crypto blog
Hop Protocol reveals details of Hop DAO and Optimism-style airdrop
Hop Protocol, a cross-chain bridge designed to facilitate the quick transfer of tokens between different Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solutions, has unveiled a new governance model alongside an airdrop that will see early users receive 8% of the total supply of soon-to-be-released HOP tokens. Similar to Optimism, which recently unveiled a new governance structure that will see early users airdropped 5% of the total supply of the OP token — Hop Protocol is aiming to create a community-oriented governance model, called Hop DAO, that seeks to aid Layer-2 scalability. An official date for the airdrop is yet to be announced. repost: There will be an initial supply of 1b $HOP tokens: • 8% airdropped to early users• 60.5% to the Hop treasury• 22.45% to the initial development team (3 yr vesting, 1 ye...
Crypto.com community in uproar over slashed rewards
About time there was a bit of controversy in the cryptocurrency world, huh? Crypto.com, the industry behemoth that boasts over ten million users and four thousand employees, has found itself at the centre of a storm of criticism this week, as it decided to slash the rewards on its popular VISA cards. The blog post dropped Sunday evening and immediately caused uproar. What is Happening? Card rewards were cut down pretty drastically. Lower tiered users (Midnight Blue and Ruby Steel) get 0%, while the next ones up recoup only 0.5%. Even the top tier (Obsidian) were cut to just 2%. There will also be a monthly cap on awards to lower tiers at $25 to $50. Oh, it gets worse. Staking awards were also reigned in. Once the 180-day period for all those who staked before the announcement ...
Here’s why blue-chip NFT prices continue to soar nearly a week after the Otherside mint
In May 2021, OpenSea closed out nearly $140 million in total volume. Fast forward a year and the most dominant nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace closed over $880 million in less than a week partially because of the Yuga Labs’ The Otherside mint. As a result of this mint, a fresh surge of liquidity was injected into the NFT ecosystem and as it stands the current NFT total market capitalization is over $19.4 billion. NFT market capitalization and volume. Source: NFTgo For the past two weeks, most of the market had seen little action, but this changed after the Otherside mint closed over $317 million in just three hours. These widely unique, randomly sorted parcels of land have amassed over 194,000 Ether (ETH) ($536,137,000) and to the surprise of many, Yuga Labs...
Bitcoin price hits 10-week lows as $40K spike becomes ‘nasty bull trap’
Bitcoin (BTC) hit its lowest level in over two months later on May 5 as Wall Street trading saw volatility return with a bang. BTC/USD 1-day candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView DXY celebrates as stocks, crypto tumble Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView painted an unsettling picture for hodlers as BTC/USD fell to $36,520 on Bitstamp. Capping losses, which totaled 8.3% at one point, Bitcoin only bounced at a price last seen on Feb. 24 this year. As Cointelegraph reported, the performance had come in tandem with mayhem in U.S. markets as equities gave up previous gains to flip bearish on the economic outlook. The Federal Reserve’s “priced in” rate hikes thus appeared to have been something of a red herring. “BTC breaks below 37K after a na...
CFTC commissioner appoints crypto-experienced CME Group director as chief counsel
Kristin Johnson, one of five commissioners currently serving at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has announced that a CME Group executive director with experience in crypto will be joining her staff. In a Thursday announcement, Johnson said Bruce Fekrat will be her chief counsel at the CFTC starting on June 1. Fekrat worked as an executive director and associate general counsel at the CME Group for more than eight years, where he was lead regulatory counsel for issues including digital assets. During his time at the derivatives marketplace, he regulated cryptocurrency reference rates and helped in the development of financial products including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) derivatives. Nominated by U.S. President Joe Biden in September 2021, Johnson was swo...
Descending channel pattern and weak futures data continue to constrain Ethereum price
Despite bouncing from a 45-day low on April 30, Ether (ETH) price is still stuck in a descending channel and the subsequent 9% gain over the past four days was just enough to get the altcoin to test the pattern’s $2,870 resistance. Ether/USD price at FTX. Source: TradingView Federal Reserve monetary policy continues to be a major influence on crypto prices and this week’s volatility is most likely connected to comments from the FOMC. On May 4, the United States Federal Reserve raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by half a percentage point, which is the biggest hike in 22 years. Although it was a widely expected and unanimous decision, the monetary authority said it would reduce its $9 trillion asset base starting in June. Chairman Jeremy Powell explained that the Federal Res...
Bitcoin.com completes private sale for new VERSE token
Bitcoin.com, an online cryptocurrency platform designed to introduce newcomers to cryptocurrency, said in a Thursday press release it completed the private sale of $33.6 million for its Bitcoin.com VERSE token. The VERSE token is a rewards and utility token for users who participate within the Bitcoin.com ecosystem. Several high-profile entities participated in the private sale, including Digital Strategies, KuCoin Ventures, Blockchain.com, Roger Ver, Jihan Wu, among many others. VERSE to be minted this summer According to the press release, Verse will be minted this summer as an ERC-20 token. It is comparable to other utility and rewards tokens such as Crypto.com’s CRO and Binance’s BNB. VERSE will also offer features that place it on the same playing field as Nexo, Celsius, a...
Hawaii Senate sets up crypto task force
The Commerce and Consumer Protection (CPN) and Ways and Means (WAM) approved in a unanimous vote to launch of a specialized task force. The two committees of the Hawaii State Legislature want to investigate the use and regulation of the crypto ecosystem. Hawaii Senate president Ron Kouchi received a letter in which legislators, Donovan Dela Cruz and Roz Baker, proposed the creation of a task force. For the first time, the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Task Force was proposed in Bill 2B2695. Bill 2B2695 is titled “A Bill For An Act Relating To Cryptocurrency,” which seeks to establish a task force within the Ministry of Budget and Finance to review and compile nationwide data on crypto and blockchain. The findings and potential legislation will be sent back to the Capitol, signifying a plan...
Bitcoin trader keeps $40.8K BTC price target amid warning over risk asset ‘pain trade’
Bitcoin (BTC) consolidated below $40,000 on May 5 after United States economic policy excitement saw a spike to one-week highs. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Fed sparks little crypto reaction Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed an overnight peak of $40,050 on Bitstamp following comments from the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell. The U.S. central bank had conformed to market expectations with a 0.5% key rate hike, also suggesting that similar repeat hikes would follow. With that, a modest market rally left Bitcoin eerily lacking volatility in what was a strong contrast to previous Fed pronouncements on topics such as inflation. While many expected risk assets en masse — including crypto — to deflate under the new poli...
Bitcoin celebrates halfway to the halving with new hash rate record
Bitcoin (BTC) marks a milestone mining journey on Thursday, crossing the halfway point on the way to its next halving. In Block number 735,000, mined at approximately 10:29 UTC, Bitcoin crossed the halfway point to the next halving. The block was mined by Poolin, earning 0.16215354 BTC ($6,402.45) in fees. Halvings occur every 210,00 blocks, and May 5 marks the cross-over point into the second leg of 105,000 blocks. For some Bitcoiners, such as Samson Mow, the Bitcoiner pioneering Bitcoin nation-state adoption, the halving is a reminder to stack more SATs: WE ARE HALFWAY TO THE NEXT HALVING AND YOU HAVEN’T STACKED ENOUGH #BITCOIN YET. — Samson Mow (@Excellion) May 5, 2022 The halving cycle is a unique device that envelops the Bitcoin issuance rate. As the Cointelegraph Cry...
DOT rallies 12% in a day as Polkadot gears up to solve a major blockchain hacking problem
Polkadot (DOT) price ticked higher in the past 24 hours on anticipations that its new cross-chain communications protocol would solve a long-standing problem in the blockchain sector. DOT price gains 12% on XCM launch Bulls pushed DOT’s price to $16.44 on May 5 from $14.72 a day before, gaining a little over 12% as they assessed the launch of XCM, a messaging system that allows parachains — individual blockchains that operate in parallel inside the Polkadot ecosystem — to communicate with each other. DOT/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView As Cointelegraph reported, future updates in the XCM protocol would see parachains exchanging messages without relying on Polkadot’s central blockchain, the Relay Chain. That expects to eliminate bridge hacks that have cost the in...
Binance commits $500M to co-invest in Twitter with Elon Musk
Major crypto exchange Binance has participated in Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, according to data filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. On May 5, Musk filed an amended general statement of the acquisition, announcing that Twitter received an aggregate of about $7.2 billion in new financing commitments in connection with the merger agreement, subject to the conditions in co-investor equity commitment letters. According to the document, Binance is one of 18 co-investors in the acquisition alongside major crypto industry players like Sequoia Capital Fund and Fidelity Management and Research Company. Having invested $500 million, Binance is the fourth biggest contributor, following Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust, which invested $1 billion. Sequ...
