Crypto news
Western Union may be planning to expand its digital offerings far beyond remittances
Western Union may be preparing to offer crypto-related services, judging from trademark applications filed by the company last week. This is the latest of several attempts the company has made to enter the cryptoverse. So far, it has had limited success. Western Union filed for three trademarks on Oct. 18. According to trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis, activities covered by the applications include managing wallets; exchanging digital assets and commodities derivatives; issuing tokens of value and brokerage and insurance services. Western Union is a major provider of cross-border remittance services, and it showed its interest and uncertainty in cryptocurrency early. It partnered with Ripple to settle payments of remittances in 2015, but that partnership remained in the test phase three y...
MakerDAO community votes to approve custody of $1.6B USDC with Coinbase
Institutional prime broker platform for crypto assets Coinbase Prime announced on Oct 24th that it had entered into a partnership with MakerDAO — the largest single holder of USDC — to become a custodian of $1.6 billion worth of the stablecoin. The MakerDAO community voted to approve this custodianship which will allow its community to earn a 1.5% reward on its USDC while holding funds with a leading institutional custodian. The program described the following yield schedule for the USDC onboarded by @MakerDAO: • 1% APY on the first 100 million USDC. • 0.1% more APY on each 100 million USDC thereafter. • Rewards are not to exceed 1.5% APY. 3/ — Maker (@MakerDAO) October 24, 2022 According to Coinbase Prime, this move will not only accrue tangible benefits to the MakerDAO community but also...
SeaCoast Will Host $COAST Token Sale on October 25th
Madrid, Spain, 25th October, 2022, Chainwire SeaCoast, the maritime startup using web3 technology to pioneer new ways of exploring the world’s waterways, has announced its public token sale. The event will commence on October 25, giving members of the public their first opportunity to purchase $COAST tokens. The $COAST token will sit at the heart of the nautical ecosystem SeaCoast is developing, centered around curated data of waterways and inlets. This will enable explorers to access rich and up-to-date information that enhances their interactions with local touchpoints. SeaCoast has developed a trio of applications to support this goal in the form of ShoreView, PortView, and PaperBoat. Together, the apps unlock new ways of interacting with coastal resources while rewarding human curators...
Primex Finance deploys its Beta on zkSync testnet to enable margin trading on DEXs
Kyiv, Ukraine, 25th October, 2022, Chainwire Pioneer cross-chain prime brokerage protocol Primex Finance announces the deployment of its recently-launched Beta version on the zkSync 2.0 testnet. Taking place at the end of October 2022, the integration will enable the project to offer users better transaction speed for margin trading on DEXs. At the same time, traders will be able to take advantage of lower gas fees and a high level of security on Primex Beta. As a promising solution to enhance Ethereum’s scalability, zkSync’s Layer 2 (L2) protocol leverages zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup technology to achieve low-cost and fast transactions. Simultaneously, it inherits the first layer’s (L1) level of security with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility. Cited as the potential long-term wi...
Ecosystem is bullish on the metaverse, no matter what the numbers imply
An initial interpretation of DappRadar numbers on Oct. 11 reported extremely low engagement numbers for Decentraland, one of Web3’s most-hyped metaverses. The numbers shocked the community, as the platform has a current market evaluation of $1.2 billion. Shortly after the initial report broke, both DappRadar and Decentraland verified that the published number of less than 40 unique active wallets (UAW) was not an accurate representation of activity on the network. According to DappRadar’s tracker at the time of writing, UAW is just over 600. A DappRadar report following the incident revealed that blockchain games and metaverse projects raised a cumulative $1.3 billion in the third fiscal quarter. However, if user engagement is low, what keeps investors coming back for more of the meta...
Gold vs BTC correlation signals Bitcoin becoming safe haven: BofA
Despite the ongoing cryptocurrency bear market, investors have been increasingly looking at Bitcoin (BTC) as a safe haven, a new study suggests. The rise in the correlation between Bitcoin and gold (XAU) is one of the major indicators demonstrating investors’ confidence in BTC amid the ongoing economic downturn, according to digital strategists at the Bank of America. Bitcoin’s correlation with gold — which is commonly viewed as an inflation hedge — has been on the rise this year, hitting its highest yearly levels in early October. The growing correlation trend started on Sept. 5 after remaining close to zero from June 2021 and turning negative in March 2022, BofA strategists Alkesh Shah and Andrew Moss said in the report. “Bitcoin is a fixed-supply asset that may eventually become an infl...
British MP Lisa Cameron on Bitcoin and UK becoming international crypto hub
The United Kingdom could be warming to Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto. Taking a timeout from Scotland’s first major Bitcoin conference, Cointelegraph spoke to Lisa Cameron, a Member of Parliament who is spending more and more time working with digital assets. Cameron told Cointelegraph: “I have spoken to companies who are involved in CBDCs and stablecoins. We’ve looked at crypto tokens, and Bitcoin is obviously part of the sector.” As the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (areas of Scotland), Cameron works in Westminster–a metonym for the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She rubs shoulders with the new crypto-curious Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. Cameron is also the chairperson of The Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary ...
WhatsApp down again? Google Trends spike after the outage
Some two billion WhatsApp users were left without service on Oct. 25 as the biggest messaging application worldwide went offline. Meta, the owner of Facebook and WhatsApp, is yet to clarify what led to the outage. Users took to social media platforms like Twitter to share hilarious memes about the outage, with many flocking to alternative social media platforms to find out if they were alone in their lack of service. A similar situation took place in October 2021, with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp going down for more than 24 hours due to a “server configuration change.” WhatsApp is down. #Bitcoin never goes down. — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) October 25, 2022 This time around, the outage was fairly short-lived, with WhatsApp restoring messaging services within a few hours of th...
SEMPSA JP, LBMA Good Delivery Refinery Launches Tokenized Gold and Silver on the Blockchain in Partnership with Aurus
Madrid, Spain, 25th October, 2022, Chainwire SEMPSA JP, the leading Spanish Good Delivery precious metals refinery, has partnered with Aurus to offer digital tokens backed by gold and silver to its network of bullion dealers. Five precious metals dealers working with SEMPSA JP are selling tGOLD and tSILVER tokens to the broader retail market via their e-commerce stores. The refinery has tokenized an initial allotment of 3 kgs. of gold and 25 kgs. of silver bullions using the Aurus blockchain protocol. Aurus is a decentralized global software platform that facilitates the tokenization of precious metals on the blockchain. tGOLD and tSILVER tokens are each backed by one gram of 99.99% gold and 99.9% silver, respectively. Free of recurring storage fees, Aurus tokens offer investors a convenie...
Ethereum’s Merge won’t stop its price from sinking
Ethereum’s long-awaited Merge took place in September, shifting it from a legacy proof-of-work (POW) model to the sustainable proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Many observers expected Ether’s (ETH) price to respond positively as its daily emissions declined 90% with the halt of mining operations. However, the expected price surge never occurred. In fact, Ether has been down by over 7% since the upgrade. So why didn’t the Merge drive up the coin’s price? Post-merge ETH monetary policy Ethereum’s monetary policy was simply to reduce the token’s supply to 1,600 ETH per day. The PoW model, an equivalent of 13,000 ETH were emitted daily as mining rewards. However, this has been wholly eliminated post-Merge, as mining operations are no longer valid on the PoS model. Therefore, only...
New Apple rules double down on 30% NFT ‘tax’ and geo-limits exchanges
Technology heavyweight Apple has clarified its App Store rules around nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency exchanges marking the first time its codified specific rules for NFTs. The new rules confirm how NFT purchases will be taxed and what they can and can’t be used for, while also clarifying rules around when a crypto exchange app can be listed. The Oct. 24 update to its App Store guidelines saw language added that allows fo in-app purchases of NFTs, but bars any NFTs acquired elsewhere to be used for anything other than viewing. It also allows applications to use in-app purchases to “sell and sell services” related to NFTs such as “minting, listing, and transferring.” However, the tech company is seemingly double-downing on its NFT “Apple tax” — which lumps in-...
Zuckerberg’s $100B metaverse gamble is ‘super-sized and terrifying,’ shareholder says
A shareholder’s open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has labeled the tech giant’s investment into the Metaverse as “super-sized and terrifying.” The shareholder has urged the company to scale down its investment in the Metaverse and its related technology arm amid a significant fall in its stock price over the last 18 months. The open letter was published on Oct. 24 and was directed at Zuckerberg and the board of directors. It was authored by Brad Gerstner, CEO and founder of technology investment firm Altimeter Capital, which owns roughly a 0.11% share in Meta, according to Hedge Follow. Gerstner said that Meta’s foray into the Metaverse, while important, should not command as much investment from the company as it currently does. He said the company has announced inve...
