Crypto Currency

The NFL has official confirmed its partnership with Dapper Labs to drop NFTs, renowned DJ Paul Oakenfold is dropping a tokenized album on Cardano, DC is giving away free comic book cover NFTs. Cardano’s daggy dad turns DJ Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has teamed up with legendary electronic dance music (EDM) DJ Paul Oakenfold to launch a tokenized album on Cardano. Oakenfold is a three-time Grammy Award nominee and his career in the music industry spans back to the early 1980s. His upcoming album dubbed “Zombie Lobster” was announced during the Cardano summit on Sept. 27. Every aspect of the album will be tokenized on the Cardano blockchain , including cover art, tracks, sleeve notes and remixes. The album is part of a release from an NFT project named “Starship Universe”, which is operated by music entrepreneur Alon Shulman, who manages DJ’s such as Carl Cox. Starship Universe will reportedly release thousands of NFTs on Cardano, as part of the collaborative partnership. “I...

The total value locked in DeFi protocols has surged 936% over the past 12 months. New research by analytics platform DappRadar has revealed the extent to which decentralized finance and nonfungible token (NFT) markets have grown this year. In its Sept. 30 “Value Flow Report”, crypto analytics platform DappRadar reported that recent trends have seen sizable growth in NFTs and blockchain gaming, but that DeFi is also still generating substantial value. “Although the value flows to some extent from DeFi to NFTs, it appears that both categories are generating value independently.” The research delved into Ethereum based DeFi which is still the dominant force in the sector despite the emergence of rival networks such as Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Solana, and Avalanche. Value has continued to flow in with wrapped Ethereum up 400% since July 2020 and stablecoins Tether and Dai increasing by 1,300% and 500% over the same period respectively. DappRadar currently reports a total value lo...

The extreme heat of the summer has subsided, so crypto mining has been given the green light as it can no longer be blamed for stressing the electricity grid. The Iranian government will allow licensed cryptocurrency miners to resume operations today following a three-month ban imposed by former President Hassan Rouhani on May 26th, 2021. The initial ban was put into effect due to concerns over the stability of the country’s unreliable power grid. The middle eastern country experienced widespread power outages in the summer, which former President Rouhani attributed to extreme heat . On some days, the heat topped 120 degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly 49 degrees Celsius. Middle East and Central Asia are under the harshest heat wave in history for this time of the year. In #Iran 51.0C at Omidieh,50.1C at Abadan,45.5C at Bam (920m asl). In Turkmenistan 46.7C Uchadzhi,in Uzbekistan 44.7C at Termez,in Tajikistan 43.7C at Isambaj (563m). pic.twitter.com/AQ5bpt93vM — Extreme Temperatures...

Talking about a digital asset plan being cooked up by a Senate inquiry, Senator Andrew Bragg said, “We will want the major parties, including my party, to adopt these policies as part of their election manifestos.” Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has told a local industry event that Australia’s digital asset plan to create cryptocurrency-related legislation is “coming” soon and could be enacted in 2022. He also backed plans to run the sector on renewable energy as part of the government's yet-to- be-established goal of achieving ‘net zero’ carbon emissions. Speaking at the virtual NFT Fest event supported by Blockchain Australia on Sept. 30, Bragg stated that the select Senate committee investigating the topic will publish its report by the end of October, which will include regulatory recommendations that can be legislated over the next 12 months. “The review is due to conclude in about three weeks from now and the promise that I made you, I will keep. We will give you a plan,...

The crypto tax will begin for South Koreans in 2022 but some industry observers say there is no cause for concern. Lawmakers in South Korea settled a long political battle on Sept. 30th and headed off moves by the ruling party to delay the implementation of the controversial crypto tax legislation.  In a meeting on the 26th but only reported yesterday, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and key Democratic lawmakers from the National Assembly, South Korea’s legislature, are said to have come to a final agreement that the crypto tax will be carried out as planned The Korean crypto tax will tax crypto profits in a similar way to traditional stocks. It will levy a 20% tax on income generated by crypto transactions in excess of 2.5 million Korean won, or about $2,100. The majority Democratic party in the National Assembly was attempting to pass an amendment to the tax bill which would have postponed the tax until 2023. Democratic lawmaker Kim Byung-ook proposed in open session on Septe...

The digital assets division of the international bank wants to provide home loan-backed security tokens as collateral for the loan. One of France’s leading banks has turned to decentralized finance pioneer MakerDAO to propose the submission of bond tokens as collateral for a loan of the DAI stablecoin. The historic proposal called “Security Tokens Refinancing” was submitted to Maker’s governance forums by the international bank on Oct. 1. It would be the first major collaboration between a traditional bank and a DeFi protocol and could open the door for closer integration between the two sectors. Societe Generale (SG) labeled it as the “first experiment at the crossroads between regulated and open source initiatives.” The bank has proposed that it provides “OFH” security tokens (obligations de financement de l’habitat) which are characterized as covered bonds under French law, and backed by home loans. These would be used to collateralize a $20 million loan in Maker’s DAI stable...

Billy Markus has talked up a proposed Dogecoin-to-Ethereum bridge so that DOGE can be used on top NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea. Dogecoin (DOGE) co-founder Billy Markus has set his sights on nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and an Ethereum-to-Dogecoin bridge to help bring about for mass adoption of the meme coin. In a Sept. 30 tweet, Markus emphasized the importance of completing the Ethereum-Dogecoin bridge so that the asset could be integrated with top Ethereum-based NFT platforms such as OpenSea, enabling non fungible purchases with DOGE. Markus said that there is “high demand” to purchase NFTs within the crypto community and that enabling NFT purchases with DOGE “greatly increases its utility.” DOGE being implemented into the NFT ecosystem would be a huge benefit to the community! — Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) September 29, 2021 The in development DOGE-ETH bridge would enable users to send DOGE from the Dogecoin blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain, and transact with the asset ...

This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong attempts to curate the industrys most important news, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape, and enterprise blockchain integrations. Well, it finally happened. The regulation-driven crypto-apocalypse in China. They started by clamping down on miners earlier this summer before finally tightening the screws on exchanges. This week, the final nail in the coffin came with even more rules from the PBoC that resulted in many platforms announcing they could no longer accept Chinese users. Banned yet again The new rules handed down by the Peoples Bank of China made things incredibly clear for businesses from a legal standpoint. One of the main points was that cryptocurrency-related business activities are illegal, a ruling that cast doubt over the long list of projects, exchanges, and financial service providers in the country. Many projects responded instantly by eliminating WeChat comm...

Data shows that crypto holders are increasingly shifting to DeFi protocols and DEXs as China continues its cryptocurrency crackdown and fears of heavy-handed regulation scare US-based traders. Last week China’s heavy-handed crackdown on crypto trading crypto briefly sent shockwaves across the market as Bitcoin and altcoin prices saw a sharp drop following the announcement, but as is the case with all things crypto-related, the market bounced back as resilient traders found other ways to participate in the market.  Part of China's goal in limiting citizens ability to trade cryptocurrency seems focused on discouraging the use of cryptocurrencies and the growing decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem but these maneuvers appear to be having the opposite effect as the token price and protocol activity for projects like Uniswap (UNI) and dYdX have seen an uptick since the crackdown began. According to data from Chainalysis, there has been a significant amount of regional Bitcoin ( ...

Bitcoin ATMs are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, especially in North America, offering compelling evidence of growing adoption. Bitcoin Depot’s cryptocurrency ATM network continues to expand, with North American installations surpassing 5,000 for the first time amid a surge in retail adoption.  With the milestone, Bitcoin Depot is once again the largest ATM network in North America, the company announced Thursday. The number of kiosks has tripled in the last six months, giving more users access to cryptocurrency transactions without requiring a bank or other third-party financial services provider. Bitcoin Depot’s partnership with Circle K convenience stores has been a major source of growth for their crypto kiosks. As Cointelegraph reported, the two companies announced in July that the convenience store chain will be home to thousands of Bitcoin ATM machines . The growth of crypto kiosks is viewed by many as a proxy for the retail adoption of Bitcoin ( BTC ) and other digi...

“The Market Report” with Cointelegraph is live right now with special guest Gareth Soloway, an experienced swing and day trader. Join Cointelegraph host and analyst Benton Yaun alongside resident market experts Jordan Finneseth and Marcel Pechman on “The Market Report”  — which is live right now! Here’s what to expect in this week’s markets news breakdown: Whales have been busy moving a record amount of Bitcoin ( BTC ). How will this affect prices? Bitcoin is long overdue for a “FOMO rally” to new all-time highs, according to Bobby Lee, the former CEO of BTCC. Does his claim have merit? Despite China’s crackdown on the crypto industry last week, Bitcoin nodes still appear to be operating in the People’s Republic, proving Bitcoin’s resilience once again. Polygon’s daily active addresses briefly surpassed those of Ethereum . Could this mark a turning point for the network? Next, trader Gareth Soloway joins the show to discuss the recent correlation between BTC and the sto...

Regulatory scrutiny from around the world has forced the cryptocurrency exchange to up its compliance and auditing measures. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has hired a former United States Internal Revenue Service agent to head its new intelligence division, a strong indication that the company is looking to bolster its compliance resources. Tigran Gambaryan joins Binance as vice president of global intelligence and investigations, the company announced Thursday. Binance is Gambaryan’s first private-sector employer since he joined the IRS as a special agent in September 2011. During his time at the IRS, Gambaryan investigated cases involving national security, terrorism financing, tax evasion and identity theft. He was also involved in the investigation of Silk Road , a dark web marketplace that facilitated some of the earliest cryptocurrency transactions. Silk Road was shut down by the FBI in October 2013, with founder Ross Ulbricht arrested and eventually sentenced to a double ...

The Ethereum block producers accumulated $6.1 billion worth of ETH tokens after the Aug. 5 network upgrade. An on-chain study released by Kraken Intelligence highlights strong accumulation behavior among Ethereum miners even as they faced the prospects of generating lower revenue following a major network upgrade on Aug. 5. Ethereum miners accumulated an additional 2 million Ether ( ETH ), worth $6.1 billion, after the so-called London hard fork’s activation. The latest bout of accumulation caused miners’ net Ether holdings to hit an all-time high of 22.3 million ETH (worth nearly $70 billion), which is almost 19% of the total Ether supply. “ETH accumulation was stagnant for most of the summer before picking up speed in July in spite of ETH price trending lower,” the Kraken report reads. “However, ETH accumulation amongst miners really took off after EIP-1559 as they likely saw the disinflationary effects of the upgrade to drive up price.” Ethereum miner supply. Source: Kraken ...

  In a series of recent interviews and speeches, United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has called the cryptocurrencies market the Wild West due to its unregulated and allegedly fraud-filled atmosphere, predicting that the coins were doomed to fail. Powers On… is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law, where he teaches a course on Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations. In a Washington Post interview published Sept. 21, Gary Gensler stated that in history, private currencies did not have longevity. As discussed below, I take issue with that statement. Now five months into his role leading this important governmental agency, Gensler is not only a powerful voice in the debate around blockchain use cases and regulat...