Crypto news
Institutional crypto adoption requires robust analytics for money laundering
Institutions have begun to take crypto seriously and have entered the space in numerous ways. As noted in a previous analysis, this has resulted in banks and fintechs looking at custody products and services for their clients. However, as custodians of clients’ assets, banks must also ensure they are clean assets and stay compliant. This is where on-chain analytics solutions have a huge role to play in understanding patterns in transactions to identify money laundering and other spurious activities within the cryptocurrency and digital assets space. According to a report by Chainalysis, over $14 billion of illicit transactions took place in 2021. Therefore, it is critical to build the foundational infrastructure around Anti-Money Laundering (AML) to support the growing institutional ...
Can NFTs democratize scheduled programming of TV in the Web3 era
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) leave almost no part of the physical world untouched. From museums and major fashion brands like Gucci adopting the technology to digital items to musicians breaking archaic song rights distribution methods. Now even television, or in a streaming era — scheduled programming, is taking on NFTs as a means of crowdfunding programs. NFTV is streaming crypto-themed content but using NFTs as the backbone to crowdfund shows while providing viewers with some say in what’s on deck. Each program has a set of related NFTs, which give creators the reins of their projects, rather than giant media houses, while holders have the chance to contribute content. Greg Cipes, co-creator of NFTV, spoke with Cointelegraph to discuss the fine line between content democratization and an a...
DeFi abandons Ponzi farms for ‘real yield’
Decentralized finance is beginning to embrace a hot new phrase: “real yield.” It refers to DeFi projects that survive purely on distributing the actual revenue they generate rather than incentivizing stakeholders by handing out dilutionary free tokens. Where does this real yield come from? Are “fees” really a sustainable model for growth at this early stage? It depends on who you ask. The DeFi ponzinomics problem is our natural starting point. Ponzi farming DeFi started to arrive as a concept in 2018, and 2020’s “DeFi summer” saw market entrants — DeGens — piling headfirst into DeFi to early mind-blowing returns of 1,000% a year for staking or using a protocol. Many attributed the real explosion of interest in DeFi to when Compound launched the COMP token to reward users for providin...
MarketAcross Joins Blockchain@USC To Launch VanEck Southern California Blockchain Conference
Los Angeles, California, 20th October, 2022, Chainwire The inaugural event will connect students and professionals in the southern California blockchain community, further cementing the region as a Web3 innovation hub In keeping with the spirit of [email protected]’s mission to educate and connect community members with the blockchain industry, the student-led group has teamed up with MarketAcross to launch the inaugural VanEck Southern California Blockchain Conference. From November 10th to 11th, the USC Marshall School of Business will host the VanEck Southern California Blockchain Conference featuring expert panels, demonstrations, and networking opportunities for both students and the global blockchain community. The two-day event will be held across the University of Southe...
Bitcoin’s discount to hash rate highest since early 2020 — Mike McGlone
Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone says Bitcoin’s (BTC) relative discount to its high hash rate in October — the largest since the first quarter of 2020 — could soon see Bitcoin return to “its propensity to outperform most assets.” In an Oct. 19 Twitter post, the Bloomberg analyst suggested that Bitcoin’s ever-increasing hash rate — a measure of the processing power and security of a blockchain — relative to its price points “to risk/reward leaning favorably.” Many believe that in theory, Bitcoin’s hash rate should go up relative to its price. McGlone pointed to a graph noting that the 10-day average of Bitcoin’s hash rate in October is “roughly equivalent” to the level it should be at around $70,000. However, the price is instead currently at $19,500...
Voyager customers could recover 72% of frozen crypto under FTX deal
Customers of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital may be able to recover 72% of the value of their accounts under a tentative deal with FTX US, according to court documents. However, United States bankruptcy judge Michael Wiles during a court hearing said the tentative sale would not be final until it receives the approval of Voyager’s creditors and he approves the bankruptcy payout plan, saying during the court hearing: “If the plan falls apart, there’s no part of this agreement that survives.” There is also the inclusion of a clause called a “fiduciary out,” which allows Voyager to cancel the deal with FTX should any offers be presented that offer a better outcome for creditors. The clause is often included in bankruptcy cases, allowing companies to consider highe...
$4.5T asset manager Fidelity offers ETH custody and trading to clients
Fidelity Digital Assets, the crypto wing of $4.5 trillion asset manager Fidelity Investments, is set to offer Ether (ETH) custody and trading services to its institutional clients later this month. According to an email to Fidelity’s customers shared on Twitter, the crypto arm announced new “Institutional Ethereum capabilities” for institutional investors starting on Oct. 28, 2022. Fidelity Digital Assets just sent an email to customers announcing that Ethereum will be available for purchase this month. pic.twitter.com/3V0GCrOt5z — Bruce Fenton (@brucefenton) October 19, 2022 The post states that investors will be able to buy, sell and transfer ETH, “using the same model provided for bitcoin investments today.” “With the Ethereum Merge completed, many investors are looking at Et...
HODL! Tesla hangs onto all its remaining $218M in Bitcoin in Q3
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has made no further changes to its remaining stash of Bitcoin (BTC) in the third quarter of 2022, despite nearly a $1 billion sell-off in the previous quarter. The company’s Q3 report released Oct. 19 shows $218 million worth of “digital assets” remains on its balance sheet, with no reported losses in the value of its holdings. Based on current prices, it’s estimated that Tesla still holds around 9,720 BTC. In Q2 earnings report, Tesla said it sold 75% of its Bitcoin during the quarter, adding $936 million in cash to its books and recording a $64 million profit from the sale. Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained at the time that the sell-off was due to liquidity concerns from the COVID-19 lockdowns in China. The sell-off during the quarter took a large chunk of...
South Africa declares crypto to be a financial product subject to financial services law
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), South Africa’s financial regulator, published a notice on Oct. 19 indicating that the country’s 2002 Financial Advisory and Financial Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) has been updated to include a definition of crypto assets. A decision of this type has been expected for several months, and it brings crypto assets under regulation in South Africa for the first time. The FSCA notice, which went into force on publication in the Green Gazette (the government gazette of record), states that a crypto asset is “a digital representation of value” that can be electronically traded, transferred and stored but is not issued by a central bank. Additionally, it “applies cryptographic techniques” and uses distributed ledger technology. The notice goes on t...
Report: Half of all DeFi exploits are cross-bridge hacks
According to a new report by crypto data aggregator Token Terminal, approximately 50% of exploits in decentralized finance, or DeFi, occur on cross-chain bridges. In two years’ time, more than $2.5 billion have been stolen by hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities on cross-chain bridges. The amount is enormous comparison to other security breaches, such as DeFi lending hacks ($718 million) and decentralized exchange exploits ($362 million) in that period. Bridge exploits account for ~50% of all DeFi exploits, totaling ~$2.5B in lost assets These hacks can typically be attributed to smart contract loopholes (e.g. Wormhole & Nomad) or compromised private keys (e.g. Ronin & Harmony). What will it take to create secure bridges? pic.twitter.com/LrVf0W0zeK — Token Terminal (...
Celestia Foundation raises $55M for modular blockchain architecture
Celestia Foundation announced on Oct. 18 that it had raised $55 million in a funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto, Polychain Capital, Placeholder, Galaxy, Delphi Digital, Blockchain Capital, NFX, Protocol Labs, Figment, Maven 11, Spartan Group, FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, and angel investors; Balaji Srinivasan, Eric Wall, and Jutta Steiner. Celestia is building a modular blockchain architecture with the hope of solving challenges inherent when deploying and scaling blockchains. The company suggested that it intends to build infrastructure that will make it easy for anyone with the technical know-how to deploy their own blockchain at minimal expense. The company indicated that its modular blockchain architecture will focus on improving scalability, shared security, and sovereignty issues...
BoE policy talk: DeFi had better implement good governance before it’s too late
The lack of regulation and good governance in the crypto sector is more than a hindrance to businesses and lack of protection for users, it is an existential threat, Bank of England Financial Policy Committee external member Carolyn Wilkins said in a talk on Oct. 19. Decentralized finance (DeFi) would be a good place to start getting affairs in order, she said. Speaking at the University College London Centre for Blockchain Technologies, Wilkins said that the most common complaints about scamming that reach the Financial Conduct Authority, the U.K. financial regulator, are about crypto. In addition to that financial risk, investors are also concerned about reputational risk, which, according to Wilkins, is present in DeFi in abundance. Today, UCL CBT hosted the talk given by Carolyn ...
