Crypto Currency

El Salvador's government has set aside $23.3 million toward rolling out crypto ATMs and $30 million to incentivize use of the state-backed "Chivo" wallet. El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly has passed legislation creating a $150 million dollar Bitcoin Trust and supporting the development of crypto infrastructure and services across the country.  The bill passed on Aug. 31, with 64 officials voting in favor and 14 opposing the trust’s creation. The Trust is designed to facilitate conversion of Bitcoin into U.S. Dollars, and support the roll out of vital technological infrastructure enabling widespread adoption of crypto assets. The news comes just one week before the country’s controversial Bitcoin Law is set to take effect. The impending legislation will recognize BTC as legal tender across El Salvador and is slated to take effect on September 7th. Currently, U.S. dollars are used as legal tender in the country. The Development Bank of El Salvador (Bandesal) has bee...

China’s Blockchain Service Network is going global, with Korean blockchain firm MetaverseSociety announced as the first BSN portal operator outside of China. Red Date Technology, one of the four founding members of the Chinese Government-backed Blockchain Service Network (BSN), has announced Korean firm MetaverseSociety as the first BSN portal operator located outside of mainland China. Twitter account “BSNbase” broke the news on Sept. 1, announcing that MetaverseSociety expects to launch its BSN portal during November of this year. According to the tweet, the Korean portal will allow local developers to “build and operate blockchain applications quickly and effectively” on top of the BSN once live. Thrilled to introduce MetaverseSociety @MarX_Metaverse , the exclusive BSN portal operator in Korea. The portal will launch in Korea in November 2021 and will empower Korean developers to build and operate blockchain applications quickly and effectively. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/N...

PleasrDAO will offer exposure to the Doge NFT via 16,969,696,969 fractionalized ERC-20 tokens named “$DOG”. The $4 million NFT depicting the original Doge meme is set to be fractionalized into ERC-20 Tokens, and auctioned off in pieces. The owner of the Shibu Inu depicted in the beloved meme, Atsuko Sato sold the Doge NFT for 1696.9 Ether, or $4 million on June 12 to art-focused decentralized autonomous organisation, PleasrDAO. Starting from Sept.1 at 5pm UTC PleasrDAO will offer exposure to the Doge NFT via a fractionalization that will see the nonfungible token broken down into 16,969,696,969 ERC-20 tokens named “$DOG”. According to a blog post from PleasrDAO, 20% of the total $DOG supply will be available for purchase initially, with the sale being hosted on open-source smart contract platform, Miso. https://t.co/9c9899X73H https://t.co/osEMZpxkg3 blog: https://t.co/wE7yDLC3xu pic.twitter.com/vtiC7IFsdv — ✨ PleasrDAOGE (@PleasrDAO) August 31, 2021 After the launch, $D...

More than 400 teams are already building on Arbitrum One. Offchain Labs, the team behind the highly anticipated Ethereum layer two platform, Arbitrum One, has completed the public mainnet launch of its optimistic rollups solution. Announced on Aug. 31, Offchain Labs also revealed that it has secured $120 million in a Series B fundraising round. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and also saw participation from heavyweight crypto investors Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, Alameda Research and Mark Cuban. Lightspeed partner Ravi Mhatre also joined Offchain Labs’ board as part of the round. Amy Wu, also a partner at Lightspeed, stated: “[Offchain Labs’] dedication to the Ethereum developer community is second to none and they have the best, easiest-to-use scalability product. That’s why over 400 projects have chosen to launch with Arbitrum, including Reddit.” In May, Offchain Labs, completed its beta launch of Arbitrum One for developers, allowing developers to be...

Larva Labs' blockchain-created IP is set for Hollywood after the firm signed a representation deal with United Talent Agency for CryptoPunks, Meebits and Authoglyphs. Larva Labs, the team behind the outrageously popular NFT project CryptoPunks, has penned a deal with Hollywood agents United Talent Agency (UTA). According to an Aug. 31 article from the Hollywood Reporter, UTA will represent Larva Labs for intellectual property (IP) deals in TV, film, video games, licensing and publishing. Two other NFT projects from Larva Labs, Meebits and Autoglyphs, will also be represented by UTA. CryptoPunks was launched back in 2017 and is one of the first NFT projects created on Ethereum. The IP-related deal with UTA marks a significant milestone for Larva Labs, as it is one of the first examples of content created in the blockchain sector that has entered the mainstream entertainment industry. Lesley Silverman, head of UTA Digital Assets told the Hollywood Reporter: “I would say that i...

An exchange token valuation methodology suggests that SUSHI trades at a 33% discount and that UNI price is 36% overvalued. Just looking at Binance Coin's ( BNB ) reported market capitalization, one might conclude that the token is the dominant asset when compared to other exchange tokens. Although there is no direct relationship between Binance's exchange volume (or revenue) and token economics, traders seem to use it as a proxy. The controversial burn mechanism has been losing impact since April 2019, when the exchange changed the BNB whitepaper .  Initially, the whitepaper proposed a plan where BNB tokens equivalent to 20% of the exchange's profit would be bought under a "repurchasing plan", but the new version scrapped that plan. Exchange tokens market cap and volume. Source: Messari Screener and CoinGecko However, excluding the 60 million BNB that have never been in circulation drastically changes the outcome because these excess tokens are meant to be...

Rising trading volume, investor excitement over the upcoming parachain auctions and the success of KSM, have investors looking at DOT as the next altcoin to hit a new high. Layer-1 smart contract platforms increased their market share throughout August after the Ethereum network  London hard fork did little to solve the major issues of high transaction fees and network congestion.  One top-10 protocol that has been gaining momentum, but has yet to experience a significant price breakout to new highs like some of its competitors is Polkadot (DOT), a multichain protocol focused on facilitating the creation of cross-chain bridges between separate blockchain networks. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after bottoming out at $10.36 on July 20, the price of DOT increased 205% to an intraday high at $31.70 on Aug. 31 as the chatter of an impending altseason begins to rise. DOT/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Three reasons for the increa...

Exponential monthly growth in demand should propel Bitcoin to $100,000 by the end of 2021, according to the CEO of SkyBridge Capital, Anthony Scaramucci. Anthony Scaramucci, CEO and founder of SkyBridge Capital, thinks Bitcoin ( BTC ) can reach $100,000 before the end of the year, mainly due to the exponential growth in demand every month.  “The bottom line is you have the limited and fixed supply of Bitcoin and you have every month exponentially more demand,” Scaramucci told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview. “As long as I see that, I see those prices rising. So, we’re going to stick with the $100,000 price target,” he explained. Once a Bitcoin skeptic, Scaramucci launched SkyBridge Capital's first BTC fund last year with a $25 million dollar investment. Since then, the firm has been steadily accumulating the digital gold. “We now have probably $650 to $700 million dollars worth of Bitcoin across our product portfolio,” said Scaramucci. Scaramucci is a long-term believ...

Syndicate’s vision for decentralized autonomous organizations was one of the biggest selling points for Andreessen Horowitz. California-based venture fund Andreessen Horowitz announced Tuesday that it is leading a Series A investment round for Syndicate, a decentralized platform with the lofty vision of democratizing investing by allowing users to create decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs.  Ali Yahya, one of Andreessen’s general partners, said  that the company was attracted to Syndicate’s vision of DAOs being at the center of economic coordination between people. DAOs, which are internet-native organizations that are collectively owned and managed by community members, have the potential to replace the archaic legacy systems currently in use. The Andreessen executive compared DAOs with corporations, arguing that the former “are a better, digitally-native mechanism for human coordination” because they replace existing enterprise functions with software code. ...

The Ethereum blockchain's native asset broke its downward sloping resistance trendline to the upside, triggering a textbook bullish outlook. Ethereum's native token, Ether ( ETH ), has the prospect of logging a 40% price rally against its top rival, Bitcoin ( BTC ), per a classic technical pattern. Dubbed a "symmetrical triangle," the structure develops after the price forms a series of higher lows and lower highs. Doing so results in a convergence of two trendlines with a degree of symmetry, which appears a a triangle. Analysts treat symmetrical triangles as trend continuation indicators — i.e., they usually send prices in the direction of their previous trend following a clear breakout. As a result, the ongoing ETH/BTC price boom could undergo an upside continuation after having fluctuated inside a similar triangle structure over the last four months. ETH/BTC weekly chart featuring a symmetrical triangle setup. Source: TradingView Part of the reason is Ether...

Decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch has been integrated into the crypto wallet app BitPay, enabling users to access its rates for their crypto swaps. 1inch Network, a major decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator and automated market maker, is broadening its reach by partnering with the veteran crypto wallet provider BitPay.  The two companies announced today that 1inch’s DEX aggregation functionality will from now on be available for all users of the BitPay wallet — an app that allows individuals to manage, convert and spend 12 different cryptocurrencies through integrations with Mastercard, Apple Pay , Google Pay and ATMs.  1inch Network partnership enables BitPay wallet users to use the DEX aggregator directly. 1inch Network announced wider integrations with different DeFi protocols and DEXs this year to strengthen its liquidity pools  for its users.  The network uses an algorithm called Pathfinder to search over 60 different liquidity sources on Ethereu...

FTX.US acquires LedgerX for an undisclosed amount to dive into Bitcoin and Ether futures trading. FTX.US, the United States-based affiliate of Sam Bankman-Fried ’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is acquiring crypto derivatives platform LedgerX for an undisclosed amount. FTX.US’ owner, West Realm Shire Services,  announced  on Tuesday that the company had executed a sale-and-purchase agreement to acquire LedgerX’s parent company, Ledger Holdings. The deal is expected to close, pending satisfaction of customary closing conditions, the firm noted. LedgerX is a digital currency futures and options exchange regulated under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Swap Execution Facility and Derivatives Clearing Organization. The platform is available for retail and institutional investors, allowing them to trade cryptocurrency futures with the physical settlement of all contracts. According to the announcement, the acquisition will have no material impact on LedgerX’s operation...

Is BTC, crypto’s flagship, prepared to fend off Ethereum with its “incredible network value, rich community and pace of innovation?” “Ethereum’s ascent to the top of the cryptoverse seems unstoppable,” declared Nigel Green in mid-August , and it’s not hard to see why the deVere CEO thinks this. DeFi is on a tear, NFTs are mushrooming, Ethereum ( ETH ) remains more scalable than Bitcoin ( BTC ) and it also offers more uses including smart contracts. Moreover, Ethereum will soon move to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, looking to be more eco-friendly than Bitcoin’s energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) protocol. “Ethereum is already years ahead of Bitcoin in everything but price and fame,” said Green earlier this year, adding: “There’s a real sense that 2021 is the year for Ether. Its time has come.” But, is it really a foregone conclusion that the world’s first, largest and best-known cryptocurrency is ready to relinquish its market-cap crown? Maybe not. “If you look at Co...

Cory Van Lew, the digital artist behind Mike Tyson’s NFT collection, will drop his iHeartMedia-inspired line-up on Sept. 14. Mass media holding company iHeartMedia is planning to distribute free nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, in partnership with sustainable NFT platform OneOf — a campaign that could introduce more music lovers to digital collectibles. The campaign is intended to promote the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on Sept. 17-18. Beginning on Tuesday, users can claim one free NFT “poker chip” directly on the OneOf platform. Up to 1 million tokens are claimable through Sept. 14. Users who collect an entire set are eligible to receive a limited edition NFT by artist Cory Van Lew. As Cointelegraph reported, Van Lew is the digital artist behind Mike Tyson’s NFT collection . Lew’s NFT drop will take place on Sept. 14 and will reflect OneOf’s ethos of “Artist First,” “For All Fans'' and “Eco-Responsible.” The companies said collectibles in the higher NFT tiers ...

Demand for noncustodial wallets continues to surge amid the DeFi and NFT booms. MetaMask has been a primary benefactor, as active monthly users have grown 19-fold in just over a year. Ethereum wallet and browser extension MetaMask achieved another major milestone in August, as its monthly active userbase topped 10 million for the first time, further highlighting the growing demand for DeFi assets. MetaMask credited a confluence of factors for its exponential growth, including the rapid adoption of Ethereum smart contract technology, the continued expansion of DeFi protocols and the successful launch of its token swap solution. The company also credited the nonfungible token boom for attracting more users to its technology. As Cointelegraph reported, MetaMask registered its one-millionth monthly active user in October 2020, up from 545,000 in July of the same year. Much of that growth was attributed to the so-called "DeFi Summer" that swept the crypto markets in mid-2020...

South Africa’s top banker has said crypto are more akin to assets than actual currencies. Lesetja Kganyago, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor, has argued against classifying crypto as currencies. According to a report by MoneyWeb, the central bank chief likened crypto to assets rather than currency during an interactive session at the Wits Business School Leadership Dialogue. According to South Africa’s central bank governor, cryptos only meet two of the three currency criteria, stating: “A cryptocurrency is a store of value. It is a medium of exchange, but is not generally accepted. It’s only accepted by those who are participating in it.” Kganyago’s comments are a common criticism leveled by central bankers and other actors in the legacy financial system against Bitcoin ( BTC ) and cryptocurrencies. However, crypto is gaining greater acceptance as a payment means, especially in retail markets. El Salvador also recently became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as...

Canaan has also granted Genesis Digital Assets an opportunity to buy up to 180,000 additional BTC mining machines. The United States-based Bitcoin ( BTC ) mining company Genesis Digital Assets continues growing its cryptocurrency mining power with a fresh deal with Chinese crypto mining giant Canaan. Genesis has secured a purchase order for purchasing 20,000 Bitcoin miners from Canaan, the mining machine manufacturer  announced on Aug. 31. In conjunction with the new purchase, Canaan has also granted Genesis an opportunity to buy up to 180,000 additional BTC mining machines, Canaan said. Genesis co-founder and executive chairman Abdumalik Mirakhmedov noted that the new batch of Bitcoin miners will help the firm further expand its mining operations in North America and the Nordics. He added that Genesis is focused on scaling up in these regions as the company is focused on energy coming from renewable sources. “These new machines will dramatically increase our capacity as we ...

Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank are working with fund managers and insurers to facilitate e-yuan payments for Chinese citizens. Government-backed Chinese banks have reportedly started exploring new use cases for the digital yuan by allowing citizens to use it to buy insurance products and investment funds online. South China Morning Post reported  on Aug. 31 that leading Chinese banks such as Bank of Communications (Bocom) and China Construction Bank (CCB) are working with fund managers and insurers to enable e-yuan payments for sectors beyond the retail landscape. The report states that CCB has collaborated with an investment funds platform, Shanghai Tiantian Fund Distribution, for allowing citizens to make online fund investments with the digital yuan. JD.com, a China-based e-commerce company will also be a part of this collaboration. CCB executive vice president Zhang Min said: “We have since 2017 been participating in the research and development of the ...

On-chain data is showing more and more similarities to mid- and late-2020 — the springboard period for the Ether and Bitcoin bull market. Bitcoin ( BTC ) and Ether ( ETH ) have started showing “remarkable” bullish divergences that echo the start of bullish price trends. That’s according to the latest data collected by on-chain analytics firm Glassnode this week. BTC, ETH data mimics “mid to late 2020” In its latest weekly  report , “The Week On-chain,” Glassnode revealed that while price action remains quiet, on-chain metrics suggest that it could well be lagging behind much more bullish sentiment. “As the Bitcoin and wider cryptocurrency market rallies higher, a remarkable on-chain divergence continues to form across both Bitcoin and Ethereum,” the report summarizes. “On-chain activity on both chains has remained quiet relative to bull market highs, even as price momentum continues upwards, and bullish trends in supply dynamics remain in play.” The signs are everywhere — f...

Thailand's Bank of Ayudhya, where MUFG holds a 76.9% stake, has participated in a $41 million raise for Asia-Pacific-focused crypto trading platform Zipmex. Thailand's Bank of Ayudhya (BAY) – in which Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) holds a 76.9% stake – participated in the latest funding round for the Asia-Pacific-focused crypto exchange Zipmex. The $41 million raise, which saw the participation of two publicly traded Thai media firms and overseas VC funds in addition to BAY, accounts for the lion’s share of Zipmex’s total $52 million in funds raised to date.  BAY’s corporate venture capital arm, Krungsri Finnovate, invests in startups across various fintech areas, including blockchain, lending, e-commerce and cross-border remittance. Commenting on the news of the Zipmex raise, its managing director today stressed to Reuters that “if we don’t stay close, technology will be further away from the bank.”  For the exchange, the plan is to use the fresh funding t...

Osaka has been in talks with her agent about cryptocurrencies after reading about Dogecoin on Twitter. Naomi Osaka, a top tennis player from Japan, has been open about diversifying her investments in cryptocurrency after noticing the hype around Dogecoin (DOGE), which was primarily led by Elon Musk. In a recent Bloomberg interview , Osaka revealed that she has been in talks with her agent about cryptocurrencies after reading about Dogecoin and its possibility to “pop up.” The tennis legend attributed Twitter’s crypto ecosystem to be the primary source of her interest in Dogecoin investments, way before she spoke to her agent about it. Osaka has also joined the non-fungible token (NFT) space by launching a collection of rare tokens before the start of the U.S. Open tournament. Back in April, Osaka launched a six-piece collection of 1-of-1 NFTs in collaboration with her sister, Mari Osaka, which collectively sold for nearly $600,000. Out of the lot, the highest purchase amount for...