Crypto

Some people think that permissioned distributed ledger technology can perform better than open blockchain because it is tweaked to address the issues of the latter. Such systems are also called “permissioned blockchain,” as if blockchain is a high-level concept and “permissioned” is one of its variants. But this statement is controversial and down below, you will come to understand why. Is “permissioned” decentralized? There are a lot of other options to choose from in DLTs: permissioned, private, enterprise, federated DLT, etc. And frankly, sometimes, it is not easy to distinguish between them. Therefore, for this level of discussion, let us compare just DLTs vs. blockchain. A permissioned DLT and the mentioned variety thereof are not decentralized. There should not be any fallacy around ...

Chinese regulatory authorities gave yet another shock to the cryptoverse by imposing a ban on all cryptocurrency transactions on Sept. 24. This measure came just as the market was beginning to recover from the government’s June prohibition on cryptocurrency mining activities. The fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) that resulted from the ban caused Bitcoin (BTC) to crash nearly 9% within five hours, from exchanging hands in the $45,000 range to bottoming out at $41,142. Soon after, Alibaba announced that it would be banning any sale of cryptocurrency rigs and related accessories starting Oct. 8. However, the flagship cryptocurrency has since recovered to trading above pre-ban levels of around $45,000. At the time of writing, BTC is exchanging hands in the $47,300 range. This recovery c...

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance (DeFi) newsletter. DYdX surpassed Coinbase in daily trading volume for the first time this week. Read on to discover why this was a seminal moment for the project’s founder. What you’re about to read is the concise version of this newsletter. For the full breakdown of DeFi’s developments over the last week — released with more anticipation than a layer-two airdrop — register below. dYdX surpasses Coinbase in trading volume for first time Decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX has risen to prominence through 2021 as an alternative to the hegemony and governmental transparency of centralized exchanges. It was revealed that dYdX surpassed the daily trading volume of crypto exchange stalwart Coinbase for the first tim...

Bullish sentiment returned to the cryptocurrency ecosystem on Oct. 1 after a 10% spike in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) lifted it above the $47,500 level and resulted in the liquidation of more than $270 million in short positions.  The altcoin market quickly followed suit with a majority of the tokens in the top 200 registering double-digit gains for the day. 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 Oasis Network’s ROSE token, Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) and Icon’s ICX token. The allure of privacy draws traders to Oasis Network Oasis Network is a privacy-enabled blockchain designed for open finance and the creation of a responsibl...

Grayscale Investments, a New-York based crypto asset manager, now includes Solana’s SOL and Uniswap’s UNI tokens in its Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) portfolio after rebalancing its basket of cryptocurrencies.  The quarterly rebalancing of GDLC is done by selling existing components of the portfolio for cash and procuring well-performing crypto assets. Based on the adjustment, SOL and UNI make up 3.24% and 1.06% of the fund’s components, respectively, while Grayscale continues to cut down on Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) holdings. After the previous quarterly rebalancing, Grayscale’s portfolio included 4.26% of Cardano’s ADA, making it the third-largest asset in the Digital Large Cap Fund. However, the latest adjustment means that ADA now represents 5.11% of the fund...

The Biden administration is reportedly considering a new legal framework for stablecoin issuers that would put them in the same category as banks, raising questions about the future of crypto regulation in the country. Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the administration is looking to convince Congress to create a new “special-purpose charter” for stablecoin issuers and other companies that fall within the same category. Although it’s not entirely clear how the legislation will look, it’s expected to be tailored specifically to these types of business models. Policymakers have been sounding the alarm over stablecoins in recent months because they believe these dollar-pegged assets aren’t properly regulated. Earlier this week, Federal Reser...

The month of September stayed true to its billing as a historically weak period for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) closed the month with a loss of about 7%. However, October may bring cheer to the bulls because Bitcoin has risen in six of the past eight years, falling only in 2014 and 2018. The bulls started the month on a positive note as bears scurried to close their short positions. Data shows that more than $270 million worth of short positions were liquidated within minutes. Bitcoin’s enthusiasm was also shared by several altcoins which have surged higher today. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Bitcoin has closely followed PlanB’s Stock-to-Flow model projections in the past two months. If PlanB is lucky enough to be right for the third time, then Bitcoin...

In September the frenzy that propelled the nonfungible token (NFT) sector quieted down but a burst of fresh energy emerged as the layer-two sector heated after the successful launch of Ethereum (ETH) scaling solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism.  Another project that has benefited from the sector’s transition to layer-1 and layer-2 alternatives is OMG Network (OMG), a non-custodial layer-two protocol that utilizes an optimistic rollup scaling solution to improve Ethereum scalability. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $8.42 on July 20, the price of OMG has climbed 380% to reach a daily high at $13.52 on Oct. 1 on a record $3.37 billion in 24-hour trading volume. OMG/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView Prior to the market-wide ...

Airdrops have become the cryptocurrency ecosystem’s equivalent of stimulus checks over the past couple of years and further proof of this can be evidenced from popular protocols like Uniswap and dYdX which rewarded their early adopters with token drops that are now worth $30,000 to $2 million. The latest protocol to surprise its userbase with a wallet fattening airdrop was Axie Infinity (AXS), a blockchain-based battle game that has risen in prominence over the course of 2021 as users embrace its play-to-earn (P2E) gaming model. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since bounding off a low of $47.92 on Sept. 21, the price of AXS has stormed 145% higher to establish a new record high at $118.00 as its 24-hour trading volume surged from $421 million to $1.95 billion...

Decentralized oracle service Umbrella Network officially launched on Ethereum on Friday, setting the stage for cross-chain transactions between the dominant smart contract platform and Binance Smart Chain, or BSC.  The cross-chain bridge connecting Ethereum and BSC was developed in-house at Umbrella Network, underscoring the need to transfer tokens and other crypto assets between the two networks. The cross-chain bridge also enables users to stake and farm crypto tokens on either blockchain. Umbrella said it’s planning future cross-chain integration with Polygon, Solana, Cardano and Avalanche, though no timetable was given. Although the blockchain industry has given birth to several oracle services, Umbrella claims that its protocol provides quick and affordable price feeds when compa...

Members of the crypto community have been up in arms recently about the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that the United States House of Representatives was expected to vote on this week. The legislation includes a crypto-tax reporting provision, along with the establishment of a definition for the term “broker.”  House lawmakers stated that a vote for the infrastructure bill would take place on Thursday, Sept. 30, yet Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi announced on Sept. 29 that the infrastructure bill vote would be delayed beyond Thursday. Media sources have since noted that the infrastructure bill could be voted on during Friday, Oct. 1. While the looming implications of the infrastructure bill may seem obvious, some members of the crypto community voiced specific concerns regarding the leg...