crypto blog
US senator bill seeks to cushion crypto exchanges from SEC enforcement actions
United States Senator Bill Hagerty, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, introduced legislation seeking a safe harbor for cryptocurrency exchanges from “certain” Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement actions. The Digital Trading Clarity Act of 2022, introduced by Sen. Hagerty, aims to provide regulatory clarity around two primary concerns plaguing crypto exchange establishments — (i) the classification of digital assets and (ii) related liabilities under existing securities laws. A bill to provide digital asset intermediaries with a safe harbor from certain enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and for other purposes. Source: congress.gov Sen. Hagerty outlined an overview of the problems amid regulatory hurdles: “The current lack of regulatory c...
Net Bitcoin ATMs growth drops globally for the first time ever
The domino effect of a prolonged bear market seeped into the Bitcoin (BTC) ATM ecosystem as September 2022 recorded negative growth in global net installations for the first time in history — primarily driven by a slowdown in the United States. The total number of Bitcoin ATMs installed over time fell to 37,980 in Sept. from an all-time high of 38,776 ATMs in August — resulting in a drop of -2.05%, as evidenced by data from CoinATMRadar. The number of Bitcoin machines installed over time. Source: CoinATMRadar Data on net changes of crypto ATM installations confirm that, in September, 796 crypto ATMs were pulled off from the global network. The United States alone recorded a reduction of 825 ATMs. However, Europe, Canada and a few other jurisdictions cushioned the downfall with new installa...
Amber Group uses simple hardware to show just how fast, easy the Wintermute hack was
Amber Group has reproduced the recent Wintermute hack, the Hong Kong-based crypto finance service provider announced on its blog. The process was fast and simple, and used hardware easily accessible to consumers. Wintermute lost over $160 million in a private key hack on Sept. 20. Reproducing the hack can help “build a better understanding of the attack surface spectrum across Web3,” Amber Group said. It was only hours after the hack of UK-based crypto market maker Wintermute was revealed that researchers were able to pin the blame for it on the Profanity vanity address generator. One analyst suggested that the hack had been an inside job, but that conclusion was rejected by Wintermuteand others. The Profanity vulnerability was already known before the Wintermute hack. classy — wishful cyn...
CFTC takes legal action against Digitex futures exchange and CEO
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, filed a complaint against Digitex LLC and its founder and CEO Adam Todd for failing to register the cryptocurrency futures exchange and manipulating the price of its DGTX token. According to a Sept. 30 court filing in the Southern District of Florida, Todd allegedly pumped up the price of DGTX tokens in an effort to inflate Digitex’s holdings. The U.S. regulator claimed the Digitex CEO used different corporate entities as part of a scheme to launch and operate an illegal digital asset derivatives trading platform, in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act. CFTC rules require performing rKnow Your Customer checks and implementing a customer information program. Todd said in 2020 that he planned to remove all KYC procedures&nb...
So what if Bitcoin price keeps falling! Here is why it’s time to start paying attention
For bulls, Bitcoin’s (BTC) daily price action leaves a lot to be desired, and at the moment, there are few signs of an imminent turnaround. Following the trend of the past six or more months, the current factors continue to place pressure on BTC price: Persistent concerns of potential stringent crypto regulation. United States Federal Reserve policy, interest rate hikes and quantitative tightening. Geopolitical concerns related to Russia, Ukraine and the weaponization of high-demand natural resources imported by the European Union. Strong risk-off sentiment due to the possibility of a U.S. and global recession. When combined, these challenges have made high volatility assets less than interesting to institutional investors, and the euphoria seen during the 2021 bull market has largel...
The feds are coming for the metaverse — from Axie Infinity to Bored Apes
The metaverse is a futuristic iteration of the internet, featuring a digital economy and an immersive virtual environment alongside other interactive features. This relatively nascent space has gained so much traction in recent years that conservative estimates suggest that by 2024, its total valuation could top $800 billion. Meta (the parent body behind Facebook and Instagram), Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Nike and others have made Fortune-100-sized metaverse splashes. But with great valuations comes great scrutiny from increasingly tech-savvy financial regulators. Unlike traditional tech products, which often spend years putting growth over revenue, some metaverse projects push questionable monetization schemes on their users prior to launching a live experience. Metaverse real estate is a...
Starfish Finance Proposes DeFi-NFT Convergence on Polkadot
Paris, France, 30th September, 2022, Chainwire Starfish Finance, the DeFi project running on Astar Network, has shared its vision of how NFTs and decentralized finance will coalesce on Polkadot. The community-driven project predicts the worlds of DeFi and NFTs will eventually fuse and form a brighter star, with Starfish Finance ($SEAN) serving as the fortress that hosts this union. Starfish Finance is one of many planets orbiting the Astar Network ecosystem, one of the brightest parachains in the Polkadot galaxy. Living on its primary planet is a starfish named Sean, who has vowed to venture into the galaxy and build new castles. The Starfish protocol is based on Balancer v2. It gives users the freedom to create liquidity pools of up to eight different crypto assets on top of a full stack ...
Blockchain interoperability goes beyond moving data from point A to B — Axelar CEO Sergey Gorbunov
Cross-chain communication between blockchains is more than just moving data from point A to B, but how it can connect applications and users for enhanced experiences and fewer gas fees in Web3, outlined Sergey Gorbunov, Axelar Network co-founder and CEO, speaking to Cointelegraph’s business editor Sam Bourgi on Sept. 28 at Converge22 in San Francisco. As the crypto industry has developed over the past few years, blockchain interoperability has seen a surge in demand, attracting venture capital and welcoming players, such as Axelar, which reached unicorn status in February. According to Gorbunov, the company, founded in 2020, started with a premise that cross-chain and multichain capabilities would come to define the crypto space. “The idea is not just to talk about how to...
Crypto Biz: The Voyager Digital auction is over — What now?
Voyager Digital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July after its exposure to the toxic Three Arrows Capital led to its ultimate downfall. This week, rumblings of a Voyager Digital auction surfaced, with Cointelegraph breaking the story on the afternoon of Sept. 26 after a reputable source confirmed the parties involved. A few hours later, a winner was announced: crypto exchange FTX US. But, not everyone is convinced that Voyager’s depositors will be taken care of. This week’s Crypto Biz chronicles the bidders involved in the Voyager Digital auction. It also documents the resignation of a disgruntled crypto boss and major funding plans from a blockchain-focused hedge fund. FTX US wins auction for Voyager Digital’s assets Cointelegraph reported this week that crypto exchanges FTX, Binance a...
MicroStrategy takes its BTC maximalism to the next level with new engineer hire
MicroStrategy, the business intelligence and tech company that holds the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) reserve, is hiring a Bitcoin Lightning software engineer to create a Lightning Network-based software-as-a-service platform. The new engineer will be responsible for building a Lightning Network-based platform to address enterprise cybersecurity challenges and enable new e-commerce use cases, according to a job posting linked to the MicroStrategy website. Besides “an adversarial mindset,” the applicant should have certificates, knowledge of tools and programming languages, and experience with decentralized finance technologies. MicroStrategy is looking to hire a Bitcoin Lightning Software Engineer to build a Lightning Network-based SaaS platform. #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/XFYrkIaFA9 — Neil...
Price analysis 9/30: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, SOL, DOGE, DOT
The United States equities markets have been under a firm bear grip for a large part of the year. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have declined for three quarters in a row, a first since 2009. There was no respite in selling in September and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is on track to record its worst September since 2002. These figures outline the kind of carnage that exists in the equities market. Compared to these disappointing figures, Bitcoin (BTC) and select altcoins have not given up much ground in September. This is the first sign that selling could be drying up at lower levels and long-term investors may have started bottom fishing. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 In the final quarter of the year, investors will continue to focus on the inflat...
Innovations Never Cease: Polygon Has Been Added to 1xBit
It is a new day on 1xBit, the crypto betting platform, as it gets ready to unveil its latest addition. 1xBit completed a recent upgrade to enable it to accept Polygon (MATIC) as a payment method on the website. The latest change is a welcome development for the crypto space and bettors on 1xBit, who now have the opportunity to enjoy more options as they play and bet. Who Founded the Polygon Project? The Polygon Project was co-founded by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun and Mihailo Bjelic. Co-founders came together to solve the problems faced by Ethereum by launching the Polygon project – the project was launched in October 2017, and it has since gained popularity and acceptance in the crypto community. The Basics of Polygon The crypto space always gets exposed to new prod...
