cryptocurrencies
Vermont’s financial regulator alleges Celsius and its CEO made ‘false and misleading claims’
The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, or DFR, alleged crypto lending platform Celsius Network and CEO Alex Mashinsky misled state regulators about the firm’s financial health and its compliance with securities laws. In a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, Vermont’s financial regulator said Celsius and Mashinsky “made false and misleading claims to investors” which allegedly downplayed concerns about volatility in the crypto market, encouraging retail investors to leave their funds on the platform or make new investments. According to the state regulator, Celsius and its CEO “lacked sufficient assets to repay its obligations” despite claiming the firm had enough funds in its reserves to mitigate the risk of insolvency. The DFR c...
Number of unique BAYC buyers plunged in August to second-lowest on record
According to data from cryptoslam.io, the number of unique buyers for the nonfungible tokens (NFT) collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has fallen to 263 for the month of August, with 438 total transactions. These metrics were the second-lowest on record since the collection’s launch in April 2021. Since crypto winter began earlier this year, the average transaction value of BAYC NFTs has fallen to $106,456, compared to a peak price of $312,101 per ape collectible in April 2022. In May 2021, the collection saw the peak number of buyers and transactions, at 3,550 and 9,255, respectively. An estimated $55 million worth of BAYC and CryptoPunks NFTs are at risk of liquidation due to users pledging them as collateral to take out loans denominated in Ethereum — the price of which h...
PraSaga awarded U.S. patent for placing computer operating system onto the blockchain
According to a new United States Patent and Trademark Office publication on Tuesday, Swiss-based blockchain startup PraSaga has been awarded a patent placing its operating system, dubbed “SagaOS,” on the blockchain. Titled “Systemic Extensible Blockchain Object Model Comprising A First-class Object Model And A Distributed Ledger Technology,” the methods described in U.S. patent no. 11436039B2 relate to processing multiple message passing transactions via blockchain. At present, smart contracts only allow for processing just one transaction or action at any given time. However, PraSaga claims that its proprietary methods, as described in the patent, can allow for the execution of multiple actions simultaneously and in greater numbers. The SagaOS team said they ...
New finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng leaves crypto policy in the UK unclear
Recently elected Conservative Party Leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Liz Truss has appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as the country’s newest chancellor of the exchequer, or chief financial minister. In a Tuesday announcement, Truss’ office named Kwarteng as the next U.K. finance minister, replacing Nadhim Zahawi, who served as chancellor of the exchequer for three months following Rishi Sunak’s resignation in July. Kwarteng was most recently the U.K. government’s secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy in addition to being a Member of Parliament since 2010. The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP @KwasiKwarteng has been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer @HMTreasury.#Reshuffle pic.twitter.com/6YQy0YuQPs — UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) September 6, 2022 Queen El...
Trademark applications for crypto, NFTs and Metaverse surge in 2022: Report
The number of U.S. trademarks filed related to cryptocurrencies, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), Web3 and the Metaverse since January have reportedly passed those filed in 2021. According to data compiled by intellectual property lawyer Mike Kondoudis on Tuesday, individuals and businesses filed more than 3,600 trademark applications for cryptocurrencies and crypto-related services with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as of Aug. 31, compared to 3,516 in all of 2021. In addition, Kondoudis reported that the number of NFT applications had surged even higher — more than 5,800 in 2022 compared to 2,087 in 2021 — while the number of trademark filings related to the Metaverse or Web3 had more than doubled: 1,866 in 2021 and 4,150 as of August 2022. So far in 2022 over 5800 trademark app...
Circle co-founder says converged dollar books on Binance would be good for USDC
According to a new Twitter post, Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin issuer Circle, said that the recent decision by Binance to merge stablecoin dollar books is “a good thing” for USDC. “This move would lead to a gradual net share shift from USDT to BUSD and USDC,” said Allaire. The day before, Binance announced it would cease trading support for USDC and auto-convert deposits after Sept. 29 to a consolidated Binance USD balance comprising other stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar. Users will be able to withdraw individual constituents from the consolidated balance at par value. Some users pointed out that it’s now possible to deposit and withdraw USDC seamlessly in Binance. Before the change, it was required to first conve...
Hive Blockchain explores new mineable coins ahead of Ethereum merge
Cryptocurrency miner Hive Blockchain has been working to replace the mining of Ether (ETH) with other coins in the event of Ethereum’s upcoming transition to proof-of-stake, or PoS. The Canadian crypto mining firm has been analyzing options for mining with its GPU stash ahead of the Ethereum Merge, Hive said in its latest production update on Tuesday. According to the update, Hive started implementing beta-testing of various GPU-mineable coins this week as the Ethereum Merge PoS is expected to occur in mid-September. Hive’s technical division is specifically implementing a strategy to optimize its Ethereum mining capacity, which amounts to 6.5 terahashes per second. “The company acknowledges the potential Ethereum Merge to Proof of Stake,” Hive said in the update. It noted that it sees a c...
Crypto investment product firm 21.co raises $25M to reach $2B valuation
21.co, the new parent firm of exchange-traded products (ETP) provider 21Shares, has become “Switzerland’s largest crypto unicorn,“ the firm announced on Tuesday. It raised $25 million in a funding round led by London-based hedge fund Marshall Wace. The new funding brings the firm’s valuation to $2 billion. 21.co is designed to unite 21Shares with third-party token provider Amun and other upcoming crypto projects aiming to build bridges into the crypto world, 21.co founder Hany Rashwan told Cointelegraph. All crypto ETP products launched by 21Shares will maintain the same nomenclature, Rashwan said. He also said that the new name won’t change much about the way 21Shares does business. According to Rashwan, the newly raised funds will help 21.co to continue expanding its business...
Binance to temporarily suspend ETH and WETH deposits and withdrawals ahead of the Merge
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Monday that it plans to halt all deposits and withdrawals of Ethereum (ETH) and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) on selected networks, starting September 6th at 2 am (UTC) in anticipation of Ethereum’s Merge event. #Binance will suspend deposits and withdrawals for Ether $ETH and Wrapped Ether $WETH on the following networks starting from September 6, 2022 at 02:00am UTC. ETH (Arbitrum) ETH (OP) WETH (RON) — Binance (@binance) September 5, 2022 In the announcement, the company shared a list of tokens and networks that will be impacted during the Merge — Namely ETH (Arbitrum), ETH (OP) and WETH (RON). The company stated that deposits of Ethereum (ETH) and Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) made on these networks during the suspension will not ...
US congressman and crypto skeptic explains why a crypto ban won’t work
In a recent interview, United States congressman and a known crypto skeptic Brad Sherman claimed that banning cryptocurrencies is not an option at this point. In a statement to LA Times, the Northridge-area Democrat said that the crypto industry has become quite powerful over the years. He added that the high capital donations to the politicians and strong crypto lobbying make it impossible for them to impose a blanket ban. He explained: “We didn’t ban it at the beginning because we didn’t realize it was important, and we didn’t ban it now because there’s too much money and power behind it.” The democratic representative is a well-known skeptic who has been demanding a crypto ban since 2019. Nearly three years later, Sherman has changed his tune about a ban and now advocates for regul...
Bank of Russia agrees to legalize crypto for cross-border payments: Report
The Bank of Russia, the country’s central bank, has reportedly admitted that cross-border payments in crypto are inevitable in the current geopolitical conditions. The Russian central bank has been rethinking the approach to regulating crypto and agreed with the finance ministry to legalize crypto for cross-border payments, the local news agency TASS reported on Monday. Deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev reportedly said that the Bank of Russia and the finance ministry expect to legitimize cross-border payments in crypto soon. Moiseev outlined the importance of enabling local crypto services in Russia, noting that many Russians rely on foreign platforms to open a crypto wallet. “It is necessary to do this in Russia, involving entities supervised by the central bank, which are obliged to...
Ripples of Bitcoin adoption at Biarritz’s Surfin Bitcoin Conference in France
A sublime sunset enveloped Biarritz Casino on Aug. 27, bringing France’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) conference to a close. Located in southwest France and organized by French Bitcoin exchange Stackin Sat, Surfin Bitcoin assembled a host of Bitcoin OG’s, newbies and no coiners, those yet to buy or earn crypto, in a setting that would rival any Hollywood film set. Bitcoiners networked in the hope of learning more about the Lightning Network, landing jobs at one of the many French Bitcoin companies present — from Galoy Money to Découvre Bitcoin — or simply rubbing shoulders with fellow Bitcoin believers. In a touch of bear market irony, as the Bitcoin chips are currently way down, the event venue took place at the illustrious Biarritz Casino. From Bitcoin core maintainers to European royalty...
