Crypto

The world of nonfungible tokens and blockchain gaming has seen immense growth and progress towards mainstream adoption in 2021. Recently, the movement picked up steam as an array of celebrities and internet influencers jumped on the hype train by purchasing premium digital collectibles.  One project that has quickly risen in value over the past two months as details about its ongoing development trickle to the public is Illuvium (ILV), an open-world fantasy battle game built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. ILV/USD 1-day chart. Source: CoinGecko Data from CoinGecko shows that after hitting a low of $29.32 on June 22, the price of ILV skyrocketed 1,765% to post a new all-time high at $545.26 on Aug. 13. Three reasons for the tremendous price growth seen in ILV include the introdu...

Lesetja Kganyago, governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), has argued against classifying crypto as currencies. According to a report by MoneyWeb, the central bank chief likened crypto to assets rather than currency during an interactive session at the Wits Business School Leadership Dialogues. According to South Africa’s central bank governor, cryptocurrencies only meet two of the three currency criteria, stating: “A cryptocurrency is a store of value. It is a medium of exchange, but is not generally accepted. It’s only accepted by those who are participating in it.” Kganyago’s comments are a common criticism leveled by central bankers and other actors in the legacy financial system against Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies. However, crypto is gaining greater acceptance as a pa...

Ethereum wallet and browser extension MetaMask achieved another major milestone in August, as its monthly active userbase topped 10 million for the first time, further highlighting the growing demand for DeFi assets. MetaMask credited a confluence of factors for its exponential growth, including the rapid adoption of Ethereum smart contract technology, the continued expansion of DeFi protocols and the successful launch of its token swap solution. The company also credited the nonfungible token boom for attracting more users to its technology. As Cointelegraph reported, MetaMask registered its one-millionth monthly active user in October 2020, up from 545,000 in July of the same year. Much of that growth was attributed to the so-called “DeFi Summer” that swept the crypto markets...

“Ethereum’s ascent to the top of the cryptoverse seems unstoppable,” declared Nigel Green in mid-August, and it’s not hard to see why the deVere CEO thinks this. DeFi is on a tear, NFTs are mushrooming, Ethereum (ETH) remains more scalable than Bitcoin (BTC) and it also offers more uses including smart contracts. Moreover, Ethereum will soon move to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, looking to be more eco-friendly than Bitcoin’s energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) protocol. “Ethereum is already years ahead of Bitcoin in everything but price and fame,” said Green earlier this year, adding: “There’s a real sense that 2021 is the year for Ether. Its time has come.” But, is it really a foregone conclusion that the world’s first, largest and best-known cryptocurrency is ready to reli...

Venezuelan authorities are on the lookout for a scammer accused of disappearing with 23.66 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $1.15 million from his clients’ accounts after faking his own kidnapping. On Aug. 29th, Douglas Rico, director of Venezuela’s Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC) issued a statement asserting that 23-year-old, Andrés Jesús Dos Santos Hernández, was wanted by the country’s largest national police agency over charges of suspected money laundering and fraud. Authorities assert that Hernadnez likely staged the abduction, with his clients’ Binance accounts having been emptied since the Venezuelan’s supposed disappearance. According to Rico, the police believe Hernandez “simulat[ed] a kidnapping where his captors allegedly forced him to enter the Binance ...

Customers of leading U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase have spent the weekend panicking after the exchange mistakenly sent emails to users stating their two-factor authentication (2FA) settings had been changed. On Aug. 27, Coinbase accidentally sent the email to 125,000 of its customers, resulting in widespread public backlash. Coinbase took to Twitter on Aug. 29 to apologize for the mishap, stating: “We’re laser-focused on building trust and security into the crypto community so that the open financial system we all want is a reality. We recognize that issues like this can hurt that trust.” I got the reply and panicked someone accessed my account or made withdrawals. Immediately logged in and reset my password after verifying nothing happened. — AJ ‍⚾️l‍ (@AgedMcN...

Institutional inflows to altcoin investment products have continued to increase this past week, but the same cannot be said for Bitcoin. In its Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly report on Aug. 30, institutional asset manager CoinShares identified overall inflows of $24 million to altcoin-based investment products. The capital flows mark the second consecutive week of inflows to altcoin funds, with investments into altcoin products increasing by 14.3% compared to last week’s $21 million. Ether was the favored asset among institutional investors, with ETH-based products posting a weekly inflow of $17.2 million. The report noted that products tracking Ethereum and other altcoins now represent 32% of the sector’s total assets under management (AUM) — just 3% shy of mid-May’s record of 35%. Carda...

The chief executive of crypto derivatives exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), has argued that derivatives are vital for the efficiency of the digital asset markets. In an interview with Forbes published Aug. 30, the crypto billionaire claimed that crypto derivatives are “misunderstood,” asserting that critics fail to recognise the vital role derivatives play in bolstering the liquidity and efficiency of markets. Derivatives refer to financial contracts that derive their value from an underlying asset or benchmark. Crypto derivatives in the form of futures, options, and perpetual swaps have attracted significant popularity in recent years. SBF described derivatives as “misunderstood,” adding: “People will note that derivatives trade more volume in crypto than spot, which is true. But tha...