Crypto news
Ethereum white paper predicted DeFi but missed NFTs: Vitalik Buterin
Rounding up the last decade, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revisited his predictions made over the years, showcasing a knack for being right about abstract ideas than on-production software development issues. Buterin started the Twitter thread by addressing his article dated Jul. 23, 2013 in which he highlighted Bitcoin’s (BTC) key benefits — internationality and censorship resistance. Buterin foresaw Bitcoin’s potential in protecting the citizens’ buying power in countries such as Iran, Argentina, China and Africa. However, Buterin also noticed a rise in stablecoin adoption as he saw Argentinian businesses operating in Tether (USDT). He backed up his decade-old ideas around the negative impacts of Bitcoin regulation. My views today: sure, Bitcoin’s decentralizatio...
Going meta: Paris Hilton, Times Square and ETFs
Following the announcement that Facebook’s parent company would be rebranding in a shift towards the Metaverse, many projects have started similar initiatives entering the virtual space, from buying property to testing the limits of what this universe has to offer. Virtual ball drop on NYE The Ethereum-based virtual reality world Decentraland announced on Wednesday that a New Year’s Eve celebration would be taking place in the Metaverse. Grayscale owner Digital Currency Group has partnered with real estate firm Jamestown to create a virtual One Times Square — the iconic New York City location where a giant ball descends on a flagpole, stopping at midnight to mark the start of the new year. The virtual event starting at 11:00 pm EST will feature a live feed of the real Times Square as...
Bitcoin starts 2022 at $47.2K as fresh research pins performance on China trader exodus
Bitcoin (BTC) bears lost out at the last minute as 2021 came to an end — and consensus is building around China again being the reason for weakness. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView China “last hammer” could now provide optimism on BTC Hours before the yearly close, BTC/USD dived $2,000 to lows of $45,630 on Bitstamp before a modest recovery drew a line under 2021 at $47,200, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows. While something of an anticlimax and far below many popular projections, the lack of parabolic upside for Bitcoin has recently seen explanations shift to exchanges. Chinese users, following years of the government tightening the screws around crypto trading, had until Dec. 31 to leave the major Chinese exchanges, whi...
VCs don’t understand that Cardano has a community: Charles Hoskinson
In a recent YouTube video, Charles Hoskinson highlighted the rapid growth of the Cardano (ADA) ecosystem while clarifying the concerns raised by other members of the crypto community over the past year. “We live in a world where arbitrary groups of people get to be fact-checkers and decide what’s legitimate,” said Hoskinson while speaking about the government’s perception of cryptocurrencies. He pointed out that a vast majority of financial crimes are done with the U.S. dollar or other fiat currencies. According to Hoskinson, the growth of the crypto ecosystem this year might be slower than 2022: “It’s hard to argue with the $2.5 trillion industry and imagine where that’s going to go. I think we’re just going to digest as an industry the consequences for better or w...
Touchdown! Goal! Knockout! Crypto and sports collide in 2021
Cryptocurrencies and sport have continued to collide in 2021 with synergies between the two proving to be fruitful on a number of fronts. The relationship between the sports world and the various applications of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has slowly been expanding over the past few years. Humble beginnings of simple sponsorships building early brand awareness for exchanges and payment platforms have snowballed into worldwide recognition and collaboration between the sectors, with 2021 seeing a variety of different use cases come to the fore. From the basketball courts of the NBA to the soccer fields of Europe, crypto continues to build exposure to new users and markets. In this New Years Special, Cointelegraph highlights the ever-growing relationship between crypto and spor...
How the Democratic Party didn’t stop worrying and fearing crypto in 2021
As 2022 is kicking off, America nears the first anniversary of Joe Biden’s presidency. Following the tenure’s ambitious start, the last few months witnessed some serious tumult around the overall health of the United States economy, the administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the tense debate around Biden’s opus magnum — the $1.7 trillion Build Back Better infrastructure legislation plan. But even as the Democrats’ ability to maintain undivided power after the 2022 midterm elections can raise doubts, the party’s prevailing view of crypto has become more consolidated than ever. The incumbent president’s party will be setting the tone of the regulatory discussion for at least three more years, so a thorough look at the fundamental premises and potential directions of its emer...
DAOs are the foundation of Web3, the creator economy and the future of work
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) started out as a simple concept envisioned as organizations, created by an idea and fueled by developers, that automate business functions and processes by leveraging smart contracts and all the fundamental tenets of blockchain. The core idea was to flatten the complex business process that various organizations are mired in and facilitate movement of assets to a very future-oriented digital interaction that needed no intermediaries — promising faster, cheaper and more transparent transaction processing. By replacing many intermediaries, the DAOs themselves acted as digital intermediaries that provide transparency and scale, giving them the stature of an organization without the traditional organizational constructs of entities, groups, m...
What’s ahead for crypto and blockchain in 2022? Experts answer, Part 1
Sandra is CEO of the Global Blockchain Business Council, an industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem. “In 2022, it will be ‘corporate career risk’ to not have a baseline understanding of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. From bankers to corporate executives to politicians, it is imperative that they get on board and seriously consider the implications of blockchain. Further, 2022 winners will ‘expect the unexpected,’ and adapt to investing, servicing clients and participating in new trends. In 2021, few expected NFTs to become the killer app, driving mainstream interest and adoption. Web3, the Metaverse and DAOs will enter mainstream curiosity in 2022. The boring infrastructure stuff is critical. ...
The year for Bitcoin — A 2021 roundup of the flagship crypto
While 2021 did provide some sort of respite for investors operating across the global crypto landscape, it was still largely been driven by fears that first reared their ugly heads back in 2020. From rising inflation rates to another wave of coronavirus-related outbreaks, the ground beneath everyone’s feet continued to move even without them knowing. For example, while everyone assumed that Bitcoin (BTC) would hit a price target of $100,000 quite easily — including many traditional financial institutions — by the turn of the new year, the flagship crypto continued to showcase a high degree of volatility despite having touched an all-time high of $69,000 earlier in November, and essentially just moved in a broad sideways channel for the past ten months. That said, there have been a lo...
Indian taxman recovers $6.62M from WazirX for evading tax on commission
Indian crypto exchange WazirX has reportedly paid over $6.6 million (49.2 crore rupees) following non-payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on trade commissions. The total recovery includes the pending tax of $5.43 million (40.5 crore rupees), the interest and a penalty for non-payment. Government officials from the Central GST and Central Excise committee (CGST Mumbai Zone) recovered the funds from the crypto exchange after detecting a GST evasion of $5.43 million on the commissions. A typical GST fraud involves creating fake invoices without actually moving the goods between the seller and the buyer. Officers of CGST Mumbai East comm’te have detected GST Evasion of Rs 40.5 Cr. on commission of Wazir X Crypto Currency & recovered Rs 49.2 Cr. in cash as GST, interest & Pena...
NFTs to help brewers and farmers preserve UNESCO Belgian beer heritage
Brewers and farmers from Belgian Barrels Alliance (BBA) have partnered with Zeromint to offer nonfungible tokens (NFTs) aimed at preserving the UNESCO recognized Belgian beer culture and heritage. As a part of the partnership, Zeromint will mint and offer exclusive NFTs on the GoChain blockchain, which will be made available for international beer fans via BBA. Starting today, the organization will run several BBA NFT collection projects around sustainability and the preservation of Belgian beer heritage for the next 14 days. According to the official statement, the first Belgian Barrels NFT auction will be used to recruit 11 participants for acting in a BBA-produced movie titled Belgian Barrels: “The aim of the movie project is to further eternalize the Belgian Beer history through ...
Bitcoin’s $6.1 billion options expiry was not enough to break the bearish sentiment
Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has been ranging between $46,000 and $52,000 for 26 days. Despite the large nominal $6.1 billion year-end options expiry, the bullish and bearish instruments were evenly balanced between $44,000 and $49,000. Therefore, it was no surprise that the $47,175 price at 8:00 am UTC on Dec. 31 brought little change to the price structure. Even the 3% rally to $48,500 following the event failed to sustain itself, signaling that bears are unwilling to cede their upper hand. Bitcoin/USD price on Coinbase. Source: TradingView Bulls might have interpreted the 9,925 BTC leaving Coinbase in 24 hours as a positive trigger, considering fewer coins are available on exchanges for newcomers. Besides, the first week of the year has been positive for the past four years, averaging 18...
