Crypto Currency

The Weeknd to drop NFTs on the weekend, a tennis player sold space on her arm as an NFT, Takashi Murakami has released 108 NFT flowers. Musician Adel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, is set to release his first NFT via Nifty Gateway on Saturday. He follows in the footsteps of other musicians such as Kings of Leon , Grimes, Rico Nasty, and Ja Rule who recognize the ability of NFTs to put the power (and the dollars) back in the hands of artists. Excited to announce that my first NFT drop is taking place on Saturday at 2:00 pm EST on @niftygateway . The collection will feature new music and limited edition art. I developed the artwork with Strange Loop Studios pic.twitter.com/627BO4JekK — The Weeknd (@theweeknd) March 31, 2021 The drop will consist of a one-of-a-kind token featuring the audio track to a song which will not be made available on any other platforms, and two limited edition artworks developed in collaboration with Strange Loop Studios. The tokenized song will be a...

The Prime Minister of South Korea has announced a blockchain-based vaccine certificate will launch later this month, but the concept has proven controversial across the world. South Korea will introduce blockchain-powered vaccine passports via a smartphone app later this month, the country's prime minister said Thursday. South Korea is joining a number of other nations in introducing vaccine certificates that enable cross-border travel while mitigating the risk of infections. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun suggested there could be substantial benefits for citizens at home too: “The introduction of a vaccine passport or ‘Green Pass’ will only allow those who have been vaccinated to experience the recovery to their daily lives,” he said during a daily inter-agency pandemic response meeting. The government developed the app using blockchain technology as a way to provide security against the possibility of identity theft. "[Systems] in other countries also do not store per...

R/Dogecoin was the third-most active crypto group on Reddit behind r/CryptoCurrency and r/Bitcoin this week. Despite Dogecoin under-performing this past week when compared to other leading crypto assets, DOGE’s community has been among the most active on Reddit. According to data compiled by Skew and tweeted by Messari researcher Mira Christanto, r/dogecoin has been the third-most active crypto group on Reddit this week, with 33,822 new comments posted in seven days. Friendly reminder for Redditers: r/Bitcoin is $BTC while r/btc is $BCH pic.twitter.com/skFwhFM2y0 — Mira Christanto (@asiahodl) March 31, 2021 Dogecoin is the second-most active group coalescing around a single crypto asset, ranking behind r/Bitcoin’s 48,757 comments last week. Unsurprisingly, the wide-ranging r/CryptoCurrency attracted the most engagement of any crypto group on Reddit, with nearly 219,000 comments posted this past week. After DOGE, Cardano was the next-most active with 15,735 comments, followe...

The A’s become the first team in Major League Baseball to sell tickets for cryptocurrency. Major League Baseball team Oakland Athletics has sold their first crypto-purchased season ticket less than three weeks after first offering them. The Oakland A’s, as they’re colloquially called, introduced an offer on March 15 enabling fans to purchase suite tickets with Bitcoin. On Wednesday, March 31, the San Francisco East Bay ballclub announced that the buyer was New York-based publicly traded crypto asset platform Voyager Digital Ltd. The fintech firm purchased a six-person suite for all of the team’s 2021 home games for the price of one Bitcoin, or approximately $58,500 on the day. It’s happening: #Bitcoin in baseball. @investvoyager (publicly-traded, licensed crypto-asset platform) has purchased full season suite at #Oakland Coliseum. 1st ticket deal in cryptocurrency in #MLB . @Athletics @Ehrls15 — Raj Mathai (@rajmathai) March 31, 2021 Six-person private suites for individu...

Riot Blockchain has published its 2020 financials and revealed it has increased its hashrate by 460%. According to its latest annual financial report, leading U.S.-based mining firm Riot Blockchain increased its hashing capacity by 460% and more than doubled the amount of Bitcoin held on its balance sheet in 2020. Riot saw a 78% growth in total mining revenues from $6.7 million to $12 million, owing to the increase in operational hash rate from 101 pentahashes per second, or PH/s, as of December 2019 to 566 PH/s as of December 31. While the company said it achieved profitability in the fourth quarter with $3.9 million in net income on a GAAP basis, Riot posted an overall net loss of $12.7 million for 2020. However, this was an improvement over its 2019 performance, when it posted a net loss of roughly $20 million. The company increased its cash and cryptocurrency holdings from $11.3 million in 2019 to $235 million last year, and doubled its Bitcoin holdings from 514 BTC to 1078 ...

Bitcoin's last six monthly candles have closed green, tying its previous record streak for bullish monthly candles. Bitcoin has just closed six consecutive monthly green candles for the first time since April 2013. Should history repeat, Bitcoin may enjoy further parabolic gains this year. In April 2013, Bitcoin closed at roughly $140 after posting six green monthly candles. While the markets would retrace to less than $100 over the next two months, Bitcoin would then surge 700% over the following six months and tag prices above $1,000 for the first time. BTC/USD since 2012, 1m candles: Trading View Bitcoin posted a similar pattern in the lead up to its parabolic bull run in 2017, with the markets posting five consecutive green monthly candles heading into September. While September saw BTC post range-bound consolidation, Bitcoin surged into new all-time highs in October to rallied from $5,000 to almost $20,000 by the end of the year. According to Bloomberg strategist, Mike...

Bakkt believes its new crypto payments app will unlock more than $1 trillion worth of digital assets for commerce. Major financial institutions are expanding their cryptocurrency services, with Bakkt launching its digital asset payments application for the general public. Bakkt was launched by Intercontinental Exchange in 2018, with the firm offering Bitcoin futures contracts to accredited investors exclusively. The Bakkt App is the firm’s first retail-facing crypto initiative. Bakkt’s app was trialed by 500,000 users invited to participate in its Early Access Program in late 2020. The firm is also conducting a $1 million giveaway to encourage people to download the platform. Launched on March 30, the payments app allows users to manage Bitcoin and other digital assets, including loyalty points and vouchers, to make purchases. More than 75 major brands are offering discounted gift cards to purchasers who use the Bakkt app, including Choice Hotels, GolfNow, and Best Buy. Users ca...

The price of BTT, the native token of BitTorrent, hit a new all-time high to reach a $5.2 billion valuation. BitTorrent (BTT), the native token of the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol BitTorrent, has surged nearly 30% in the past 24 hours. The rally took the valuation of BTT to over $5.2 billion, making it the 24th most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization. What's more impressive, the token's value has increased more than ten-fold in the past two months.  BTT/USDT 4-hour price chart (Binance). Source: TradingView.com Is there any catalyst behind the BTT rally? There has been no clear fundamental catalyst behind the BTT rally to date. Nevertheless, the token has demonstrated strong technical momentum since it spiked by nearly 120% within a week in mid-March. Since then, the volume of BTT has continuously increased, causing it to garner more momentum as it surged past its all-time high. Several factors could have boosted BTT in the past several day...

The alternative trading system, PEATS, is vying to become a FINRA and SEC-regulated platform. Anchorage Digital Bank, a pioneer of digital asset custody, and cryptocurrency trading platform Prometheum are in the final approval phase for an alternative trading system, or ATS, tailed specifically for crypto investors.  Prometheum Ember ATS, also known as PEATS, is vying to bring alternative trading system technology to digital assets. PEATS will open to traders pending final regulatory approval by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC . PEATS is currently undergoing the SEC's rigorous "Three-Step Process" for approving a public ATS. Once launched, Anchorage will custody all digital assets transacted through PEATS. Commonly found in traditional financial markets, an ATS is a public platform that matches the buy and sell orders of its users. As such, it is not regulated as an exchange. ATS accounts represent a significant share of liquidity found ...

The acquisition will reportedly allow Uphold to launch fractional equities in the United States in 2021. Cryptocurrency wallet and trading platform Uphold has received regulatory approval to purchase JNK Securities, a U.S. broker-dealer. In an announcement from Uphold today, the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, gave the firm the green light to acquire JNK Securities. Uphold said the acquisition is aimed at allowing the platform to launch fractional equities in the United States later this year in addition to providing an interface for users to trade between crypto, stocks, carbon credits, precious metals, and other assets. “Bitcoin to Tesla stock in one seamless user experience will soon become a reality for our U.S. customers,” said Uphold CEO JP Thieriot. “The move will introduce unprecedented speed and convenience for retail investors seeking to trade between traditional and emerging asset classes.” According to Uphold, this would make the platform one o...

Shortly after the launch of Stargate, Cosmos ecosystem chains are entering the DeFi arena. Kava, a DeFi-centric blockchain project built on the Cosmos SDK, has announced the concurrent release of Kava 5.1 and Hard Protocol V2, which marks the full launch of two-sided lending markets on the Kava blockchain. The Kava 5.1 upgrade is a significant boost to performance over previous major versions, with the team claiming a ten-fold increase in throughput through “consensus enhancements.” The upgrade also carries improvements to the BEP3 relayer that acts as the connection to Binance Smart Chain, and other improvements to APIs and overall reliability. The Kava 5.1 launch is bundled with Hard Protocol V2, Kava’s in-house lending protocol that works in a similar manner to Compound. The V2 enables borrowing of the assets supplied to the chain, making it a fully functional lending protocol. Coupled with Kava’s main DeFi app, a stablecoin protocol similar to Maker, the project now offers a fu...

Warner Bros. cast a wide net, granting licensing for the movie to three different parties Nonfungible tokens seem to be popping up everywhere lately — so why not on the big screen? Digital collectibles and virtual reality platform Terra Virtua is planning to launch today a line of Godzilla vs. Kong nonfungible token (NFT) collectibles created in collaboration with film production giants Warner Brothers — among the first-ever NFT drops to coincide with the release of a major film. Currently, collectors can buy retro-themed Godzilla and Kong Island posters for 75$, but more elaborate animations will be released later today. The Terra Virtua homepage currently has a themed waitlist active, with users granted a ten-minute window on the site to make purchases. You lucky things, considering the movie launches TOMORROW, we've decided to release not one but TWO exclusive 2DA posters. It really is time to pick your side. Will you go for #TeamKong or #TeamGodzilla ?  https://t.co/qi5...

Amid the expanding nonfungible token metaverse, Enjin is set to debut the first-ever NFT blockchain built on Polkadot. Crypto exchange platform Crypto.com has reportedly led an $18.9 million private funding round for Enjin’s new NFT blockchain platform. Enjin announced the news on Wednesday with DFG Group, BlockTower and Arrington XRP Capital among other investors in the private sale. Dubbed “Efinity,” the platform is an NFT blockchain built on Polkadot that will reportedly offer greater scalability for participants in the expanding NFT space. Detailing the technical specifications of the new NFT blockchain, the announcement stated that Efinity will have an initial throughput capacity of processing transactions every six seconds. The project team plans to utilize proof-of-stake consensus to achieve scalability to the tune of 1,000 transactions per second. Apart from scalability, Enjin will also look to engineer cross-chain interoperability in the NFT space as part of efforts to c...

Galaxy Digital’s billionaire CEO told CNBC he’s shocked at the speed of cryptocurrency adoption. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz believes Bitcoin ( BTC ) is on track to meet or exceed gold’s market capitalization amid a rapid wave of retail and institutional adoption of the digital asset.  In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Novogratz said cryptocurrency “adoption’s happening much faster than I predicted,” adding that “it’s shocking to me how fast people are moving into the system.” Novogratz, who has been involved in Bitcoin since 2013 when the digital currency was valued at around $100, explained that his previous BTC price target of $60,000 was too conservative. The initial target was based on Bitcoin achieving roughly 10% of gold’s market capitalization. “At the beginning of the year, I thought $60,000 was my target because that would have been 10% of gold,” he said. “But I told myself and our investors that once it gets to 10% we’re all going to say it’s going t...

Victoria Bitter has partnered with blockchain energy trading platform Power Ledger to allow customers to earn beer with surplus solar energy. Asahi’s Australian lager beer subsidiary Victoria Bitter has taken a step toward sustainability by allowing customers to earn a pint with solar energy via blockchain. According to a Wednesday announcement , Victoria Bitter has partnered with major blockchain energy firm Power Ledger to unlock a new program allowing participants to exchange excess solar energy for slabs of beer. “The only thing better than drinking the Big Cold Beer in the Aussie sun is earning beer while you do it. Plus it’s a real win-win for beer lovers and the environment,” Victoria Bitter’s general manager of marketing Brian Phan said. The new Solar Exchange program allows customers to track how much beer they have earned based on the number of solar energy credits exchanged with Victoria Bitter. “Every $30 worth of credit can be exchanged for a slab, which is then deliv...

Cryptoassets will be available to Goldman investors at some point in Q2, comments from an incoming senior executive quoted by CNBC suggest. Bitcoin ( BTC ) and some altcoins will soon be available to Goldman Sachs clients, according to a new  mainstream media report. Released by CNBC on March 31, comments from an interview with Mary Rich, global head of digital assets for the bank's private wealth management division, confirm plans to offer cryptoassets to investors. Goldman exec: Crypto access coming in "near term" The move will make Goldman the second major lender to open up the world of cryptocurrency to its clients, and comes weeks after a pioneering move by Morgan Stanley. ″We are working closely with teams across the firm to explore ways to offer thoughtful and appropriate access to the ecosystem for private wealth clients, and that is something we expect to offer in the near-term,” CNBC quoted Rich as saying. Morgan Stanley's rollout is due to launch i...

What the planned EIP-1559 could mean for Ethereum, DeFi and miners. The Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559, set to be bundled together with the “London” upgrade in July, has caused as much excitement as fear and panic . On the surface, EIP-1559 is nothing more than a change in Ethereum’s gas fee structure. And to spice it up, it has also been labeled as Ethereum’s scarcity engine, or burn mechanism, as it will destroy Ether ( ETH ) used in transaction fees, making the cryptocurrency deflationary, and perhaps more valuable down the line.  Related: Ethereum at a crossroads: Ether community turmoil over miner reward fees Curbing Ether’s inflation will make the digital asset as deflationary as Bitcoin ( BTC ), meaning that its buying power will only increase over time. However, the relevance of the EIP-1559 proposal is based on fixing the runaway gas fees. The upgrade has been in the works for some time, but its timing couldn’t have come at a better time. Ethereum’s sky-high tran...

Financial crimes reporting obligations are irrespective of a crypto firm’s total annual revenue. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority has included cryptoasset businesses under the financial crimes reporting umbrella eight months after initially announcing plans to do so. The FCA made this known via a policy statement issued on its website on Wednesday. This move comes as the country’s financial regulator has increased the number of firms required to submit annual financial crime report known as “REP-CRIM” from 2,500 to about 7,000. According to the policy statement, the FCA declared that compliance with REP-CRIM reporting was a necessary tool to enable regulators to combat money laundering activities. In its 2020/2021 business plan, the FCA stated : “We will strengthen our rules to prevent money laundering, as well as working with domestic and international stakeholders to support a joined-up approach to cryptoassets.” During the initial announcement of the plan ...

The ECB will decide whether to proceed with digital euro pilots by mid-2021, Lagarde said. It could be a while before European Union gets a central bank digital currency, if it gets one at all. In a Wednesday interview with Bloomberg Television, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde laid out the complex decision-making process with which the bank will determine the future of a digital euro. The ECB will soon release its analysis of eight thousand responses received from its digital euro consultation process. “That will be communicated to the European Parliament which is one of the key players as well as the Commission and the Council with which we operate,” she stated. Based on that consultation, alongside the parliamentary work, the ECB’s Governing Council will decide whether the institution will begin experimenting with a CBDC by mid-2021. Following an initial experimentation phase, the council would then hold a six-month or a one-year assessment on whethe...

Chinese banks will soon have access to a permissioned version of the Corda Enterprise infrastructure via the country's Blockchain Service Network. Red Date Technology, one of the builders of China’s Blockchain-based Service Network, has obtained licensing rights from R3 to resell both the free and enterprise Corda implementations in China. According to a press release by R3, the news marks the first occasion of the BSN developer being able to resell enterprise blockchain technology from an overseas company. Since the R3 deal is with BSN China, developers will create a permissioned version of Corda to comply with Chinese blockchain regulations. Also, with banks reportedly being one of the likely users of the network, the country’s UnionPay cloud infrastructure will play host to BSN Corda notaries. The partnership also offers an entry point for R3 into the Chinese market following the company’s significant expansion across Asia. Commenting on the importance of integrating an e...

Apple removed the fake Trezor app several times, but it kept appearing on the App Store days later. A scam cryptocurrency app on Apple’s app distribution service App Store has reportedly stolen $600,000 Bitcoin ( BTC ) from one iOS user. Cryptocurrency holder Phillipe Christodoulou fell victim to a scam app on the App Store, losing nearly all his life savings to a fake crypto wallet application, The Washington Post reports Tuesday. Christodoulou went on the App Store last month to search for a mobile Trezor app to check his Bitcoin balance via phone. Unaware that Trezor does not currently provide  an iOS app, Christodoulou downloaded a doppelgänger Trezor application that boasted close to five stars, giving the impression that it was indeed an official app. After entering his seed phrase, Christodoulou said that his savings of 17.1 BTC were stolen. Christodoulou said that Apple, which collects 15% to 30% commissions on sales, should be held responsible for this situation. “Th...

Tokenization of real-world commodities could drastically reduce trading costs, says one Swiss startup as it pilots a new non-fungible token system. A Swiss agricultural startup has piloted the use of a non-fungible token for cutting down the costs of trading grain. The system implemented by Swiss firm Cerealia SA sees the tokens reportedly backed by 30,000 metric tons of Mexican white corn. Although the Cerealia platform only facilitates two-way deals at the time being, an upcoming addition will allow for third-parties to trade and speculate on grain deals using the token. A digital system naturally reduces the costs incurred by grain traders in executing deals, such as storage fees, while reducing the onus on paperwork. The tokens were reportedly used by Mexican firm Mercanta, representing grain it had stored at a local warehouse. Other grain holders and trade houses can issue their own version of the token, which can then trade on Cerealia’s platform while acting as a marker for...

A flash crash on short timeframes for BTC/USD induces panic among long traders, but for analysts, it's business as usual. Bitcoin ( BTC ) fell over $2,000 in five minutes on March 31 as a wave of volatility disrupted an otherwise calm market. BTC/USD 1-minute candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: Tradingview BTC sees sudden volatility Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Tradingview  showed a nightmare for long traders unfold on Wednesday, with BTC/USD suddenly dropping from $59,350 to $57,000. At the time of writing, the losses were still mounting after the pair hit lows of $56,713 on Bitstamp.  "Exactly Bitcoin," trader Michaël van de Poppe reacted to what has become a familiar event on short timeframes for Bitcoin. Previously, upside had been the focus for day traders as news from PayPal spawned a run-up to just below $60,000. Those betting on a continuation of the bull run lost big on Wednesday, however, as the downturn liquidated long positions worth $600 million a...

Blockstream has announced the launch of a new security token backed by the company's mining facilities. Canadian-based Blockchain tech company Blockstream announced the launch of a security token backed by the company's mining production on March 29. It offers an alternative to investing in Bitcoin mining stocks, with the company providing non-US qualified investors exposure to Bitcoin mining through the Blockstream Mining Note security token. BMN represents 2,000 terahash per second of hashrate from Blockstream's  mining facilities. The Bitcoin mined for BMN will be held in cold storage for three years, and will be distributed to the final token holders at the end of that time frame. Blockstream plans to begin BMN mining operations by July 9, with the following tranches expected to be released in the third quarter of this year. See https://t.co/W6zlfDQRpq some more details (BMN is available to non-US qualified investors) — Adam Back (@adam3us) March 31, 2021 Th...