Crypto news
3 reasons why Harmony (ONE) rallied back to its all-time high this week
Bitcoin price is still a ways from its $69,000 all-time high but this isn’t stopping altcoins from moving toward new highs. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $0.13 on Dec. 4, the price of Harmony (ONE) has risen 163% to establish a new all-time high of $0.38 on Jan. 14 ONE/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView Three reasons for the growing strength of Harmony include an expanding ecosystem, the launch of multiple cross-chain bridges and developers interest in finding Ethereum network alternatives. ONE benefits from Harmony’s $300 million ecosystem development fund One of the biggest boosts to the overall health of the Harmony ecosystem began back in September when the project launched a $300 million developer incentive p...
Battle of the bots: WTF token launch drains 58 ETH
Fees.wtf is a simple service that shows Ether (ETH) users their lifetime spending amount on Ethereum blockchain transactions by measuring gas. You plug in your wallet address on its website, and it tells you how much gas you spent. The project released its WTF token in an airdrop Friday. Essentially, users were able to claim WTF tokens as well as a “Rekt” nonfungible token (NFT) for 0.01 ETH. The Rekt NFT grants lifetime access to the pro version of Fees.wtf. According to its Discord announcement, the initial launch planned to offer 100 million WTF, and the “circulating supply will be the main attraction in the tokenomics.” However, it didn’t quite go as planned. Following frantic trading behavior between bots in the opening hours of the airdrop, one bot ran off with a repo...
University accepts Bitcoin donations to fund crypto-related activities
Back in October 2021, The Campanile Foundation (TCF), an auxiliary of the San Diego State University (SDSU), accepted its first crypto donation. Now, the university announced that it is welcoming digital currency donations in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). TCF chief financial officer David Fuhriman said one percent of the total crypto holdings would be withdrawn quarterly to fund campus activities that aim to discover how the university could interact with crypto, such as working on a system that permits broader digital transactions within the university. Meanwhile, the rest of the funds will be converted into BTC and will not be liquidated immediately, with hopes that the price will go up in the future and help more programs. SDSU accepted the university’s first cryptocu...
Brazilian mayor to reportedly invest 1% of city reserves in Bitcoin
Eduardo Paes, mayor of Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro, wants to allocate 1% of the city’s treasury into Bitcoin (BTC), Cointelegraph Brazil reported. Paes reportedly announced plans for “Crypto Rio,” or turning the city into a cryptocurrency hub during Rio Innovation Week on Thursday, according to a report by local news agency O Globo. The mayor spoke about Rio’s cryptocurrency-related ambitions in a panel with Miami mayor and Bitcoin bull Francis Suarez, who started accepting his paychecks in BTC in November 2021. “We are going to launch Crypto Rio and invest 1% of the treasury in cryptocurrency. The government has a role to play,” Paes reportedly said, adding that the state is also planning to introduce tax exemptions for the industry. The panel also included major Brazilian officials lik...
OCC Comptroller calls for federal collaboration with crypto intermediaries
The Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael J. Hsu, highlighted the need for collaboration and coordination with large crypto intermediaries to better understand the risks within the growing $2 trillion cryptocurrency market. Speaking at the Transatlantic Finance Forum on the topic of “The Future of Crypto-Assets and Regulation”, Hsu pointed out the various venues — crypto exchanges, nonfungible tokens (NFT) and metaverse — where anyone with an internet connection can invest, adding: “The mainstreaming of crypto has occurred despite regulatory and legal uncertainty, and a series of scams, hacks, and other disruptive events. For financial regulators like me, this presents a host of questions. Where should regulatory attention be focused? What should be done? By whom? And why?” Acc...
Weekly Report: Cryptocurrency market stabilises, most coins are posting gains
The cryptocurrency market is green with the majority of the coins recording positive figures in 24-hour and 7-day changes. Terra’s LUNA and meme coin Dogecoin are leading in 7-day gains while Cardano’s ADA tops 24 hr gains as of writing. Among other headlines outside the markets, a Swiss bank has laid more bullish predictions for the pioneer cryptocurrency. The IMF has expressed concerned that crypto’s movement in tandem with stocks could raise financial stability concerns. Here are more details on these and other exciting events. Bitcoin has matured, but its co-movement with stocks poses risks, says IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released new research on global financial stability. It was accompanied by a blog post in which the IMF cautioned that Bitcoin is incre...
Bitcoin dips below $42K as new forecast says breakout ‘most probable outcome’ for BTC price
Bitcoin (BTC) returned closer to $40,000 on Thursday as $44,000 resistance proved too much for bulls to overcome. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Buying another dip Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD shedding around 4% in 24 hours on Jan. 14. The pair had topped $44,450 on Bitstamp before the retracement kicked in, this seeing local lows of $41,780. While disappointing for those hoping that the worst of the pullback was over, analysts appeared unsurprised by the move, which they said could resolve via a fresh test of $40,000 support. Pretty much the path for #Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/VY0BkTXYOM — Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) January 14, 2022 Popular trader Pentoshi also appeared to get his wish—BTC “sweepingR...
Indian INX exchange reportedly plans to list Bitcoin futures ETF
Despite the ongoing uncertainty about cryptocurrency regulation in India, local financial firms are backing new ventures aiming to launch Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETF). Torus Kling Blockchain, a joint venture between Cosmea Financial Holding, a financial firm backed by former Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh, and Kling Trading India, is preparing to launch Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) futures ETFs in India, The Economic Times reported Thursday. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with India’s major stock exchange, the India International Exchange (INX), to launch crypto ETFs alongside investment products tracking major metaverse-related companies listed in the United States. According to the report, Torus Kling Blockchain is planning to set up the ETFs in the Gujarat ...
Crypto-focused software firm Lukka raises $110M, reaches $1.3B valuation
Cryptocurrency accounting and data company Lukka said it had raised $110 million in a new funding round led by hedge fund giant Marshall Wace. In a Friday announcement, Lukka said it had completed a $110 million Series E funding round led by Marshall Wace, with participation from Soros Fund Management — a fund created by billionaire investor George Soros, Liberty City Ventures, S&P Global, and accounting advisor CPA.com. Lukka said it planned to use the funds for “aggressive growth and global expansion strategy” with its current customer base dealing in derivatives, decentralized finance and other products related to the crypto space. Lukka CEO Robert Materazzi said the crypto ecosystem had entered a “new phase of maturity,” with the firm aiming to address challenges from innovati...
22-year-old Indonesian boy makes $1M by selling NFT selfies on OpenSea
An Indonesian college student has reportedly become a millionaire by selling nonfungible token (NFT) versions of his selfies on the OpenSea NFT marketplace. Sultan Gustaf Al Ghozali, a 22-year-old computer science student from Semarang, Indonesia, converted and sold nearly 1,000 selfie images as NFTs. According to Ghozali, he took photos of himself for five years — between the ages of 18 and 22 — as a way to look back on his graduation journey. Uploading my photo into nft lolhttps://t.co/E3Q4sBmN26#NFT #opensea pic.twitter.com/rD51rdcpzp — Ghozali_Ghozalu (@Ghozali_Ghozalu) January 10, 2022 Ghozali selfies were taken sitting or standing in front of his computer, which was later converted into NFTs and uploaded to OpenSea in December 2021. The artist set the price for each NFT selfie at $3 ...
NFT sales and blockchain games continue to grow despite the recent market slump: Report
January 2022 continues to be rough for crypto investors as current markets see turbulent fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. Some have attributed the slump to recent federal intentions to introduce new rate hikes, and the political turmoil in Kazakhstan, which significantly lowered the hash rate of Bitcoin. On Jan. 14, the price of Bitcoin dipped below $42,000 as traders continued to hold out hope for bullish signals. Nonfungible token (NFT) trading and blockchain games, on the other hand, seem to have resisted the dip. According to reports from DappRadar, NFT transactions continued to increase amid declining crypto prices. The report stated that “the number of UAW connected to Ethereum NFT DApps grew by 43% since Q3 2021.” Numbers fr...
2021: A year of mass adoption for cryptocurrencies in Brazil
Throughout 2021, the Brazilian cryptocurrency market managed to distance itself from the police pages and finally win acceptance with the general public, whether in the financial market or even in the greatest national passion: soccer. Last year, Bitcoin (BTC) acted as a strong alternative to the Brazilian real that ended 2021 by breaking negative records and reaching a devaluation of 6.5% by December, making it the 38th worst currency in the world. In a year of ups and downs for Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency hit a bottom of 167,000 real in January and soared along with global markets to 355,000 real in May. Faced with Bitcoin’s dip, the BRL/BTC pair was stuck below 200,000 reals until August, when it began to rise to a new historic high of 367,000 real on Nov. 8. Faced with the need...
