Crypto news
Argo Blockchain keeps cashing out BTC to pay the debt to Galaxy Digital
Cryptocurrency mining firm Argo Blockchain continues to sell its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings to cut its debt to Michael Novogratz’s crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital. Argo sold another 887 Bitcoin in July to reduce obligations under a BTC-backed loan agreement with Galaxy Digital, the firm announced on Friday. With the average BTC price of $22,670, the sales totaled $20.1 million, accounting for a significant part of the maximum outstanding loan balance of $50 million in Q2 2022. As of July 31, 2022, Argo held an outstanding balance of just $6.72 million under the BTC-backed loan, the announcement notes. The latest sale comes shortly after Argo sold another 637 BTC in June 2022 for $15.6 million. The firm reported that by the end of June 30, Argo had an outstanding balance of $22 million on...
Binance Card users now have access to XRP, SHIB and AVAX
Binance announced on Friday that its Binance Card now supports three new altcoins. Card users can now access their holdings of Ripple (XRP), Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Avalanche (AVAX). The Binance Card allows its holders to “convert and spend cryptocurrencies in over 60 million online and physical stores.” However, the card is only available to European citizens and, according to the website, Ukrainian refugees. Prior to the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, Binance had intentions of expanding its card reach into Ukraine by sometime this year. With the latest addition, the card now supports 14 cryptocurrencies, including Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), BNB, Bitcoin (BTC), Binance USD (BUSD), Polkadot (DOT), Ether (ETH), S.S. Lazio Fan Token (LAZIO), FC Porto Fan Token (PORTO),...
Decentralized finance faces multiple barriers to mainstream adoption
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a growing market popular with experienced crypto users. However, there are some roadblocks regarding mass adoption when it comes to the average non-technical investor. DeFi is a blockchain-based approach to delivering financial services that don’t rely on centralized intermediaries but instead use automated programs. These automated programs are known as smart contracts, enabling users to automatically trade and move assets on the blockchain. Protocols in the DeFi space include decentralized exchanges (DEXs), lending and borrowing platforms and yield farms. Since there are no centralized intermediaries, it’s easier for users to get involved in the DeFi ecosystem, but there are also increased risks. These risks include vulnerabilities in a protocol’s co...
Coinbase hit with 2 fresh lawsuits amid SEC probe
Coinbase is now facing increased scrutiny from regulators, with the company now becoming the target of multiple lawsuits. The San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, which is presently being investigated by the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), now faces two additional legal claims from two law firms. On Thursday, New York-based legal firm Bragar Eagel & Squire revealed that it would be suing Coinbase for making deceptive claims about its business practices. Pomerantz LLP has also filed a claim against the exchange, alleging that it is entitled to compensation for any losses incurred as a result of the defendant’s violations of federal securities laws. This lawsuit was filed to compensate the plaintiffs. In both complaints, plaintiffs claim that Coinba...
VC Roundup: Lightning Network payment rail, DeFi trading platform and blockchain security firm raise millions
Even with the onset of crypto winter, 2022 has been a watershed year for venture capital funding. Crypto and blockchain companies collectively raised $30.3 billion in venture capital in the first half of 2022, exceeding all of last year’s totals. While the number of deals has declined in recent months, startups at the intersection of blockchain payments, decentralized finance (DeFi) and cybersecurity are still attracting sizable interest from the VC community. The latest edition of VC Roundup highlights some of the most intriguing funding deals of the past month. Related: The risks and benefits of VCs for crypto communities ZEBEDEE closes $35M Series B ZEBEDEE, a Bitcoin (BTC)-powered payment processor for the gaming industry, has raised $35 million from several investors i...
Amid miner capitulation, Hut 8 maintained BTC ‘HODL strategy’ in July
Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) miner Hut 8 Mining Corp. added to its massive BTC reserves in July, as the firm maintained its long-term “HODL strategy” in the face of market volatility. The Alberta-based company generated 330 Bitcoin in July at an average production rate of 10.61 BTC per day, bringing its total reserves to 7,736 BTC. Its monthly production rate was equivalent to 113.01 BTC per exahash, the company disclosed Friday. Hut 8, which trades on the Nasdaq and Toronto stock exchanges, is one of the largest public holders of Bitcoin, according to industry data. As part of its ongoing HODL strategy, Hut 8 deposited all of its self-mined Bitcoin into custody, bucking the growing industry trend of miners selling portions of their reserves during the bear market. As Cointelegraph reported, Tex...
Crypto VC funding hits $30.3B in H1, Michael Saylor steps down as MicroStrategy CEO, and Voyager to return $270M worth of customer assets: Hodler’s Digest, July 31-Aug 6
Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Crypto fundraising hits $30.3B in H1, outpacing all of 2021: Report A report from crypto analytics firm Messari on Tuesday showed that the crypto sector has raised $30.3 billion in funding this year, already outpacing the total for all of 2021, which was $30.2 billion. The figure was achieved via 1,199 funding rounds in the first half of the year, with $10.3 billion, more than a third of the capital, going towards the centralized finance sector. Notably, the NFT gaming sector raised more than all of decentrali...
Ethereum price rises by 50% against Bitcoin in one month — but there’s a catch
Ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native toke, has been continuing its uptrend against Bitcoin (BTC) as euphoria around its upcoming network upgrade, “the Merge,” grows. ETH at multi-month highs against BTC On the daily chart, ETH/BTC surged to an intraday high of 0.075 on Aug. 6, following a 1.5% upside move. Meanwhile, the pair’s gains came as a part of a broader rebound trend that started a month ago at 0.049, amounting to approximately 50% gains. ETH/BTC daily price chart. Source: TradingView The ETH/BTC recovery in part has surfaced due to the Merge, which will have Ethereum switch from proof-of-work (PoW) mining to proof-of-stake (PoS). Ethereum’s “rising wedge” suggests sell-off From a technical perspective, Ether stares at potential interim loss...
What is a decentralized money market and how does it work?
The seamless flow of capital between borrowers and lenders is a key aspect of a vibrant economy. Anyone with an extra asset can lend it to put their idle capital to work, while people needing it to grow business or meet operational costs can easily access it. Money markets are the platforms where borrowers and lenders can meet. Throughout history, money markets have been generators of economic activities. Though the structure of money markets has altered with time, their role has remained unchanged. How does the money market work? Conventionally, money markets were centralized structures facilitating the deals between lenders and borrowers. Borrowers would approach money markets to get a short-term loan (under a year) that might be collateralized. If the borrowers can’t pay back their loan...
Proof-of-work: The Bitcoin artists on minting NFTs and OpenSea
“Art is not a thing, it is a way,” said American writer Elbert Hubbard. For Bitcoin (BTC) artists, the way is inspired by Bitcoin, its code, its philosophy and its imagery. In some cases, it’s even inspired by memes. Bitcoin has become a “lifestyle,” for some Bitcoin artists, that inspires their way of doing business, accepting payments and interacting with customers. Cointelegraph asked Bitcoin artists what inspires them about Satoshi Nakamoto’s 13-year-old invention and whether minting a nonfungible token (NFT) would complement their “way” of doing art. After all, an NFT is a unique, digital receipt to prove ownership of a purchase that lives on a blockchain. Surely artists would want to prove ownership of the art at which they toiled away? Lena poses with one of her art pieces. So...
Bitcoin price: weekend volatility ‘expected’ with $22K level to hold
Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $23,000 again into Aug. 6 as new analysis predicted a potential surge of 20% or more. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Daily chart gives trader $30,000 target Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD climbing overnight to once again sit near the top of its established trading range. After multiple attempts to break out above range resistance at $23,500, the pair appeared still stuck in limbo at the time of writing, but hopes of bullish continuation were already there. “Expecting more volatility over the wknd,” on-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators wrote in part of its latest Twitter update on Aug. 5. “If the Bear Market Rally can push BTC above 25k there isn’t much friction to 26k – 28k ran...
Price analysis 8/5: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, SOL, DOGE, DOT, MATIC, AVAX
The United States Labor market added 528,000 jobs in July, much better than the 258,000 estimate. Wages saw growth of 5.2% year-over-year and 0.5% over the month. This suggests that inflation remains high and the U.S. Federal Reserve may continue with its rate hikes in the near future. After staying in close correlation with the U.S. equities markets for the past several months, the crypto space could be ready to chalk out a new course. Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone and senior market structure analyst Jamie Coutts said in a recent report that Bitcoin (BTC) has started base building similar to the one seen near $5,000 in 2018–2019. They expect the recovery to decouple from stocks and behave more like U.S. “Treasury bonds or gold.” Daily cryptocu...
