Crypto news
North Korea-obsessed Ethereum dev gets 5 years for breaking sanctions
Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum (ETH) developer has been sentenced to 63 months in prison and will pay a fine of $100,000 for attending a conference and assisting North Korea use blockchain technology in contravention of economic sanctions imposed by the United States. On Tuesday, April 12, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York handed down the decision. Judge Castel stated that “what you see here is intentionality, a deliberate, willful intent to violate the sanctions’ regime,” adding that the crime was made worse because Griffith had a “desire to educate people on how to evade sanctions.” In September 2021, Griffith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law banning U.S. citizens from exporting an...
‘Natural extension’: Sega’s Super Game project looking to add NFTs
Japanese gaming giant Sega is looking at integrating cloud technology and NFTs as part of its new “Super Game” project to connect different games to each other. The news has caused a predictable backlash from the crypto-skeptic section of the gaming community, with many people voicing their frustrations at the firm online this week. The Super Game initiative is set to roll out over the next five years and will reportedly see the development of a wide range of new cross-platform triple A grade games. The firm is said to be weighing up an investment of around $800 million into the project. The suggestion of potential NFT and cloud support was made during an interview on Sega Japan’s recruitment website. Gaming news outlet Video Games Chronicle provided a translation for English speakers earl...
Interview: Umbrella Network launches on Solana
Umbrella Network, the community-owned, decentralized oracle service providing secure and scalable data solutions for DeFi applications, announced today the launch of its Layer-2 decentralised oracle solution on the Solana blockchain. They are aiming to empower the Solana blockchain with an oracle solution that can provide scalable data, allowing integration and the addition of verified data feeds. Umbrella Network, whose token (UMB) currently trades at a market cap of $6.6 million, will be offering a multitude of data feeds across sports stats, weather information, insurance data, healthcare and more. Solana thus becomes the first non-EVM chain which Umbrella Network have integrated with. The Layer-1 achieved incredible success last year, becoming the third biggest crypto at on...
Is the surge in OpenSea volume and blue-chip NFT sales an early sign of an NFT bull market?
In the last two months, OpenSea began to cool down from its New Year’s bull run and many nonfungible token (NFT) pundits began to speculate about the beginning of a bear market once sales took a slight downward trend after closing out a record-breaking $5 billion in total volume sales in January. However, for the last seven days, the total sales volume has already exceeded the $1 billion mark and just a week into April, it seems the NFT markets are waking up to a resurgence of blue-chip caliber projects. Cue the “spring awakening.” OpenSea Monthly Volume. Source: DuneAnalytics @rchen8 Traders searching for the next Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) project have patiently waited for another project to come in with the same force and brand equity. Some top contenders have been emerging...
Polygon commits to going carbon neutral in 2022
The Polygon network announced on Tuesday its commitment to going carbon neutral and climate positive this year by releasing their “Green Manifesto: A Smart Contract with Planet Earth.” They also made a $20 million pledge to offset their carbon footprints, and buy extra credits to eventually become carbon negative. #PolygonGoesGreen Unveiling the Green Manifesto – a smart contract with Planet Earth!https://t.co/p9DFtUG9XP [1/2] pic.twitter.com/Xgn8jubffa — Polygon (@0xPolygon) April 12, 2022 Part of the Ethereum scaling solution’s plan for a more sustainable future includes providing resources for ecosystem partners who also want to offset their carbon footprint. Additionally, they hope to facilitate NGOs to make donations that go towards fighting climate change. According to th...
Belarus-born crypto platform halts operations for Russians in response to invasion of Ukraine
Crypto trading company Currency.com has announced it halted operations for clients based in Russia following the country’s “violence and disorder” imposed on the people of Ukraine. In a Tuesday announcement, Currency.com said Russian residents would no longer be able to access its services following the platform’s decision to stop Russia-based clients from opening new accounts. According to Currency.com’s website, the Gibraltar-based crypto trading platform has offices in Kyiv, London, and Vilnius, but was previously licensed and headquartered in Belarus. “We condemn the Russian aggression in the strongest possible terms,” said Vitalii Kedyk, head of strategy for the platform’s London operations and CEO of Currency.com’s Ukraine arm. “In these circumstances we can no longer continue to ser...
Bitcoin price slides below $40K following a ‘lackluster’ breakout
Extreme fear is once again the dominating sentiment across the cryptocurrency community after Bitcoin (BTC) faced another day of trading below the $40,000 level and the United States grapples with the highest Consumer Price Index (CPI) print since 1981. Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that an early morning attempt to rally above $40,000 ran into a wall of resistance at $40,650 and BTC price eventually tumbled back below $39,600. BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView Here’s a look at what several analysts are saying about the current state of Bitcoin and what could potentially come next as financial markets grapple with an increasing amount of uncertainty. Bitcoin is simply re-testing a major S/R zone ...
Glassnode observes profits among BTC holders despite the recent market slump
Glassnode says three-quarters of Bitcoin addresses are in profit even though the markets are struggling Short-term holders are seeing reduced loss realisation, with a current figure of 8.3k BTC per day This week’s edition of the Week On-Chain newsletter by Glassnode has evaluated the development and ‘health’ of Bitcoin’s user base as indicated by on-chain activity and profitability of the network. The report, published on Monday, found that despite the recent bearish condition, the current market is performing better than the previous bear markets. Comparisons show less severity given that just between 25% to 30% of the market sits at an unrealised loss; however, warning that should sell-side pressure increase, the situation could change for the worse. “The current bear market is not as se...
Animoca acquires Eden Games following last month’s F1 game disappointment
The digital entertainment and blockchain gaming firm acquired a 96% stake in Eden Games for $15.3 million. Animoca Brands could not renew a license for its Formula 1 game last month Animoca Brands is consistently building its REVV Motorsport ecosystem, and its latest play in this direction is the addition of French gaming production studio Eden Games. The deal was completed for a reported $15.3 million at the end of last week by giving the Hong-Kong based game software company 96% ownership in the company. As part of the terms of the acquisition, the gaming and venture capital firm will gain control over popular racing games, including the Test Drive collection, Gear.Club Unlimited. Animoca intends to use the Eden Games to create new and work on existing blockchain-based rac...
Crypto ‘en français’: ‘Cointelegraph France’ is now live
Cointelegraph is delighted to announce the launch of its French edition, Cointelegraph France, providing the latest cryptocurrency and blockchain news en français and marking another historic milestone in the publication’s global presence. Founded in 2013, Cointelegraph is the leading independent cryptocurrency and blockchain-focused publication covering news about blockchain, cryptocurrencies, nonfungible tokens (NFT), metaverse, decentralized finance and other emerging fintech trends. Apart from the main edition in English, Cointelegraph maintains 10 local versions, operating editions in multiple languages, including Arabic, Spanish, German, Italian, Turkish, Chinese, Korean and Portuguese, managed by Cointelegraph VP of Global Operations Elijah Leyb. The new French edition is a joint ve...
Ethereum price ‘bullish triangle’ puts 4-year highs vs. Bitcoin within reach
Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) has dropped about 17% against the U.S. dollar in the last two weeks. But its performance against Bitcoin (BTC) has been less painful with the ETH/BTC pair down 4.5% over the same period. The pair’s down-move appears as both ETH/USD and BTC/USD drop nearly in lockstep while reacting to the Federal Reserve’s potential to hike rates by 50 basis points and slash its balance sheet by $95 billion per month. The latest numbers released on April 12 show that consumer prices rose 8.5% in March, the most since 1981. BTC/USD vs. ETH/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView ETH/BTC triangle breakout Several technicals remain bullish despite ETH/BTC dropping in the last two weeks. Based on a classic continuation pattern, the pair still l...
Crypto mixers’ relevance wanes as regulators take aim
Cryptocurrency mixers have been an interesting topic of discussion ever since the advent of cryptocurrencies and their adoption by retail investors around the world. Cryptocurrency mixers are services that essentially focus on one feature of a blockchain network: privacy. Cryptocurrency mixers, also known as tumblers, provide anonymity so no one can trace the sender or receiver of a transaction. This can help protect the identity of individuals who want to be completely anonymous and non-traceable. How cryptocurrency mixers work is that they break down the funds sent using the mixer and scramble them with other transactions. They break the link which associates the holder’s identity to the crypto they own. A process used to anonymize cryptocurrency transactions is known as Coin...
