Crypto news
Terraform Labs gifts another $880M to Luna Foundation Guard
Terra (LUNA) blockchain developer Terraform Labs (TFL) has gifted the Luna Foundation Guard 10 million LUNA worth around $820 million at current prices. The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) is a nonprofit organization attached to Terra that is tasked with collateralizing the network’s algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD (UST) to keep it pegged with the U.S. dollar. Terraform Labs’ latest announcement came via Twitter on April 14, but did not outline what the funds will go towards specifically. However, transaction data from Terra Finder shows that 7.8 million LUNA (roughly $630 million) was promptly transferred out of the LFG’s reserve wallet yesterday. TFL has gifted an additional 10 million $LUNA to the @LFG_org. https://t.co/tNirkgGGm0 — Terra (UST) Powered by LUNA (@terra_money) April 14, 2022...
Binance and Coinbase silent on Bitcoin Lightning: Community tries to understand why
The Bitcoin Lightning Network integration started to take off among the cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide. However, some of the world’s largest crypto trading platforms seemingly are not in the hurry to integrate the protocol. Last week, Robinhood crypto trading app became the latest major industry player to announce the Lightning integration, following in the footsteps of BitPay and the Kraken crypto exchange. As the main goal of the Lightning integration is to reduce the cost of Bitcoin (BTC) transactions and accelerate the network transfers, one may wonder what cryptocurrency exchanges have still not added the Lightning support. Binance, Coinbase and FTX stay silent on Lightning Not everyone is happy with the pace of Bitcoin LN adoption. David Coen, a software quality assurance te...
Bitcoin institutional buying ‘could be big narrative again’ as 30K BTC leaves Coinbase
Bitcoin (BTC) may be heading under $40,000 but fresh data shows that demand from major investors is anything but decreasing. For Ki Young Ju, CEO of on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, institutional BTC buying “could be the big narrative” in the crypto space once more. Coinbase Pro shifts serious amounts of BTC Ki highlighted figures from Coinbase Pro, the professional trading offshoot of United States exchange Coinbase, which confirm that large tranches of BTC continue to leave its books. Those tranches totalled 30,000 BTC in a single day this week, and the event is not an isolated one, with March seeing similar behavior. Coinbase Pro BTC reserves vs. BTC/USD chart. Source: CryptoQuant “30k BTC flowed out from Coinbase today,” he noted, “Institutional buys might be the bi...
How to get premium high-resolution metaverse and NFT images
You’ve probably already heard of the nonfungible tokens (NFTs) craze as these colorful, almost cartoon-like pictures. And, when you think of the Metaverse, you already see a bright and virtual world viewed from your avatar. With NFTs, most people think of Bored Ape Yacht Club or the famous CryptoPunks. But, what we all want to know: How to get metaverse photos? Or, maybe you’re wondering how to get NFT images? Here’s how to brighten up your virtual life. Do you want to buy, download or create metaverse images? First of all, you need to decide if you want to download the colorful images or create them yourself. Let’s start with the easy part: downloading the graphics for a virtual lifestyle. Think about pictures for your platform or maybe even a fancy metaverse wallpaper in 4k resolut...
MicroStrategy shareholders letter: We’ll ‘vigorously pursue’ more BTC buys
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor has proclaimed to shareholders of his company that his firm intends to “vigorously pursue” its reserve assets strategy to buy and hold more Bitcoin. Saylor’s publicly traded company is the largest single-wallet holder of Bitcoin (BTC) in the world with 129,218 BTC according to wallet tracker Bitcoin Treasuries. Those coins are currently valued at about $5.1 billion. MicroStrategy bought 4,197 more coins on April 5. By comparison, Tesla, MicroStrategy’s runner-up in the hodling race, owns 43,200 BTC valued at about $1.7 billion. In MicroStrategy’s 2022 Proxy Statement that was filed with the SEC on April 14, Saylor praised his company’s ongoing success in being early to add BTC to its treasury and add value for customers and shareholders. MicroSt...
Ripple CEO: SEC case is going ‘much better than I hoped’
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is increasingly optimistic that the long-running case with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will deliver a positive result for the blockchain-based global payments company. Speaking on the main stage at Paris Blockchain Week on Thursday, Garlinghouse told attendees of the fireside chat that Ripple’s defense in the ongoing case was faring better than he expected. “The lawsuit has gone exceedingly well, and much better than I could have hoped when it began about 15 months ago.” Live from #PBWS2022, @bgarlinghouse sat down with @cnbc‘s @ryan_browne_ to talk crypto regulation, Ripple’s global traction and use cases that he sees growing across the industry. pic.twitter.com/ouQYhY3B5n — Ripple (@Ripple) April 14, 2022 The SEC filed...
Punk6529 unveils Metaverse museum district: ‘Most high-end art NFTs ever’
Popular NFT collector “punk6529” today unveiled an ambitious open Metaverse project that is looking to attract 100 million users. The self-funded project is dubbed “OM” and aims to be an open platform that is built and shared by the community. The broader vision for the project is to launch 10 self-governing cities with a max population of 10 million each. The museum district of the first city (Genesis City) was launched in alpha mode earlier today, with punk6529 bullishly telling their 323,200 Twitter followers that it might be “the most high-end art NFTs ever displayed in one place.” A promo video for OM shows a long list of NFTs from top projects such as CryptoPunks, Tyler Hobbs’ Fidenza collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Art Blocks. At this stage, there are 2000 NFTs on display that ...
Reputation DAO: Would you give up privacy for unsecured loans in DeFi?
An ambitious new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) has built a data service for lending platforms that records a user’s financial reputation to reduce the amount of collateral needed for a loan. It has partnered with Chainlink and that protocol’s founder Sergey Nazarov is an early backer. Users of Reputation DAO will have traditional financial data such as anti-money laundering and know-your-customer (AML/KYC), credit scores and banking data tied to their account. The data is designed to help ease friction in obtaining a loan from a decentralized platform, but raises questions about security and the principles of zero-knowledge lending. The Reputation DAO team told Cointelegraph its connection with those traditional financial authorities is “critically important to remove some of...
North Korean Lazarus Group allegedly behind Ronin Bridge hack
The United States Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list was updated Thursday to reflect the possibility that North Korean cyber-criminal Lazarus Group was behind last month’s hack of the Ronin Bridge, in which over 173,600 Ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) was taken, Chainalysis announced by Twitter. The information was also confirmed by Ronin. The hack, which took place on March 23, was worth over $600 million at the time. Discovered several days after the fact, it is one of the biggest robberies of its kind in history. The coin came from the play-to-earn role-playing game Axie Infinity developed by the Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis. The game’s developers have raised over $150 milli...
Here’s why Chiliz (CHZ) multi-team NFL partnership and Web3 expansion plan could be bullish
One of the biggest challenges cryptocurrency projects face is finding the right type of real-world integration and a use case that can spark a new waves of adoption. Integrating blockchain and cryptocurrency with professional sports has been the expected “next wave” for some time and Chiliz (CHZ), a protocol focused on creating a fan engagement platform for various sports leagues, made headlines for its new developments this week. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of CHZ has increased 69% from its 2022 low of $0.144 to hit a daily high of $0.256 on April 13. CHZ/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView CHZ price has been building momentum and a new partnership between the Socios.com fan engagement platform and thirteen National Football Leagu...
Amazon CEO expresses optimism about the future of cryptocurrencies and NFTs
Speaking during an interview with CNBC after releasing his first shareholder letter as the new CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy said that while he does not own any cryptocurrencies or nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, he is optimistic about the outlook of the industry. Jassy stated: “We’re not probably close to adding crypto as a payment mechanism in our retail business, but I do believe over time that you’ll see crypto become bigger. I expect that NFTs will continue to grow very significantly.” Specifically, regarding the sale of NFTs by Amazon, Jassy claimed that “it’s possible down the road on the platform.” Last November, Cointelegraph reported that Amazon was hiring a Financial Services Specialist who “understands the overall cryptocurrency an...
Quantum computing firm simulates adoption of crypto payments
Multiverse Computing, a quantum computing firm with offices in Canada and Spain, has partnered with the Bank of Canada to run simulations on how the adoption of cryptocurrency might proceed as a payment method. In a Thursday announcement, Multiverse Computing said it used its equipment as part of a proof-of-concept project with the Bank of Canada to generate examples of how non-financial firms may end up adopting crypto. The quantum simulations used scenarios with 8 to 10 financial networks with more than 1.2 octillion possible configurations. According to the firm, it was “important to develop a deep understanding of interactions that can take place in payments networks” to understand how companies may adopt different forms of payments. The simulations suggested crypto payments may end up...
