Crypto Currency

A Dutch artist has made a collection of NFTs numbered up to 7.9 billion — the same amount of people in the world — as a social experiment. Dutch artist Dadara and digital rights management platform RAIRtech have developed a collection of 7.9 billion identical nonfungible tokens ( NFTs ). The collection, named CryptoGreymen , is on the Polygon ( MATIC ) Ethereum scaling network. Although each NFT is identical, they will be assigned a serial number of up to 7.9 billion to reflect the number of humans currently estimated to be living on the Earth. The collection is designed to be a social experiment that Dadara hopes “can rattle the cage of consensual reality and elevate conversation.” He said in an official announcement that the social experiment is simple, “No one specific NFT is better than another, and because the minting price is widely accessible it will be interesting to see what value each individual CryptoGreyman holder brings.” In addition to acting as a social experiment,...

Some regulators were recently concerned about the alleged lack of consistent and transparent data on crypto markets. The University of Cambridge is collaborating with some of the world’s top banking institutions and private companies to introduce a new project targeting cryptocurrency research. The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, or CCAF, has launched a research initiative aiming to bring more insights on the rapidly growing digital asset industry, the CCAF announced to Cointelegraph on Monday. Dubbed the Cambridge Digital Assets Programme, or CDAP, the project is a public-private collaboration with 16 companies including public institutions like the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub and the International Monetary Fund. The initiative also includes banks like Goldman Sachs, financial giants like Mastercard and Visa, as well as major exchange-traded fund providers like Invesco. Other participants include British International Investment, Dubai Internationa...

The South African crypto exchange plans to expand its operation across more African countries and even into India with the new cash injection from major crypto VCs. South African crypto exchange VALR has raised $50 million in a Series B equity funding round, marking the largest-ever funding for an African crypto exchange. With this latest round of funding, VALR’s valuation has increased to $240 million, a 10X in growth since it raised its $3.4 million in a Series A round in July 2020. This round was led by VC Pantera Capital, Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, and several others. VALR claims to have processed over $7.5 billion in trading volume since 2019 from over 250,000 retail customers and 500 global institutional users. It currently has about 420 BTC ($18 million) in trading volume from 69 trading pairs according to CoinMarketCap . Funds from this round will be used to expand VALR’s operations into other emerging African markets and India, introduce more products for its us...

Layer two activity is cooling for most networks, but Arbitrum has seen an increase in TVL and active addresses recently. On-chain activity for the leading Layer 2 networks has been declining recently, however, the Arbitrum platform is bucking the trend according to recent findings. Blockchain analytics firm Nansen has reported that seven-day activity in terms of addresses for many of the leading networks has been in decline. Only the Ethereum L2 scaling network Arbitrum has shown gains for this metric. According to its Feb. 28 tweet, Arbitrum activity has increased by 12.7% over the past week. It reported that the network has had 46,200 unique active addresses over the past seven days. In the last 7 days, all but Arbitrum's (+12.7%) on-chain activities have slowed down: #BNB Chain 4.03M #Ethereum 1.99M #Ronin 1.09M #Polygon 854k #Avalanche 269k #Fantom 204k #Arbitrum 46.2k #Celo 29.4k #Optimism 9.52k Check out their public dashboard links in the pic.twitter.com/Blx...

The Israeli government has confiscated 30 crypto wallets from a small exchange based in Gaza, where the Hamas terrorist group has bolstered its military. A set of 30 crypto wallets from 12 exchange accounts that have been linked to the terrorist group Hamas based in the Gaza Strip were seized on Monday by Israeli authorities. Crypto exchange al-Mutahadun held the wallets where 12 accounts were allegedly being used by Hamas leaders to fund terrorist efforts against Israel. The Times of Israel reported that Israel’s Defense Ministry said on Feb. 28 that al-Mutahadun has helped Hamas’s military wing “by transferring funds amounting to tens of millions of dollars a year.” The exact value of the seizures and specifically what crypto assets seized is not yet clear, however, Israeli officials believe Hamas uses “tens of millions of dollars” in crypto funds to fund its military. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a Feb. 28 statement “We continue to expand our tools to cope wit...

ASR, BAR and ACM posted double-digit rallies after the Socios fan token platform partnered with UEFA to bring NFTs and other redeemable perks to European football fans. Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) continue to see increased utilization as the possible applications of the technology have begun to be recognized in sectors ranging from sports entertainment to real estate. One subsector of this market that has seen a spike in momentum on Feb. 28 are fan token projects, protocols that allow their holders to participate in the governance of their favorite sports brands and receive specialized NFTs and other unique redeemables. Top 7 coins with the highest 24-hour price change. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the three biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were FC Barcelona Fan Token (BAR), AS Roma Fan Token (ASR) and Atletico De Madrid Fan Token (ATM), which are all fan tokens that are part of the Chilliz (CHZ) protocol...

ETH price is storming toward a key resistance level, but pro traders are reluctant to add leverage for three important reasons. Even though Ether ( ETH ) price bounced over 20% from the $2,300 low on Feb. 22, derivatives data shows that investors are still cautious. To date, Ether's price is down 24% for the year, and key overhead resistances lay ahead. Ethereum's most pressing issue has been high network transaction fees and investors are increasingly worried that this will remain an issue even after the network integrates its long-awaited upgrades. For example, the 7-day network average transaction fee is still above $18, while the network value locked in smart contracts (TVL) decreased 25% to $111 billion between Jan. 1 and Feb. 27. This negative indicator could partially explain why Ether has been down-trending since early February. Ether/USD price at FTX. Source: TradingView The above channel currently shows resistance at $3,100, while the daily closing price suppo...

The research report blamed the increase of Bitcoin’s carbon footprint on the China mining ban and claimed Chinese miners were more renewable-energy-focused. Bitcoin network’s proof-of-work mining consensus has been a topic of environmental, social and governance debates for a long time, and a new study  may only add to the growing controversy around Bitcoin’s carbon footprint. A new research report titled “Revisiting Bitcoin’s carbon footprint” published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Joules has highlighted that the Chinese crypto mining ban might not have contributed to the reduction in the carbon footprint of the Bitcoin network as propagated by many Bitcoiners; on the contrary, it has increased by 17%. China was the primary hub for Bitcoin miners before May 2021 and accounted for more than 60% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate. However, the blanket ban imposed by the government led to the migration of most of the mining farms out of the country. China’s Bitco...

As an immediate countermeasure against the rising inflation of its fiat currency, the Russian central bank doubled key interest rates on Feb. 28, from 9.5% to 20% U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether ( USDT ) witnessed a spike of over 30% in five days against the Russian ruble — highlighting the negative and immediate impact of the ongoing war on the traditional financial system. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and crypto exchange Binance show that the ruble (RUB) is undergoing inflation as the USDT/RUB trading pair — for the first time in history — crossed 105 RUB. USDT/RUB price performance. Source: TradingView Prior to the spike, the USDT/RUB pair maintained a comparatively steady market price below 80 rubles. However, with the commencement of the Russia-Ukraine war, the ruble’s market price against USDT surged on Feb. 24, momentarily exceeding 90 rubles. As tensions escalated, on Feb. 27, the European Commission announced plans to remove Russian banks from the Society...

A week unlike any other in Bitcoin's history is suddenly here as hodlers brace for guaranteed turmoil. Bitcoin ( BTC ) starts a new week in the shadow of a new geopolitical conflict — what are the main hurdles that investors face? In what has become an unrecognizable macro-environment compared to even days ago, Bitcoin, like many other assets, is feeling the pressure. Russia’s invasion of and subsequent war against Ukraine is wreaking havoc on global markets, and developments can upend sentiment within hours or just minutes. The timing has hit Bitcoin, too — its “safe haven” quality is seeing a serious test, as investors look for safety and fiat bagholders look for an exit. As the overriding influence this week, Cointelegraph takes a look at what might lie in store for Bitcoin in the short term as it holds up against complex and almost surreal macro events. Five topics for BTC investors this week can be found below. Ukraine war dominates  It goes without saying that the Ru...

The government will provide $186.7 million to stimulate the growth of a Metaverse platform that it hopes businesses and industry will thrive in. South Korea’s Ministry of ICT, Science, and Future Planning pledged 223.7 billion KRW ($186.7 million) to create a broad Metaverse ecosystem to support the growth of digital content and corporate growth within the country. The Ministry wrote in an official statement on Feb. 27 that funds will be spent on completing four main objectives in creating what appears to be an all-encompassing Metaverse ecosystem titled the Expanded Virtual World . The government agency intends on using its Metaverse as a platform for expanding the virtual industrial growth of cities, education, and media. Content creators will enjoy support on multiple fronts to attract the right talent to help build the platform. The Ministry said that it will host community-oriented creative activities, a Metaverse developer contest, and a hackathon. CEO of Hashed Simon Kim ...

The supply-side dynamics of the Bitcoin network continue to demonstrate strong adoption as there are now more addresses with a positive BTC balance than ever before. On-chain statistics through February have suggested positive sentiment for Bitcoin as addresses with a non-zero balance of BTC reached an all-time high. Additionally, those wallets with a positive BTC balance are increasingly hodling their coins. The amount of BTC circulating supply last moved between three and five years ago reached a four-year high of just over 2.8 million coins, according to data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode . #Bitcoin $BTC Number of Non-Zero Addresses just reached an ATH of 40,276,163 Previous ATH of 40,275,801 was observed on 05 February 2022 View metric: https://t.co/VtoChZbLsa pic.twitter.com/hTnHlN9GeU — glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) February 27, 2022 The number of addresses with a non-zero balance was on a steep increase through 2019 and 2020 until the middle of 202...

Gamers love digital collectibles, but they aren’t fawning over NFTs. What gives? And what does this mean for the future of gaming? In 1996, when the Nintendo 64 was first launched in the United States, it sold 1.6 million units (worth $200 each) in its first quarter. Its closest competitor for the holiday season was a $30 Tickle Me Elmo doll, which sold around a million units in the same window. More than 20 years later, when Nintendo’s $300 Switch sold 1.5 million units in its first week, there was a lot more competition, and not just for the holiday season. The business of gaming has changed dramatically since its early days. From basic monetization through the sale of physical and digital copies of games to in-game monetization through microtransactions, the widespread adoption of the internet has caused a pronounced shift in the gaming landscape. While the previous millennium’s video game studios depended on revenue from selling games and gaming hardware, today’s goliaths don’t...

A dark week looms for macro markets while the weekend succeeds in providing some respite for crypto traders. Bitcoin ( BTC ) faced down $40,000 on Feb. 27 as hopes for the weekly close hinged on avoiding a fourth red monthly candle in a row. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Tensions mount for TradFi markets open Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView  showed BTC/USD making several attempts to break out of the $30,000-$40,000 corridor Sunday, all of which ended in rejection. The pair had stayed broadly higher throughout the weekend, cutting traders some slack after a week of volatility at the hands of geopolitics and media headlines. Now, $38,500 was the level to watch for Bitcoin to close out the week and the month — failure to do so would mean a fourth straight monthly red candle. #Bitcoin has less than 36 hours to close above $38.5k in order to break the streak and avoid having 4 straight red monthly candles https://t.co/PX45Gl...

The massive move upside had MIR form a golden cross Mirror Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Terra blockchain, was hit by one of the biggest collapses in financial history this week after Vladimir Putin ordered military strikes against Ukraine . Terra tokens rally Mirror Protocol's native token, MIR , dropped to $0.993 on Feb. 24, its worst level to date amid a selloff across the broader crypto market. But a sharp rebound ensued, taking the price to as high as $1.41 two days later, up more than 40% when measured from MIR's record low. MIR/USD four-hour price chart. Source: TradingView Just like the drop, MIR's upside retracement came in the wake of similar recoveries elsewhere in the crypto market . But interestingly, MIR/USD returns appeared larger than some of the highly valued digital assets, including Bitcoin ( BTC ) and Ether ( ETH ).  Notably, Bitcoin  rallied up to 17% after bottoming out locally on Feb. 24, below $34,500. In co...

While condemning the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s move to lay siege across Ukraine, the EU Commission committed to undertake a series of measures to isolate Russia from the international financial system. The European Commission announced to remove a number of Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) messaging system , aimed at hindering Russia’s capacity to carry out cross-border payments.  In a joint statement released by the European Commission, leaders from France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States highlighted their shared interest in defending Ukraine from the war against Russia: “We will hold Russia to account and collectively ensure that this war is a strategic failure for Putin.” While condemning the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s move to lay siege across Ukraine, the EU Commission committed to undertake a series of measures to isolate Russia from the international financial sy...