Adoption
Bitcoin price rally provides much needed relief for BTC miners
Bitcoin mining powers network transactions and BTC price. During the 2021 bull run, some mining operations raised funds against their Bitcoin ASICs and BTC reserves. Miners also preordered ASICs at a hefty premium and some raised funds by conducting IPOs. As the crypto market turned bearish and liquidity seized within the sector, miners found themselves in a bad situation and those who were unable to meet their debt obligations were forced to sell the BTC reserves near the market bottom or declare bankruptcy Notable Bitcoin mining bankruptcies in 2022 came from Core Scientific, filing for bankruptcy, but BTC’s early 2023 performance is beginning to suggest that the largest portion of capitulation has passed. Despite the strength of the current bear market, a few miners were able to i...
ConsenSys slashes headcount 11% as chief economist reveals formula for adoption
ConsenSys, the parent company behind MetaMask, is letting go of 11% of its workforce, with CEO Joseph Lubin blaming “uncertain market conditions” brought on by recent collapses. In a blog post from ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin on Jan. 18, the blockchain firm CEO said “poorly behaved” centralized finance (CeFi) actors have cast a “broad pall on our ecosystem that we will all need to work through.” Lubin said the decision will impact 96 employees and is part of plans to focus its resources on its core businesses. Today we need to make the extremely difficult decision to streamline some of ConsenSys’ teams to adjust to challenging and uncertain market conditions.https://t.co/Svuk9yYj6J 1/10 — Joseph Lubin (@ethereumJoseph) January 18, 2023 Speaking to Cointelegraph a few days before the layoffs...
Bitcoin price rally over $21K prompts analysts to explore where BTC price might go next
After Bitcoin (BTC) hit a yearly high of $21,095 on Jan. 13, where is it headed next? Bitcoin is currently witnessing an uptick in bullish momentum after the positively perceived Consumer Price Index (CPI) report was followed by a strong rally across the crypto market. The recent rally in Bitcoin is creating increased volume levels and higher social engagement on whether the price is in a breakout of fakeout mode. Is the Bitcoin bear market over? While the market is still technically in a bear market compared to last week, investor sentiment is improving. According to the Fear and Greed Index, a crypto-specific metric that measures sentiment using five weighted sources, investors’ feelings about the market hit a monthly high. Bitcoin Fear and Greed index. Source: alternative.me Bitco...
Bonk token goes bonkers as traders chase after high yields in the Solana ecosystem
Bonk, a meme token modeled after Shiba Inu (SHIB) that launched on Dec. 25, is skyrocketing and some traders believe the token’s trading volume is potentially driving Solana’s (SOL) price up. Over the past 48 hours, SOL price has gained 34%, and in the past 24 hours, Bonk has climbed 117%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. While the wider crypto market remains suppressed, traders are hoping that Bonk could present new opportunities during the downturn. According to the project’s website, Bonk is the first dog token on the Solana blockchain. Initially, 50% of the token supply was airdropped to Solana users with a mission to remove toxic Alameda-styled token economics. The airdrop resulted in more than $20 million in trading volume according to the Solana decentralized exchange Orc...
How can UK-based businesses accept Bitcoin?
Accepting Bitcoin payments is advantageous due to lower fees than credit and debit cards, expansion of customer base and real-time bank balances. However, risks like volatility and cybercrime may undermine these benefits. Cryptocurrency payments help save excessive credit and debit card processing fees as they are decentralized and do not need intermediaries to verify the transaction. Moreover, merchants do not incur overseas currency exchange changes if payments are made in BTC or other cryptocurrencies. High transaction speed is another benefit of accepting Bitcoin payments, allowing businesses to receive payments in real-time. Moreover, with the increasing customer demand to pay in crypto, offering Bitcoin as a payment method will help acquire more shoppers. However, accepting cryptocur...
Blockchain-based supply chain platform canned by IBM and Maersk
United States technology company IBM and Danish logistics firm Maersk have decided to discontinue their co-developed blockchain-backed supply chain platform, TradeLens, citing a lack of “global industry collaboration” as a key reason behind the decision. Maersk stated on Nov. 29 that it has begun taking immediate action to cease operations on the platform, which should take full effect by Q1 2023: “The TradeLens team is taking action to withdraw the offerings and discontinue the platform […] During this process all parties involved will ensure that customers are attended to without disruptions to their businesses.” While the blockchain-based shipping solution was introduced by the two firms in August 2018 to help industry participants adopt more efficient international supply chain p...
Nifty News: GameStop NFT market goes live, Hong Kong’s NFT concept and more
The nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace for American video game retailer GameStop has officially gone live on Ethereum layer-2 blockchain ImmutableX, all part of the latest Web3 push from the gaming retailer. The pair first partnered in February to build the marketplace offering a $100 million grant for NFT content creators and tech developers before a public beta of the NFT marketplace debuted in July. With the Oct. 31 announcement of the full launch, GameStop’s market will allow for popular Web3 games on ImmutableX such as the role-playing game Illuvium and Gods Unchained to be accessed by users. GameStop has worked to launch a series of Web3-powered products over the past year, with a beta self-custody crypto wallet released in May that integrates with its NFT marketplace. In Marc...
Pro-crypto city of Lugano and El Salvador sign economic agreement based on adoption
Switzerland’s southern city of Lugano and El Salvador have signed an economic cooperation agreement based on crypto and blockchain. According to an Oct. 28 announcement from Lugano, the two pro-crypto jurisdictions signed a memorandum of understanding on economic cooperation at the city’s Plan B event. Lugano Mayor Michele Foletti cited El Salvador adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender as part of the city’s interest in the agreement, which will allow the pro-crypto country to establish a physical government presence in an effort to “foster cooperation with educational and research institutions.” “The use of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology creates new opportunities for growth and investment that benefit our communities; it is a new alternative financial and exchange tool that fosters tra...
NFTs ‘biggest on-ramp’ to crypto in Central, Southern Asia and Oceania — report
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) may be the biggest driver of crypto adoption in Central, Southern Asia, and Oceania (CSAO), a new report has found. According to a Sept. 21 Chainalysis post titled “Crypto Adoption Steadies in South Asia, Soars in the Southeast,” NFT-related actions accounted for 58% of all web traffic going to cryptocurrency services from this region in the second quarter of 2022. Meanwhile another 21% of traffic in the quarter went to websites of play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain games, with major titles including Axie Infinity, STEPN and Battle Infinity. Chainalysis noted that P2E blockchain games are “intimately related” to NFTs, as most P2E games feature in-game items in the form of NFTs that can be sold on marketplaces like MagicEden and OpenSea, thus meaning: ...
UK economic secretary commits to make country a crypto hub under new PM
Richard Fuller, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said the government wants the United Kingdom to be the “dominant global hub for crypto technologies.” In a parliamentary debate on crypto asset regulation in the U.K. on Wednesday, Fuller spoke in favor of “powerful” use cases for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, including using distributed ledger technology for customs and international trade and storing medical records on the blockchain. Alexander Stafford, the parliamentary private secretary to newly elected PM Liz Truss, added the prime minister “reaffirmed” her commitment to providing internet connectivity for U.K. residents, which could allow access to buying, selling, and mining crypto. “As crypto technologies grow in significance, the U.K. Government are seeking ways ...
NFT NYC 2022: A look inside a massive NFT conference
Cointelegraph senior reporter Rachel Wolfson spent a day exploring NFT NYC 2022 to learn about emerging nonfungible token projects,or NFTs, and how the sector may advance. A recent market report published by Verified Market Research (VMR) predicts that the NFT market could reach a value of $230 billion by 2030. NFT NYC 2022 certainly demonstrated the potential of the NFT sector, highlighting some of the most promising use cases and industry experts. For instance, Camila Russo, founder of The Defiant and author of The Infinite Machine, told Cointelegraph that NFT products should advance to bring value to holders, whether that comes in the form of community building or funding for new projects. Cointelegraph also visited offsite houses hosted by Ripple and Doodles. David Schwartz, chie...
The number of crypto billionaires is growing fast, here’s why
Satoshi Nakamoto has more than 1 million BTC, making him the largest Bitcoin holder. He is followed by the founders of Grayscale and Binance, who together have about the same amount of BTC as Satoshi Nakamoto. When looking at the largest Bitcoin holders, there are a few parties that stand out. Of course, Satoshi Nakamoto, with a total of 1,100,000 BTC, has more significant holdings than number two and three holders of Bitcoin, namely Grayscale and Binance. These companies have over 600,000 BTC and 400,000 BTC, respectively, numbers that most Bitcoin investors can only dream of. Behind these top three Bitcoin holders are the cryptocurrency exchanges Bitfinex and OKX, both of which hold over 200,000 BTC. Then, with MicroStrategy and Block.one, there are two more parties that own more than 10...
