of major crypto derivatives products on Wall Street. Analysts call for wider BTC correction Nunya Bizniz, an independent market analyst on Twitter, recalled two of such major events: the listing of the first Bitcoi...
How NFTs are empowering recording artists and helping them escape centralized platforms
Blockchain is rapidly becoming the innovative force industry insiders have been promising for years. The number of projects and artists offering their works using it as a core technology may be shifting the current economic model under which most musicians operate. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, allow independent artists to earn income and engage with their fan base without always relying on a label or streaming service like Spotify. In March, 3LAU, an electronic dance music producer, sold more than $11 million worth of tokens redeemable for real-world goods — including music — in addition to a $3 million token holder who bid for the right to collaborate with the artist. Paul Oakenfold, another well-known EDM DJ, announced in September he would be launching a tokenized album on the Cardano ...
Altcoins breakout even as Bitcoin price falls to $60,000
Today Bitcoin (BTC) price and Ether (ETH) price pulled back to lower support levels after an exciting week that saw BTC soar to a new all-time high after the successful launch of two exchange-traded funds. While much of the focus has been on BTC and Ether, multiple altcoins have racked up notable gains on as some traders appear be preparing for a possible altseason run. Top 7 coins with the highest 24-hour price change. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24 hours were THORChain (RUNE), Moonriver (MOVR) and OKB (OKB). THORChain resumes trading on the Ethereum network THORChain is a decentralized liquidity protocol that offers cross-chain access to different blockchain network...
Reddit may be preparing to launch its own NFT platform
Social media platform Reddit appears to be hiring workers to support the design, build and maintenance of a nonfungible token (NFT) platform. According to a Greenhouse job posting, Reddit is looking for a senior backend engineer for a platform responsible for “millions of users to create, buy, sell and use NFT-backed digital goods.” The position requires at least five years of experience in backend development as well as the ability “to design and implement complex distributed systems operating under high load.” “If there is one thing we’ve noticed with NFTs, they too have an incredible power to create a sense of participation and belonging,” said the job posting. “With every new NFT project, a vibrant community of owners pops up with it. Fans of today’s biggest creators and brands are now...
Australian Senators pushing for country to become the next crypto hub
On Oct. 20, the Australian Senate Committee delivered a groundbreaking report calling for a complete overhaul of crypto legislation and licensing in the country. But, will it achieve its aim of transforming Australia into an international blockchain hub and providing a model for other countries to follow? Top-down governmental responses to innovation have always been questioned by entrepreneurs. Right now in crypto land as institutional investment flows steadily in and decentralized finance (DeFi) use cases and products have continued to flourish over the past 18 months, many crypto companies are begging for further regulatory clarity. The original Australian Senate Select Committee on FinTech and RegTech, chaired by Senator Andrew Bragg, was established in 2019 to strengthen the reg...
CoinMarketCap hack reportedly leaks 3.1 million user email addresses
CoinMarketCap, a price-tracking website for cryptocurrencies, has reportedly fallen victim to a hack that leaked 3.1 million (3,117,548) user email addresses. The information came into light after the hacked email addresses were found to be traded and sold online on various hacking forums, and revealed by Have I Been Pwned, a website dedicated to tracking hacks and compromised online accounts. CoinMarketCap, a subsidiary of Binance cryptocurrency exchange, confirmed that the list of leaked user accounts matched its userbase: “CoinMarketCap has become aware that batches of data have shown up online purporting to be a list of user accounts. While the data lists we have seen are only email addresses, we have found a correlation with our subscriber base.” While confirming the correlation...
Price analysis 10/22: BTC, ETH, BNB, ADA, XRP, SOL, DOT, DOGE, LUNA, UNI
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have both witnessed aggressive profit-booking after hitting their respective new all-time high. This suggests that traders who had bought on rumors of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund booked profits following the successful launch of the ProShares’ Bitcoin Strategy exchange-traded fund (ETF) (BITO). The bulls tried to stage a recovery in Bitcoin after the launch of the second BTC futures-linked ETF by digital asset manager Valkyrie on Oct. 22 but met with strong selling pressure at higher levels. The selling has pulled the greed level on the Crypto Fear and Greed Index from 84 on Oct. 21 to 75 on Oct. 22. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 JPMorgan Chase strategists said in a note that BITO was “unlikely to trigger a new phase of significan...
Altcoin Roundup: Holding Bitcoin? Here’s how to put it to work in DeFi
The long-awaited day finally came on Oct. 19 as the first Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) went live on the New York Stock Exchange, thrusting the crypto asset into the limelight across mainstream news outlets and alternative media alike. Despite the fact that the ETF in question will hold no actual Bitcoin and is instead a futures-based instrument, investors and pundits across the ecosystem have largely hailed its launch as proof that Bitcoin has hit the big leagues and will soon surpass the coveted $100,000 price target. Many investors either don’t have access or will choose not to interact with the newly launched EFT, but holders can still use a variety of strategies to earn a yield on their BTC holdings. Here’s a look at some strategies BTC holders can use to earn a yield...
