crypto blog
Finance Redefined: Binance leads $60M Multichain funding, Interlay raises $6.5M, Dec. 17–24
Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance newsletter. As the crypto community filled its crypto stockings for the holiday season, the Grinch emerged to gift a grimacing fate to two DeFi platforms, stealing their festive spirit and a whole lot of dollars. Reading this article, you’re only receiving a portion of the content from our DeFi newsletter. Drop your email below for the full copy. Binance VC arm leads $60M round in cross-chain protocol Multichain Binance Labs, the venture capital side of global crypto exchange Binance, facilitated a $60-million capital funding raise for cross-chain router protocol Multichain. Other notable participants included Sequoia China, IDG Capital and Three Arrows Capital. Amid Multichain’s corporate rebrand from AnySw...
Nifty News: The Red Ape Family show, Mini Royale on Solana and The Weeknd’s NFT collection
Catch up on nonfungible token (NFT)-related news this week as Cointelegraph rounds up the stories you don’t want to miss. Bored Apes gets cast in an TV series The Red Ape Family (TRAF) is a new animated comedy series centered on Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs. Episodes are sold as individual NFTs and run between five to 10 minutes long. The plot is about a family of Bored Apes that escape Earth to live on Mars. OpenSea is already reselling Episode 1 and the yet-to-be-released Episode 2 is available to mint. One Episode 1 token holder received a Bored Ape, three token holders won two Mutant Apes, and others were airdropped a poster, gravity sneakers and a discount to mint Episode 2. The cast, made up mostly of Bored Apes, will also include Mutant Apes, the Bored Ape Kennel Clu...
Beware of sophisticated scams and rug pulls, as thugs target crypto users
This year has been monumental for the cryptocurrency sector in terms of mainstream adoption. A recent report published by Grayscale Investments found that more than one-quarter of United States investors (26%) surveyed own Bitcoin (BTC), up from 23% in 2020. With the holidays around the corner, financial services provider MagnifyMoney also found that nearly two-thirds of surveyed Americans hope to receive cryptocurrency as a gift this year. While crypto’s growth is notable, there has also been an increase in the number of scams associated with digital assets. A Chainalysis blog post highlighting the company’s “2022 Crypto Crime Report” revealed that scams were the dominant form of cryptocurrency-based crimes by transaction volume this year. The post notes that over $7.7 billion ...
The best gambling tokens worth your attention on December 24: FUN, XED, and BETU
FUNToken (FUN) saw an increase in value by 5% in the last 24 hours. Exeedme (XED) saw an increase in trading volume by 176% in the last 24 hours. BetU (BETU) saw an increase in its value by 3% in the last 24 hours. FUNToken (FUN) is an asset developed specifically for usage in online gambling and gaming. It uses the Ethereum blockchain and is a powerful resource used by players, platforms, and developers. Exeedme (XED) is a blockchain-powered tournament platform where players can monetize their skills and earn money from their bets. BetU (BETU) is a sport, esports as well as a crypto betting platform that is secured through smart contracts. Should you buy FUNToken (FUN)? On December 24, FUNToken (FUN) had a value of $0.01125. To get a better perspective as to what kind of value point this ...
PwC Hong Kong purchases land plot in The Sandbox
PwC Hong Kong, an international subsidiary of the global PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) organization, announced Thursday its emergence in the metaverse space with the acquisition of LAND in the popular world The Sandbox. Though the cost of its LAND asset was undisclosed, it was noted that PwC Hong Kong intends to construct a Web 3.0 advisory hub to facilitate a new generation of professional services, including accounting and taxation. The global organization PwC, headquartered in London, United Kingdom, documented revenues of $45 billion from June 2020 to June 2021, up 2% from the previous year. William Gee, a partner at PwC Hong Kong, stated that the organization will seek to “leverage our expertise to advise clients” on the metaverse, calling the burgeoning technology a &...
Baidu metaverse app would take 6 years for a full launch, VP says
The Chinese internet giant Baidu doesn’t expect to fully launch its XiRang metaverse app soon despite the app’s initial would debut on Monday, according to a senior executive. Baidu vice president Ma Jie believes that it is still “negative six” years to full XiRang’s launch, CNBC reported on Thursday. He noted that the development of the app started in December 2020. Ma spoke of “Create 2021,” Baidu’s upcoming annual developers’ event, which the company promotes as the first Chinese conference to be hosted in a metaverse space through XiRang. The app will reportedly handle up to 100,000 virtual members interacting with each other using metaverse avatars at the three-day conference starting on Monday. The exec noted that Baidu intends to create an open-source platform targeting metaver...
President Bukele fires back at critics on ‘Bitcoin experiment’
On Thursday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele reaffirmed his belief for Bitcoin (BTC) supremacy on Twitter once again, this time stating that after widespread adoption occurs, “it’s game over for fiat.” The Salvadoran president has been a mainstay in news headlines due to his government’s regular BTC purchases and absolute pro-Bitcoin stance. He has made frequent statements and comments to support the original cryptocurrency while refusing to budge in the face of criticism that Bitcoin is a bad idea for the nation. Related: El Salvador buys a smokin’ hot 420 more Bitcoin President Bukele’s recent tweet comes as the international community launches a barrage against El Salvador for its “Bitcoin experiment.” The International Monetary Fund criticized El Salvador’s move t...
Bitcoin needs to clear $51K to reduce the chance of new sell-off from BTC whales
Bitcoin (BTC) whales are the center of attention again this week as large transactions flow back to exchanges. Data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant on Dec. 24 shows that relatively, whales are increasing their presence as potential sellers. Action stations as Bitcoin climbs to $51,000 According to CryptoQuant’s Exchange Whale Ratio indicator, the proportion of large inflows to exchanges out of total inflows is now at a one-year high. Inflows sped up significantly as BTC/USD rose to $51,000 overnight on Thursday, and the implication could be that large-volume investors plan to take profits at the top end of Bitcoin’s current range. “It is better to watch out until BTC breaks $51k levels,” one CryptoQuant analyst cautioned. “Once we surpass this level next significant resistance...
US lawmaker planning to introduce comprehensive crypto bill in 2022: report
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the United States lawmakers behind many pro-crypto pieces of legislation, is planning to introduce a comprehensive bill next year to handle digital assets. In a Thursday report, Bloomberg said Lummis’ proposed bill aimed to provide regulatory clarity on stablecoins, guide regulators as to which cryptos belong to different asset classes and offer consumer protections. In addition, the U.S. senator reportedly proposed creating an organization under the joint jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to oversee the crypto market. On Twitter, Lummis called for U.S. voters to reach out to their respective senators to support the bill, saying she was looking for bipartisan cosponsors. The Wyomi...
3 embroidery artists weave NFT charity drop to help victims of human trafficking
Three embroidery artists — Russia’s Katerina Marchenko, Brazil’s Aline Brant and Ninni Luhtasaari of Finland — announced Thursday that they will be auctioning their nonfungible token (NFT) art pieces to support Hope for the Future (HFTF), a registered charity based in Austria. Proceeds from the auction will help victims of human trafficking find entry-level work positions after their harrowing experiences. Katerina Marchenko embroidering. Source: Katerina Marchenko The NFT sale will take place on Orica between Dec. 27–30, with each piece having a floor price of $500. The auction’s goal is to raise $10,000 for the employment program. “Even when one offers survivors the possibility to get out, they are mostly very traumatized by their experiences, they have littl...
Argo Blockchain among most traded stocks by Fidelity customers
Financial services company Fidelity Investments’ U.K. arm reported that over the last 12 months, customers were most interested in trading shares of crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain. In a Thursday report, Fidelity said Argo Blockchain ranked third among the top five stocks most actively traded by its customers in 2021 — the others were Rolls-Royce, British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines, oil giant BP and Lloyds Banking Group. Argo, which Fidelity described as a “trending” stock, also ranked third among stocks traded by Self-Invested Personal Pension, or SIPP, investors. However, the financial services company hinted that Argo may not make the top five next year. According to Fidelity, “new arrivals” knocked the mining firm off the list of most actively traded sto...
Is crypto a boys’ club? The future of finance is not gendered
“I am used to being the only woman in the room,” Joni Pirovich told Cointelegraph over the phone. Her tone wasn’t impassioned like she was claiming an injustice. It was matter-of-fact, resigned to the truth of it. Pirovich is a blockchain and digital assets lawyer and has been involved in the crypto industry for years. She’s also a mom of two. “In some ways, it’s been a real struggle to have my voice heard, to be seen as a legitimate person at the table that has views worth listening to — let alone respecting or following.” Her claim wasn’t shocking, since gender disparity in this industry isn’t exactly a new talking point. Back in August, CNBC released a survey that found that women are still less than half as likely to invest in cryptocurrencies than men, with 16% of men inve...
