Crypto Currency

A total of $4 billion in value is now locked in the DeFi markets, according to DefiPulse.com. The Decentralized Finance, or DeFi, industry continues its massive growth trajectory as the total value locked in the DeFi markets hits $4B, according to data from major industry website DefiPulse.com . Total value locked in DeFi markets, August 1. Source: DefiPulse.com DeFi markets refer to the use of blockchain, digital assets, and smart contracts in financial services like credit and lending to provide financial services without a need for a centralized authority. The new threshold means that a total of over $4 billion is now locked across smart contracts, protocols, and decentralized applications, or DApps, built on Ethereum. As of press time, the largest DeFi provider, MakerDAO’s DAI stablecoin, is responsible for just over 30% of DeFi markets, with $1.23 billion locked. Top 10 DeFi markets, August 1. Source: DefiPulse.com As reported by Cointelegraph, Ethereum has rallied recen...

Chainlink and the Colorado State Lottery have partnered on a hackathon with the goal of creating new games to generate $1 billion in future revenues from its lottery. Chainlink (LINK) and the State of Colorado have partnered on a hackathon with the goal of creating a new lottery game. There are $17,500 in prizes available for three winners, plus an additional $8,500 in Web3 bonus prizes sponsored by Chainlink. $1 billion revenue goal for Colorado Lottery The Colorado Lottery has created a GameJam Hackathon that is open to participants from around the world. The state lottery hopes that the new innovative games will help it “reach its $1 billion revenue goal to fund outdoor recreation, land conservation and schools in Colorado, along with its commitment to responsible gaming.” Colorado governor Jared Polis, perhaps, enthused by similarly successful projects in the neighboring state of Wyoming, is committed to making his government a leader in the technology space. He stated: “L...

Blockchain can play a role in solving the profitability challenges of content generation industry giants like TikTok. Chinese content generation platform TikTok, a video-sharing app that has been called the fastest-growing social networking service in history, has been in the spotlight since early 2019 and now surpasses 800 million users. Despite the fact that the app’s data security breaches are raising controversy worldwide, more and more young people are using it as the go-to social media for the new generation, with a reported 69% of TikTok’s global audience being between the ages of 16 and 24. Despite its overwhelming success and rapidly growing user base, the truth behind the worldwide sensation is that “the new Instagram" is hardly profitable. One of the key reasons behind it is IT infrastructure costs — and blockchain might have the solution. Tackling profitability challenges Currently, the majority of content creation and short-video platforms like TikTok have a lo...

The price of Bitcoin spikes to $11,200 but three key factors suggest that a short-term pullback is likely as the BTC rally becomes overheated. The price of Bitcoin ( BTC ) has increased from $10,995 to over $10,200 in the past 12 hours. But while the momentum of BTC also pushed up the price of other top cryptocurrencies, including Ether ( ETH ), key metrics and technical patterns suggest the chances of a pullback are rising.  Cryptocurrency market snapshot July 31. Source: Coin360 Three factors that hint at a drop are the fear and greed index, a potential Wyckoff pattern and major resistance. The crypto market sentiment is at “greed,” data shows According to data from Alternative.me’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index, the market sentiment is at greed. The index has hit 75 points, and every time the index reached a clear peak, Bitcoin corrected. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index 1-year chart. Source: Alternative.me The last time the index reached a local top was in February ...

The total supply for DAI tripled since June as the community keeps raising the supply limits to bring the peg down to $1. The MakerDAO community approved and executed a vote on Thursday to almost double the total debt ceiling, which indicates how much Dai ( DAI ) can be minted by its users. An announcement by the Maker Foundation posted on July 29 details the specific proposal to raise the debt ceilings for Ether ( ETH ), USD Coin (USDC), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and others. The vote passed at 8 a.m. UTC on July 30 and was executed at 10 p.m. UTC on the same day. Specifically, the proposal raised the debt ceiling for ETH by 80 million to 340 million total, which follows two similar proposals that raised the ceiling from 160 million in early July. Ceilings for other coins were also raised, as two USDC vaults with different parameters were raised by 100 million to a 170 million total, the WBTC ceiling was doubled to 40 million, and Basic Attention Token ( BAT ) limits were raised b...

At the request of the People’s Bank of China, Beijing could soon probe its digital payments monopolies, sources claim. Days after the CEOs of the world’s top tech firms faced antitrust hearings in the United States Congress, sources are alleging that Beijing too could soon probe its own digital monopolies.  A Reuters report published on July 31 cites anonymous sources who claim the People’s Bank of China has formally recommended that the State Council’s antitrust committee launch a probe into the activities of digital payments titans Alipay and WeChat Pay. The central bank has allegedly argued that both have used their ascendant position to stifle any possible competition in the field of digital payments.  If approved, an antitrust probe could be imminent China’s mobile banking sector processed roughly 56.2 trillion yuan ($8 trillion) in transactions in the last three months of 2019, according to Analysys statistics cited by Reuters.  Analysys estimates that AliP...

Twitter has published an update on its investigation into the causes of the recent hack, during which 12 Bitcoin was conned out of the platform’s users. Twitter released an update on July 30 revealing how hackers gained access to its internal network and account management tools in the recent attack. It also gave details of additional measures taken to improve security since the hack, which netted 12 Bitcoin ( BTC ) through targeting the Twitter accounts of celebrities and crypto businesses. Phishing for complements The update confirmed that Twitter had been the victim of a social engineering attack, putting paid to rumors that the hack could have been an inside job . According to the report, the July 15 incident started with a spear-phishing attack, targeting a small number of employees by telephone to gain network access credentials: “Not all of the employees that were initially targeted had permissions to use account management tools, but the attackers used their credential...

There’s no doubt noncustodial technology is the future — it’s just a question of when it enters the mainstream. In an increasingly digital world, security is a high-stakes game. The identities of customers along with their privacy and financial information are all in the hands of centralized security systems. We are reliant on these systems, and even though security plays a critical role in our lives, we rarely stop to think about the consequences of these systems failing us. Yet those who trade financial assets like cryptocurrencies think about these consequences all the time. Why? The risk of violations of our financial sovereignty coupled with the potential of theft without an option to recover are two big reasons why crypto traders realize security is of paramount importance. Thus, the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries are always looking for better ways to secure assets. One way cryptocurrencies and exchanges can do this is by incorporating more noncustodial technology i...

As Ethereum turns five years old, Ether is up 50% over the past month with two main catalysts driving the uptrend, namely DeFi and ETH 2.0. The price of Ethereum’s Ether token has seen strong momentum in July. Since the start of the month, ETH has climbed by 50% from $225.5 to $340 on Coinbase. It coincides with a five-year anniversary for the dominant smart contracts blockchain protocol. There appear to be two key factors fueling the rally of ETH. First, the anticipation of the market towards ETH 2.0 has been continuously building. Second, the explosive growth of the decentralized finance ( DeFi ) market has upheld the momentum of Ethereum. ETH/USD surges from $225.5 to $340 from July 1 to July 31. Source: TradingView.com DeFi and its impact on the Ethereum blockchain In mid-June, DeFi platform Compound essentially kickstarted the phenomenon called “yield farming.” Ethereum users would flock to DeFi platforms providing the highest incentives, trying to obtain the highest yie...

Binance owned Trust Wallet has hit a five million user milestone, it is now delving into the DeFi sector. Crypto giant Binance acquired Trust Wallet two years ago today. In that short space of time, the service has managed to amount 5 million users, and it is now expanding into the burgeoning DeFi sector. In addition to the five million user milestone, Trust Wallet claims that 10% of this rapidly acquired user base is now accessing a wide range of DApps and DeFi platforms. It plans to aggressively expand into the sector as crypto investors seek liquidity farming earning opportunities. Delving into DeFi In a move to keep pace with the rapidly expanding DeFi ecosystem, Trust Wallet has integrated token swap platforms such as Kyber as well as its own decentralized exchange, BinanceDEX.  The Android version of the wallet has a built-in dapp browser which gives full access into the DeFi world and a number of popular protocols including Aave, which has recently revamped its tokenom...

The Bank of Japan insists it has no immediate plans to issue a digital yen, but research into the potential of CBDCs continues apace. The Bank of Japan has appointed its top economist to lead a team tasked with accelerating its research into central bank digital currencies (CBDC). According to a July 31 Reuters report , Kazushige Kamiyama’s appointment may mark a shift away from the bank’s previously cautious nature on digital currencies. Kamiyama had previously led the bank's efforts to use big data for conducting econometric analysis in real time. According to Reuters, this proved helpful when the Japanese economy was hit by the coronavirus epidemic earlier this year.  Stepping up the pace of research Despite maintaining its position that it has no immediate plans to issue a CBDC, this latest development does indicate how seriously the Japanese central bank is taking the current research.  As Cointelegraph reported, the BoJ only recently announced the new team , to ac...

Publicly-backed VC firms are stepping in where private investors retreat, according to a new report on Central and Eastern European tech investments. A Slovak blockchain startup serves as the chief example of pandemic venture capital developments in central and eastern Europe (CEE), in a new report from Reuters on July 31. In the former Eastern bloc — where venture funding hit close to $1.6 billion in 2019 —  uncertainty during the COVID-19 crisis has hit the start-up sector hard, particularly when it comes to early-stage deals. Alftins, a Slovak startup that is developing an online platform to trade digital assets, has recently secured funding from publicly-funded venture firm Crowdberry. The latter had earlier missed out on a version of the deal in fall of last year, but was reportedly able to secure better terms this time round.  Alftins founder Richard Fetyko told Reuters that securing funding from Crowdberry was “the path of least resistance” at a time when publicly...

Australian experts suggest blockchain is an integral part to protecting Australia’s business and government from cyber attacks. A cyber security and blockchain forum with leading Australian experts and government officials has identified blockchain technology as a direct response to an increase in cyber attacks targeting the integrity of systems through manipulating data. Recently appointed Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas held a panel discussion on July 30 regarding blockchain’s use-case in cyber security with experts from various fields being part of the 300+ attendees.  The panel consisted of National Blockchain Lead Chloe White from the Department of Industry and Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg, CEO of cyber security firm CyberCX John Paitaridis, and founder and CTO of blockchain database firm ProvenDB Guy Harrison. The experts, with decades of experience in the cyber security sector, defined the emerging technology as a critical component in protecting Australia from fu...

Messari estimates that 20% of Ethereum-based DEX volume is driven by DeFi aggregators. Crypto market data firm Messari estimates that 20% of all decentralized exchange (DEX) volume on Ethereum is routed via DEX aggregators. In a newsletter, Messari writes that “the 21st century is dominated by aggregators,” adding, “Amazon aggregates consumers and merchants. Uber aggregates riders and drivers. Netflix aggregates viewers and content. The list goes on.” With “the first attempts at aggregation in DeFi” beginning to take shape, Messari states that many of the sector’s aggregators “are seeing early product-market-fit” and will be able to capture significant value as the DeFi ecosystem grows. DeFi aggregators emerge as gatekeepers Messari describes decentralized finance aggregators as funneling user demand into various DeFi protocols. With the returns available to liquidity providers constantly varying across a myriad of assets and platforms, DeFi aggregators assist investors in findi...

A crypto consortium including Bittrex Global, Ledger, CertiK, and Uphold, has launched a gold token backed by the world’s largest refiner of newly minted gold. The Universal Protocol Alliance — a consortium of crypto firms comprising Bittrex Global, Ledger, CertiK, and Uphold —  has launched a token backed by the Western Australian government-owned Perth Mint. The tokens, dubbed ‘Universal Gold’ or UPXAU, can be purchased on Uphold and spent using the firm’s debit card. Investors can purchase UPXAU from $1 with no investment limits. Unlike mainstream gold products which often have 0.4% monthly custody fees, the token is free to hold. In a July 30 announcement, JP Thieriot, Uphold’s chief executive, said the token had “three killer features”: “Spendability, zero holding costs, and government guarantee.” Perth Mint backs ‘Universal Gold’ Speaking to Cointelegraph, Thieriot stated that “the Universal Gold project has been in the making for quite some time,” noting that one of...

MyEtherWallet’s founder believes ETH 2.0’s beacon chain will launch this year but says the ‘full reality’ is still some way off. Kosala Hemachandra, the founder of MyEtherWallet (MEW), has told Cointelegraph the fully-fledged version of ETH 2.0 is still years away. The first phase of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade was originally set for Jan 2020 but then postponed to coincide with this week’s fifth anniversary.  It’s since been delayed again with a launch now expected sometime between November and early 2021. While Hemachandra believes Phase 0 will launch sometime this year, he points out the full version of ETH 2.0 will not be up and running before 2022: "I think the full reality of ETH 2.0 is at least a couple of years away.” Beacon chain is only Phase 0 ETH 2.0, also called Serenity, consists of three phases — Phase 0: beacon chain, Phase 1: shard chains, and Phase 2: shard chain execution. Hemachandra noted: “These days everyone refers to the beacon chain (the first step ...

Lawyers for Brad Garlinghouse haven’t argued the Ripple CEO’s statements in extolling XRP were true, simply that they can’t be proven false. The federal case against Ripple Labs has taken an unexpected turn, as the legal team representing the firm and CEO Brad Garlinghouse have argued any statements they made overstating the utility of the XRP token can’t be proven false. According to court filings obtained by Law360, lawyers for Ripple and Garlinghouse have argued plaintiff and XRP investor Bradley Sostack is unable to prove that Ripple misled investors with bullish claims about XRP and sold the token as an unregistered security. The legal team referred to Sostack’s statements as "unsupported leaps of logic."  "In short, plaintiff fails to offer the factual allegations needed to show that Ripple's and Mr. Garlinghouse's statements were false when made," the filing said. ‘No utility at all’ Lawyers for Sostack used the argument that "XRP has no ...

Despite early hype, real estate tokenization has failed to garner significant momentum, leading some to question its future viability. As the initial coin offering ( ICO ) boom subsided and the 2018 crypto bear trend began to set in, many analysts predicted that security tokens may drive the next market cycle — with the vast capital locked in the real estate sector being eyed hungrily for tokenization. However, with the Bitcoin halving, Ethereum 2.0, and the emergence of DeFi capturing the imagination of crypto markets recently, real estate tokenization is no longer the flavor of the month, and some are questioning its viability. Real estate tokenization in 2017/2018 In an article in The Investor, director of global research at real estate service company JLL, Matthew McAuley, stated : “It’s been very slow going with blockchain in real estate, despite it being touted as a game-changer for a number of years now.” The first property sale settled using cryptocurrency happened in ...

Thirty new whales are gobbling up XRP in a sign some big investors are rethinking the cryptocurrency. The number of accounts holding more than one million XRP has increased by 3.7% with 30 new whales appearing over the last two weeks, according to Santiment’s holder distribution chart.  These investors now hold between $240,000 and $2.4 million in XRP each, which has contributed to upwards pressure on price. After a fairly uninspiring few months, XRP has seen a price rise of over 30% from $0.19 to $0.25 in a fortnight. At least 30 big investors with deep pockets believe the price rise is set to continue. XRP Holder Distribution vs. Price. Source: Santiment Why Ripple? There’s no obvious reason behind the recent increase in whales except for speculation. The token has reclaimed the number three spot from Tether but the company is also currently in court facing a class action from investors. Ripple was recently recognised in a bill proposal from the Bureau of Consumer Financi...

The Federal Reserve’s money printer has cranked up to ridiculous levels — but will it really lead to inflation? In a letter to investors released on July 29, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead noted that the United States has printed a shocking amount of money to combat the pandemic-induced financial crisis. “The United States printed more money in June than in the first two centuries after its founding,” Morehead wrote. “Last month the U.S. budget deficit — $864 billion — was larger than the total debt incurred from 1776 through the end of 1979.” Morehead made it clear that Pantera Capital sees Bitcoin as the solution for the current crisis. He also contrasted the effects of money printing in recent months, to how the equivalent amount of currency had performed across centuries: “With that first trillion [USD printed] we defeated British imperialists, bought Alaska and the Louisiana Purchase, defeated fascism, ended the Great Depression, built the Interstate Highway System, and w...

Longfin, a blockchain-related firm that conducted a $27 million IPO in 2017, has been ordered to repay $223 million to investors. A Manhattan federal judge has ruled that Longfin — a now defunct firm whose shares surged 1000% in 2017 after it bought an undervalued crypto company  —  must repay $223 million plus interest to investors over alleged securities fraud. In a July 29 order, Judge Denise Cote determined the nine-figure sum is collectively owed by Longfin, its chief executive Venkata Meenaalli, CTO Vivek Ratakonda, and the director of two related companies, Suresh Tammineedi. The ruling granted a default judgment that had been requested by lead plaintiff Mohammad Malik in January. Malik’s argument emphasized a request from Longfin’s counsel to withdraw from the case in December 2018 noting that it was no longer “in the interest of the creditors of Longfin Corp” to continue fighting the case. Judge Cote’s order stated that Malik “offered sufficient evidentiary supp...