Crypto news
Terra buys $200M in AVAX for reserves as rival stablecoins emerge
Terraform Labs (TFL) and the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) have announced they have purchased a combined $200 million worth of AVAX tokens from the Avalanche Foundation. TFL, the company responsible for the development of the Terra blockchain, swapped $100 million worth of Terra’s native token, LUNA for AVAX tokens, in order to “strategically align ecosystem incentives”, according to Terra’s twitter. LFG, a non-profit organization mandated to build reserves for Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST, used its own holdings of UST to purchase an additional $100 million worth of AVAX from the Avalanche Foundation. These purchases are meant to reinforce the stability of Terra’s native UST stablecoin, which currently has a market cap of $16.7 billion. Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, tol...
Lightning to strike Shopify merchants with addition of BTC payments
Chicago-based payment app Strike has integrated with global e-commerce giant Shopify so merchants can accept Bitcoin payments via the Bitcoin Lightning Network. The Lightning Network (LN) is a Layer-2 scaling solution for Bitcoin designed to facilitate faster and cheaper transactions. Strike CEO Jack Mallers revealed the new integration on stage at Miami’s Bitcoin 2022 conference today. The move could allow Shopify’s almost two million global merchants to accept Bitcoin payments denominated in USD. However the only merchant partner cited in Strike’s official release was Warren Lotas, an LA based streetwear brand — and that site was down at the time of writing. Shopify is the world’s 18th largest ecommerce company with about $4.6 billion in annual revenue according to market res...
South Africa finishes technical PoC for wholesale CBDC settlement system
South Africa has taken another step closer to implementing its central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) concludes a technical proof-of-concept for the project. The project, titled Project Khokha 2 (PK2), is the second phase of SARB’s Project Khokha (PK1), launched in 2018. It experimented with distributed ledger technology (DLT) for interbank payments’ settlement, successfully replicating the banks’ “SAMOS” real-time gross settlement system. This second phase, PK2 was launched in February 2021 and tested DLT with clearing, trading and settlement within the proof-of-concept environment with industry participants Absa, FirstRand, JSE Limited, Nedbank and Standard Bank who form the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG). Using the technology,...
Robinhood rolls out wallets to 2M waitlisted users, plans to integrate Lightning
Cryptocurrency and stock trading app Robinhood will roll out its digital wallet feature for 2 million additional users. In a Thursday announcement at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami, Robinhood chief product officer Aparna Chennapragada said eligible customers who had been on the waitlist for the digital wallet — more than two million people — can now send and receive cryptocurrencies. In addition, the platform is planning to integrate the Bitcoin Lightning Network to reduce the time and cost of transactions as well as their carbon footprint. Super pumped to announce on the #Bitcoin2022 stage that @RobinhoodApp has rolled out wallets access to the nearly 2 million people on the WenWallets waitlist. — Aparna Chennapragada (@aparnacd) April 7, 2022 According to Robinhood, the crypto wall...
WAGMI United dreaming of domestic promotion following Crawley Town acquisition
Following an unsuccessful venture in purchasing English football team Bradford City F.C in December 2021, WAGMI United — an innovative Web3 brand utilizing blockchain mechanics and the global sporting culture — has announced the acquisition of English fourth-division team Crawley Town Football Club. Founded in 1896, the West Sussex club known as the Red Devils have endured a turbulent existence both on and off the pitch. Triumphs including two league-winning promotions, four standard promotions and seven cup trophies — four being the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup — provide the fans with positive memories, but incidences like the 2006 administration following transition to fully-professional status balance the fortunes. The team is currently placed thirteenth out of twenty-four teams in...
Former US Senator and House member joins Crypto Council for Innovation
Cory Gardner, who served as a United States senator for Colorado from 2015 to 2021, has joined the Crypto Council for Innovation, a crypto advocacy group aimed at establishing dialogues with governments and regulatory agencies on the benefits of digital assets. In a Thursday announcement, the Crypto Council for Innovation, or CCI, said Gardner was one of three new members to join the group’s leadership team. Under CEO Sheila Warren, the former senator will work alongside Amanda Russo, a communicators adviser for the World Economic Forum, and Annie Dizon, a former executive with social impact nonprofit TechSoup. In addition, Katherine Wu, a venture partner at Archetype, will become CCI’s first research fellow, while former Algorand Foundation CEO Sean Lee joined the group to help buil...
The FDIC wants US banks to report on current and intended crypto-related activities
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the United States government corporation that insures depositors at U.S. commercial and savings banks, issued a financial institution letter Thursday. The letter requests the institutions supervised by the agency to notify the appropriate regional director of their activities with crypto-related assets or their intentions to engage in crypto-related activities. According to the letter, “It is difficult for institutions, as well as the FDIC, to adequately assess the safety and soundness, financial stability, and consumer protection implications without considering each crypto-related activity on an individual basis.” Consequently, the FDIC wants to receive all information necessary for it to “engage with the institution regarding related risk...
DeFiChain adds Intel, Disney, iShares MSCI China ETF, and MicroStrategy dTokens
DeFiChain, the world’s leading blockchain built on the Bitcoin blockchain has announced that it has added four new decentralized tokens (dTokens) after a Ticker voting by the community. The four newly added dTokens are based on four assets namely Walt Disney Co, iShares MSCI China ETF, Intel Corporation, and MicroStrategy Incorporated. The tokens shall be denoted as follows: $dINTC – Intel Corporation $dMCHI – iShares MSCI China ETF $dDIS – Walt Disney Co $dMSTR – MicroStrategy Incorporated Following the addition of the four new dTokens, the Lead Engineer at DeFiChain, Prasanna Loganathar said: “DeFiChain is continuously expanding the dToken universe to give users a serious alternative to the traditional financial broker – all whilst offering the flexibility and benefits of decentralizatio...
Bitcoin sentiment falls into ‘fear’ as BTC price action hits $42.9K breakdown target
Bitcoin (BTC) kept disappointing hodlers on April 7 as the Bitcoin 2022 conference got underway to a limp BTC price performance. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Fed prepares $95 billion monthly balance sheet shrink Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it dropped below multiple support levels to reach its lowest since March 23. Reversing at $42,741 on Bitstamp on April 7, the largest cryptocurrency was decidedly less bullish than the week prior, with analysts quick to point out contributing factors. Central bank monetary tightening, namely from the U.S. Federal Reserve, remained the favorite, this having a potential long-lasting impact across risk assets going forward. “The biggest headwind to Bitcoin and macroeconomi...
‘People should invest in all of the major layer-1s,’ says a veteran trader
Scott Melker, veteran trader and pocaster, is convinced that major layer-1 protocols should be part of everyone’s investment portfolio. Instead of picking individual crypto projects, such as NFTs or blockchain games, Melker thinks it makes more sense to bet on the blockchain infrastructure on which these projects are built. “Any of these small projects could absolutely go nuts. But you’re going to have trouble choosing what they are. You should just own the layer-1 and the infrastructure that they’re all built on,” he said in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. “You may not own a Bored Ape, but Ethereum holders have certainly benefited from the success of Bored Apes!” he pointed out. Talking about his portfolio construction, Melker revealed that about 6...
Treasury Secretary hints at regulatory framework to address potential risks in digital asset markets
United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen listed stablecoins as one of the major policy concerns in the digital asset space for regulators, currently subject to “inconsistent and fragmented oversight.” Speaking to attendees at American University in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Yellen said the Treasury Department was working with Congress to advance legislation to help ensure that “stablecoins are resilient to risks” for consumers and the U.S. financial system. According to the Treasury Secretary, while stablecoins raised “policy concerns” and issues around the coins’ reserve assets, many parts of the digital asset space present potential risks that could exacerbate inequality. “Our regulatory frameworks should be designed to support responsible innovation while managing risks and esp...
Vitalik Buterin quietly donates $5M ETH to aid Ukraine as total tracked crypto donations reach $133M
As told by Aid for Ukraine, a joint initiative created by the Ukrainian government, FTX, Everstake and Kuna to rally crypto donations for the country, Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin made $5 million worth of ETH donations to Ukraine in early April. According to the entity, despite the large donation sum, Buterin did not make an announcement regarding the transaction. It was eventually linked to him via the Ethereum Name Service domain name “vitalik.eth,” which served as the origin of the transfer. .@VitalikButerin donated almost $2.5M in $ETH to @_AidForUkraine 2 days ago, and didn’t say a word! He’s also donated $2.5M to @Unchainfund. Thanks for your enormous help, Vitalik, and thank you for creating @ethereum! The #Ethereum community is pic.twitter.com/H...
