Crypto
Wazupnaija – Naija Entertainment blogs & Forums – Business – Crypto
5G blockchain company raises $111M in Andreessen-led token sale
Helium Inc., a provider of decentralized wireless infrastructure, has concluded a $111 million token sale led by some of the biggest venture firms in the blockchain industry. The sale, which centered around Helium’s native token, HNT, was scooped up by several venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz. Alameda Research, Multicoin Capital and Ribbit Capital also contributed, according to BNN Bloomberg. General partner at Andreessen Horowitz Ali Yahya told Bloomberg that new cryptocurrency protocols like Helium will “challenge centralized incumbents” and compete with bigger telecommunication service providers. Yahya tweeted Tuesday that his firm will work with Helium to create a “grassroots telecom network” of the future. We’re beyond excited to annou...
Every dog has its day: Dogecoin and Shiba Inu fetch 50% gains as altcoins rally
Momentum the wider cryptocurrency market appears to be on the upswing this week after bulls pushed Bitcoin price to the $46,700 and Ether price to $3,150 on Aug 9. The growing optimism has also translated into a bounce in dog-themed meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), which have both seen their prices rise by more than 55% over the past three weeks. DOGE/USDT vs. SHIB/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Dog-themed meme coins caught fire earlier in the year after Dogecoin became the altcoin of choice for influencers like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban. Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin further rocked the boat on May 14 when he liquidated trillions of SHIB and donated the proceeds to charity. At the time, investors viewed this as further bull...
Teller Finance deploys mainnet on Polygon, migrates 2,200 NFTs
Teller Finance, a non-collateral lending protocol for the DeFi market, has officially deployed its mainnet on Polygon, marking a significant milestone in its quest to offer scalable, user-friendly solutions. With the launch of Teller’s Polygon mainnet, users can begin making deposits and funding liquidity pools immediately, the company disclosed Tuesday. The Teller protocol continues to be available for use on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet. Teller’s Polygon deployment is part of a broader strategy to broaden the mainstream appeal of digital assets without the bottlenecks of slow transaction speeds and higher fees. Ryan Berkun, Teller’s CEO, credited the success of DeFi to Ethereum, but also noted an immediate need to address some of the network’s shortcomings. He explained: “Teller want...
One Bitcoin now buys 0.6 kilograms of gold as 10-year returns turn negative
Bitcoin (BTC) proponents continue to poke fun at gold bugs as the precious metal’s 10-year returns flip negative. As of Tuesday, fresh data shows tha XAU/USD traded 3.7% lower than it did on the same day in 2011. Gold fails to impress — On any timeframe XAU/USD 1-month candle chart. Source: TradingView It’s been a bad week for gold and its investors — a sharp fall on Monday has consolidated losses that have characterized much of 2021. Starting the year at $1,941, XAU/USD was down to $1,729 at the time of writing — a year-to-date loss of 10.9%. Whereas longer-term performance had previously saved gold from humiliation, as of this month, even a 10-year hodl is a dubious investment. On Aug. 1, 2011, the precious metal traded at $1,830, or 5.8% higher. In the meantime, Bitcoin has vastly outpe...
SEC wants ‘terabytes’ of Slack communications from Ripple
The legal battle between the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC and blockchain-based payments firm Ripple continues, with the regulator wanting further access to Ripple’s internal communications. The SEC filed a motion with the Southern District of New York on Monday, requesting Judge Sarah Netbrun to order Ripple to produce and submit its employee messaging on business communication platform Slack, Ripple executives’ attorney James Filan announced on Twitter. The filing notes that Ripple’s previous production of Slack messages to the SEC was incomplete, with the firm eventually admitting that this was caused due to a “data processing mistake” after “repeatedly contending that its Slack production was complete.” The SEC believes that Ripple only collected a small portion of ...
South Korean banks doubled crypto transaction fee revenue in Q2
Three South Korean banks with crypto exchange partnerships have reportedly made $14.71 million in transaction fees in the second quarter of 2021. According to The Korea Herald, Shinban Bank, K bank and NH Nonghyup Bank announced a total revenue of 16.9 billion South Korean won in Q2. The “big four” crypto exchanges in South Korea — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit — have partnered with the banks for sourcing users’ real-name accounts. Based on the data collected by Yun Chang-hyun, the second quarter performance exceeded the first quarter’s approximately $6.8-million (7 billion won) mark, more than doubling transactions despite ongoing market fluctuations. The data shows that K bank’s partnership with Upbit resulted in the biggest share of $10.4 million (12 billion won), over 71% of the t...
Major Turkish sports club Fenerbahçe issues fan token on Ethereum
Fenerbahçe S.K., one of the three biggest sports clubs in Turkey, issued its own fan token on the Ethereum blockchain through a new partnership with the local crypto exchange Paribu. The initial presale of 500,000 unlocked tokens was completed on Aug. 9, netting the club 15 million lira ($1.75 million) in 30 seconds. The club announced that the Fenerbahçe Token would have a maximum supply of 190,700,000 tokens in reference to 1907, the year Fenerbahçe was established. According to the project’s white paper, a total of 117 million treasure tokens would be created on smart contracts over the next 25 years on a yearly basis. Fenerbahçe also included a roadmap for the token burn that would be triggered by the club’s achievements in soccer, basketball or volleyball. According to the white paper...
Tether’s latest accounting review claims USDT tokens are fully backed
Tether’s latest transparency report shows it holds most of its reserves in cash and cash equivalents Tether Holdings, the firm behind the USDT stablecoin, published its independent accountant report yesterday. The independent report claims that the USDT tokens issued by the company are fully backed by its reserves. The report is for the period that ended on 30 June 2021. Per the report, the company held roughly $62,773,190,075 in assets, with most of the funds in cash and cash equivalents. In addition to that, Tether’s liabilities during that period were $62,628,932,116, of which $62,610,829,196 were related to its stablecoin. The review was conducted by Moore Cayman, the Cayman Islands-based accounting firm that handled its last transparency report in April. The Consolidated R...
Tezos price analysis: XTZ could extend rally past $3.50
Tezos could reach a new 30-day high if it continues the rally and gains support from the broader market The cryptocurrency market has enjoyed a decent run over the past few days, with prices of most coins up by 5% or more in the last week. Bitcoin broke the $45,000 resistance level and could be heading towards the $50,000 mark next. Ether is also trading above $3,100, up by nearly 90% from its low price last month. Tezos is also embarking on a slow recovery, similar to the broader market. With the right market conditions, Tezos could look to break past the $3.50 level over the next few hours. Analysts are optimistic about the market and believe prices could soar higher in the coming days. While the short-term price movement might be volatile, analysts are more optimistic about the medium a...
Deutsche Telekom selects Coinbase Custody to store its CELO tokens
Deutsche Telekom revealed its CELO purchase back in March, when it became the first telecommunications company to join the Celo Alliance for Prosperity German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom recently announced that it had selected cryptocurrency storage solution Coinbase Custody to be the custodian of its CELO tokens. Deutsche Telekom was reportedly attracted to Coinbase Custody by its strong security measures. The custodian provides segregated cold storage, insurance and undergoes regular security and financial audits by external firms. At the end of June, Coinbase Germany became the first company to be issued a licence for crypto custody and trading by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) under its new licensing regime. Head of European Sales and Introdu...
Investors are shelling out six figures for pet rock NFTs
The latest craze to resurface in the effervescent nonfungible token (NFT) scene is a collection of digital pet rocks from 2017 dubbed EtherRocks. On August 8, a single EtherRock sold for a whopping 45 ETH — worth roughly $135,240 at the time. EtherRock #21 purchased for Ξ45 Ether ($135,240.03) 30 mins ago (Aug-08-2021 05:17:15 PM +UTC) Txn: https://t.co/1zx7A3jkyS#EtherRock #EtherRocks pic.twitter.com/UNAUlhDWrW — EtherRock Price (@etherrockprice) August 8, 2021 EtherRock was one of the first crypto collectible NFTs issued on the Ethereum blockchain, following shortly after CryptoPunks’ June 2017 launch. Every EtherRock showcases a still image of a stone, with each token donning a unique color bu being identical in shape and size. Only 100 EtherRocks will ever be minted, with the proj...
‘Crypto Mom’ Hester Peirce slams SEC for $10m Poloniex settlement
Commissioner Hester Peirce, known colloquially as “Crypto Mom,” has slammed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its $10 million settlement with cryptocurrency exchange, Poloniex. The SEC announced the $10 million settlement on Aug. 9, with Poloniex being charged with facilitating trades in unregistered securities between July 2017 and November 2019. The SEC asserted that Poloniex employees “stated internally” that they wanted to be “aggressive” in circumventing securities regulation in a bid to increase market share by listing new digital assets that may be deemed securities under the Howey Test of 1946. Poloniex elected to neither admit nor deny any wrongdoing. On the same day, Peirce slammed the regulator’s actions in a public statement, emphasizing the opaque regulator...
