Crypto news
Aptos Labs raises $150M, more than doubling valuation
Layer-1 blockchain developer Aptos Labs has closed a $150 million funding round to further its ambitions in the Web3 space, further highlighting venture capital’s appetite for budding crypto-focused startups. The funding round was co-led by venture studios FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto, with additional participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo, Franklin Templeton and Circle Ventures. According to Bloomberg, the funding round more than doubled the startup’s valuation, which was over $1 billion as of March. Aptos was launched by former Meta employees Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching. The founders also had a role in advancing Mark Zuckerberg’s failed Diem project. As Cointelegraph reported, the Diem Association and its subsidiaries wound down operations in February of this year, with Meta ...
Over a quarter of Asian Pacific ‘emerging giant’ startups tied to blockchain: Report
The Asia Pacific region is seeing a major business shift with increasing numbers of new technology startups appearing, even as venture capital investment is decreasing compared to last year. A report from Big Four accountant KPMG and international banking company HSBC based on a survey of 6,472 Asian Pacific startups found that over a quarter of them are blockchain related. Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, led the way among sectors where Asian Pacific “emerging giants” were active, followed directly by decentralized finance, also known as DeFi. Electric vehicle charging infrastructure, quantum computing and robotic processing automation rounded out the top five sectors. Blockchain real estate and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, on the sam...
CFTC will remodel LabCFTC, education office to increase regulatory efficiency
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the regulatory agency that shares the main crypto regulatory responsibility with the Securities Exchange Commission, will undergo restructuring to become more proactive and comprehensive, CFTC chair Rostin Behnam announced July 25. LabCFTC, which was described as “the focal point for the CFTC’s efforts to promote responsible fintech innovation,” will become the Office of Technology Innovation (OTI) and report directly to the chairman’s office. “We are now engaged in a more proactive and comprehensive effort across the agency to regulate these markets with the tools currently available to us,” Behnam said at a Brookings Institute webinar, adding, “Our core policy divisions are now directly addressing how the CFTC can lever...
Chipotle takes ‘buy the dip’ literally with new $200K crypto giveaway
United States-based fast casual restaurant chain Chipotle has started an online game which will give customers the chance to win more than $200,000 in crypto. In a Monday announcement, Chipotle said that, through July 31, fans would be able to play its “Buy The Dip” game using their rewards accounts. The company will give away $45,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), $10,000 in Ether (ETH), $13,750 in Solana (SOL), $14,250 in Avalanche (AVAX) and $14,250 in Dogecoin (DOGE) via the game. “We want to build the next generation of Chipotle fandom by connecting with the Web3 community,” said Chipotle chief marketing officer Chris Brandt. Free crypto giveaway? — Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 25, 2022 The restaurant chain gave away $100,000 in BTC in April 2021 as part of a promotion for National Burrito Day....
zk-STARKs vs. zk-SNARKs explained
zk-STARKs are one of the two transparent and scalable privacy-enhancing methods. The public availability of the randomness utilized by the verifier negates the need for a trusted setup. But, what does zk-STARK stand for? zk-STARK stands for Zero-Knowledge Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge, which is a type of cryptographic proof technology. zk-STARKs, also known as zero-knowledge proofs, allow users to communicate validated data or execute computations with a third party without the data or analysis being revealed to the other party. zk-SNARKs, which were used to build zk-proof systems before the development of zk-STARKs, solved the vulnerability of those trusted parties jeopardizing the system’s privacy because they had to set up the zk-proof system initially. zk-STARKs adva...
What is dollar-cost averaging (DCA) and how does it work?
Many crypto enthusiasts just start investing in cryptocurrencies without a strategy behind it. However, they should be aware that an investment plan is essential when you begin investing in crypto. By sticking to a strategy, you will have a clear overview and become less susceptible to the substantial price fluctuations in the crypto market. Related: A beginner’s guide to cryptocurrency trading strategies For each investor, this investment strategy can be different. After all, you invest in a way that suits your financial goals and that you feel comfortable with. For many people, the dollar cost average method (DCA) is the way to invest their wealth. This is because through this investment method, you make clear agreements that feel manageable for many people. In addition, you can adapt th...
Crypto user who lost $163M in Bitcoin wants to deploy robot search party — Report
James Howells, a British man who mistakenly discarded a hard drive containing roughly 7,500 Bitcoin (BTC) in 2013, has reportedly started looking at having robots and humans work together to retrieve his crypto from a local landfill. According to a Sunday report from Business Insider, Howells has pitched an $11-million idea to locate and recover the lost hard drive, which may be surrounded by up to roughly 110,000 tons of garbage. Backed by a few venture capitalists, the proposal involved people, robot dogs and other machines picking up and sorting through the landfill’s trash for up to three years until the lost Bitcoin is found, while another version of Howells’ plan would cost $6 million and take 18 months. Many crypto users recognize Howells’ actions as a telltale story of the importan...
Tesla reports $64M profit from Bitcoin sale
Tesla’s decision to offload most of its Bitcoin (BTC) treasuries netted the company a hefty profit in the second quarter, even as crypto prices plunged into a bear market. In the first six months of 2022, Tesla recorded $170 million of impairment losses “resulting from changes to the carrying value” of its Bitcoin holdings, according to an official Form 10-Q filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. After selling 75% of its BTC stash for dollars in the second quarter, the company netted a realized gain of $64 million. In finance, an impairment loss occurs when the fair value of an asset held by a company falls below the carrying value of the investment. If you sell 75% of your bitcoin, you will only have 25% of your #bitcoin left. — Michael Saylor⚡&#x...
3 signs Bitcoin price is forming a potential ‘macro bottom’
Bitcoin (BTC) could be in the process of bottoming after gaining 25%, based on several market signals. BTC’s price has rallied roughly 25% after dropping to around $17,500 on June 18. The upside retrace came after a 75% correction when measured from its November 2021 high of $69,000. BTC/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView The recovery seems modest, however, and carries bearish continuation risks due to prevailing macroeconomic headwinds (rate hike, inflation, etc.) and the collapse of many high-profile crypto firms such as Three Arrows Capital, Terra and others. But some widely tracked indicators paint a different scenario, suggesting that Bitcoin’s downside prospects from current price levels are minimal. That big “oversold” bounce The...
The battle between crypto bulls and bears shows hope for the future
The blockchain space is seeing some areas of strength despite the perceived downturn in the market. The perpetual futures funding rates for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have flipped back to positive on major exchanges, which shows bullish sentiment among derivatives traders. In addition, Bitcoin started trading below its cost basis, which has marked previous areas of market bottoms. In contrast, June saw decentralized finance (DeFi) experience a 33% decrease in total value locked and crypto stocks provide a -42.7% average month-over-month return. There is an ongoing battle between bullish and bearish sentiments in different areas of the market. To help cryptocurrency traders maneuver through the battlefield, Cointelegraph Research recently launched its monthly “Investor Insights Rep...
LidoDAO rejects sale of 10M LDO tokens to Dragonfly Capital
LidoDAO, the governance body that controls Lido Finance, has voted to reject a proposal that would have sent 1% of the LDO token supply to Dragonfly Capital in exchange for about $14.5 million in DAI. LDO is the native token on the Lido Finance protocol, which issues the Lido Staked Ether (stETH) token. DAI is the dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by the Maker Protocol. If it had passed, crypto VC Dragonfly Capital would have received 10 million LDO tokens at $1.45 each. A total of 609 votes were cast across three options, but the proposal was ultimately rejected with 43 million total tokens in favor of rejection. Nine whales whose collective 40.3 million tokens comprised the vast majority of the weight of the votes. The other two options were each in favor of the proposal either with a one-...
Investors shifting toward lower-risk crypto yields: Block Earner GM
Block Earner, an Australian fintech company, says the fall of Terra Luna in May has led to “positive surprises” for his company, with investors beginning to find their way toward the lower-risk crypto yield products they offer. Speaking to Cointelegraph, the company’s general manager Apurva Chiranewala revealed that the company has seen a surge of investors previously seeking double-digit returns but now wants a “less risky version” of those returns. “Given that the risks have gone up significantly for those returns, those guys have actually started coming in engaging with us because we look like the less riskier version of those double-digit return products.” Before their collapse, crypto lending platforms such as Celsius and Anchor Protocol offered annual percentage yields (APYs) o...
