Consensys claims that the SEC’s spot Ether ETF worries are unjustified.
Consensys responded to an inquiry from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding possible fraud and manipulation risks associated with Ethereum’s proof-of-stake
Consensys responded to an inquiry from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding possible fraud and manipulation risks associated with Ethereum’s proof-of-stake
The business that created the social network Farcaster, Merkle Manufactory, is expected to reach a $1 billion valuation through a new investment round, according to a Bloomberg article that cited people with knowledge of the situation.The cryptocurrency investment company Paradigm, whose holdings include significant cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase, Blur, dYdX, Compound, and Citadel Securities, is leading the round.In 2020, Varun Srinivasan and Dan Romero, two former executives of Coinbase, co-founded Merkle.Warpcast, the company’s flagship social media app, was developed on top of Farcaster, a decentralized social media app network. Romero verified that Merkle is soliciting money in a post on March 28.“Wanted to inform all individuals that Merkle Manufactory is concluding a fresh funding round.”Paradigm has not acknowledged being involved.In July 2022, Merkle received $30 million from A16z Crypto, a venture capital firm. With the launch of Warpcast’s Frames feature, which enables apps to run inside articles without leaving the platform, the Farcaster platform has witnessed a notable increase in user activity since January.With Frames, for example, users can generate nonfungible tokens (NFTs), transact, view external blog entries, and answer surveys all within the app. User interaction has greatly increased as a result of the change.Based on data from Dune Analytics, the Farcaster network has over 249,000 daily active members on March 30 compared to about 5,000 on January 28. Decentralized social media platforms are a novel category of social media networks that utilize blockchain technology to grant users control over their data, content, and interactions. This marks a departure from the centralized management characteristic of conventional social media.Features like content monetization without middlemen and resistance to censorship are what define these platforms.Friend.tech, Minds, and Mastodon are well-known brands in this industry.Two industry executives claim that user retention is one of the main issues that decentralized social media platforms deal with.
On March 29, Dogwifhat (WIF), a memecoin headquartered in Solana, surpassed Pepe (PEPE) token to become the third-largest memetoken by market valuation. According to CoinMarketCap data, Dogwifhat’s price reached a new all-time high of $4.64 on March 30 before declining to its current $4.32 level as of 2:00 pm (UTC). Dogwifhat surpassed the Pepe token’s $3.4 billion market cap to become the third-largest memecoin, with a $4.3 billion market cap, after a weekly rise of almost 87%.As a result, WIF is now the thirty-first-largest cryptocurrency. Even though WIF has increased by more than 431% in the last month, the largest holding has not sold.According to Coinstats, the wallet currently has $139.5 million worth of WIF tokens in it, purchased at an average price of $0.32. This represents an unrealized profit of $127.3 million. On March 14, Dogwifhat’s price reached its previous high of $3 as a result of supporters raising over $700,000 to display the token’s emblem on the Las Vegas globe.WIF’s price increased by 25% as soon as the crowdfunding campaign was revealed. Arthur Hayes projected that the memecoin headquartered in Solana would rise to $10 just before it initially touched $3.In an X post from March 14, Hayes, the chief investment officer of Maelstrom and the former CEO of BitMEX, wrote. Although Dogwifhat is based on an internet meme, it is not the first dog-themed memecoin to attain multibillion-dollar valuations.In May 2021, Dogecoin’s market capitalization hit a record $75.2 billion; at present, its value stands at $30.2 billion.To reach DOGE’s market size, Dogwifhat’s price would need to rise eightfold, to $30.8 per token, which is standard for the memecoin industry.Dogecoin’s price increased by approximately 892% in the month preceding its peak, from $0.07433 on April 12, 2021, to $0.7376 on May 6, during the bull market of 2021.
After the daily close on March 29, Botcoire returned to $70,000 as traders counted down to a thrilling Q1. A preliminary BTC price support was formed into the weekend by historical all-time highs at $69,000, according to data from TradingView and Cointelegraph Markets Pro.Around $1,000 was added to Bitcoin in the later hours of the day, presumably as a result of remarks made by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.At the Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy Conference in San Francisco, California, Powell gave a measured speech about inflation and the future of the economy. He emphasized that the Fed was not in a rush to lower interest rates, which is a crucial development for risky assets. “Growth is strong right now, the labor market is strong right now and inflation has been coming down,” he said.
Futures for prelaunch linked to a decentralized finance systemFriday saw a sharp increase in Ethena’s upcoming governance token, ENA, suggesting a market capitalization of more than $500 million by launch.A 22.29% rise over the course of a day was realized by the ENA/USD pre-debut futures, which are offered on the decentralized exchange Aevo, and traded at 73 cents during Asian trading hours. On April 2, holders of the $1.3 billion USDe token would receive an airdrop of 750 million ENA, or 5% of the entire supply, from Ethena.Prior to April 1st, traders who unlock, unstake, or sell their USDe will not be qualified for the airdrop.Based on the specified amount of airdrops and the anticipated going market price from prelaunch futures, the token’s market capitalization might start at $547.5 million at launch.The going market price multiplied by the circulating supply yields the market cap.In the meantime, the fully diluted market value (FDV) of ENA may exceed $10 billion.To determine market value, the FDV employs total supply. The announcement by Binance of a launchpool for users to bet their BNB and FDUSD farm ENA tokens is probably what caused the double-digit spike in the ENA prelaunch futures.Users frequently use the Binance launch pool, also known as a centralized yield farming service, to invest in early-stage companies. “The @ethena_labs prelaunch market on Aevo is up 20% on the back of their Binance Launchpool announcement,” Aevo said on
A shadowy group of cybercriminals has allegedly created an information stealer virus that targets players who cheat in Call of Duty, potentially taking some players’ bitcoin (BTC) holdings. This suggests that video game cheaters may have finally met their match.According to malware market informer @vxunderground, the virus has already affected hundreds of thousands of players, and the number is still rising. “It should be noted that some of these accounts are also not cheaters,” @vxunderground added. “Some users impacted utilized gaming software for
Mirror World, a web3 application development platform, is releasing the first game rollup on Solana.The innovative Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) computing engine, called “Sonic,” would enable developers to install virtual machines or gaming engines of their choosing on Solana through its software development kit (SDK) and power in-app purchases, according to the announcement made on March 29.Simultaneously, gaming platforms can build their own on-ramp and cross-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregators for Solana in-game activities thanks to Mirror World’s HyperGrid, the underlying technology of the Sonic SVM. As initial distribution nodes, 50 gaming clients have received the Mirror World SDK.After integrating the Mirror World SDK, three games—Mahjong Meta, Matr1x Fire, and Seraph/ActozSoft—that collectively funded over $30 million in series rounds have generated over 200,000 visitor and transaction engagements during gameplay.“Mirror World stated that Sonic offers natively integrated payment and settlement infrastructure tools along with user engagement tools required to develop a successful Web3 game.” According to Mirror World’s CEO Chris Zhu, the company has assisted hundreds of games in the Web3 ecosystem with their monetization and listing.According to Zhu, Sonic wants to build on the current Solana Gaming Ecosystem by processing millions of requests per second for each game and relocating them to Solana L1.With a $299 monthly fee and a $1 million monthly transaction volume cap, developers can integrate a corresponding nonfungible token marketplace into their decentralized application using the Smart Marketplace SDK, another product from Mirror World. Solana has gained 824% in the last year and is now among the top five blockchains by market capitalization.But compared to Ethereum, Solana’s gaming scene hasn’t developed as quickly; MomoAI, the most popular game, now has just 80,680 unique active wallets.Nevertheless, other projects are seeing success using blockchain technology.Sales of nonfungible tokens on Solana reached an all-time high of $5 billion in February.
Cross-chain bridges are a useful tool for cryptocurrency investors as they allow them to quickly move their digital assets between multiple blockchain networks.
Purchasers of FTX SOLs must consent to a four-year vesting period. The estate of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX will sell institutional investors
According to his LinkedIn page, Patrick Donegan, the global chief compliance officer and head of OKX’s anti-money laundering efforts, resigned from his position at the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange after just six months on the job. Donegan managed a team of 300 people around the world, joined OKX in August 2023 and left in January 2024, his profile
Just a few weeks ago, the Ethereum blockchain underwent a revolutionary upgrade that created a specific area for storing data, or “blobs,” with the goal of lowering fees and easing congestion.However, a new project has already emerged to congest the so-called blob sector, driving increasing fees and posing the first significant stress test for the nascent blob market. Following the creation of a new method for minting inscriptions on data blobs, or “blobscriptions,” by a project named Ethscriptions, Ethereum gas fees for blobs increased on Wednesday.The Dune Analytics dashboard indicates that on Wednesday, the blob base charge increased to a minimum of 582 gwei ($266).The blob base charge was dropped to about 18 gwei ($8.69) as of Thursday’s posting. “As widely predicted, it looks like March 27, 2024, will be remembered as the day that the ‘blobs are free EIP-4844
Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol have agreed to unite their tokens and form a decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) alliance.According to an emailed release on Wednesday, the three intend to form an AI collective to provide a decentralized alternative to existing programs managed by giant technology companies.(FET), the native token of AI-focused Web3 platform Fetch.ai, will be renamed ASI – “artificial superintelligence” – with a total supply of around 2.63 billion tokens and a launch price of $2.82.The native tokens of decentralized AI network SingularityNET (AGIX) and data platform Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) will combine into ASI, both at conversion rates of roughly 0.433 to 1.ASI will have a fully diluted market capitalization of roughly $7.5 billion. The proposed combined entity intends to build an open, decentralized AI infrastructure on a large scale, as opposed to existing systems whose inner workings may be hidden from the public, the businesses claimed. AI has experienced a boom in general attention since the beginning of 2023, thanks to tools like ChatGPT.However, there are concerns that the largest corporations – Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta – will form an oligarchy in the field.That has prompted blockchain and Web3 firms to enter the fray, offering an alternative in which data is more transparent and shared among contributors.
Layer 1 blockchain.Peaq stated that has raised $15 million in funding to grow its ecosystem of decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) networks.The fundraising round, led by Generative Ventures and Borderless Capital, includes Spartan Group, CMCC Global, and Animoca Brands. It comes ahead of the blockchain’s mainnet debut and the listing of the PEAQ token. DePIN refers to the use of blockchain technology and token incentives to create physical infrastructure networks, reducing the need for other initiatives to purchase and operate their own equipment.In other words, DePIN is a decentralized equivalent of Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services (AWS).According to an email message sent on Wednesday, Peaq currently hosts more than 20 DePIN networks.Messari, a cryptocurrency market statistics company, forecasts that DePIN could reach a market value of $3.5 trillion by 2028.
21Shares, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP) issuers, is releasing a staking ETP based on Toncoin (TON).The new Toncoin Staking ETP is a 100% physically backed product that follows TON’s performance while reinvesting staking dividends into the ETP for increased performance.The product will be listed on the Swiss SIX Exchange under the symbol TONN on March 27, according to a company announcement to Cointelegraph on Wednesday. The new cryptocurrency investment product seeks to give investors the possibility to receive TON staking rewards without having to set up and run a staking node.The TON Blockchain achieves network consensus through a proof-of-stake (PoS) paradigm, which allows validators — or network security supporters — to receive rewards by staking.Users must normally have at least 600,000 TON ($2.9 million) to qualify for staking, according to the TON Foundation, however they are permitted to pool their assets. With 21Shares, investors can get the benefits of Toncoin staking without the technical complications that come with it.Instead, they will benefit from the convenience and liquidity of traditional financial markets, according to the announcement.According to Ophelia Snyder, co-founder and president of 21Shares, TONN is the “first and only TON ETP” to be established.Snyder informed Cointelegraph that the firm decided to create a staking ETP rather than a spot ETP because staking ETPs are “superior to non-staking ETPs as the staking yield benefits ETP holders.” She added. “A non-staking ETP would forego their income stream which is paid in TON, so for investors thinking in USD
The ability to mine cryptocurrencies through the solution of challenging mathematical puzzles and problems is one of their distinctive features. Similar to Bitcoin,
layer-1 blockchain with an emphasis on gaming The tenth-largest blockchain by activity, Worldwide Asset Exchange (WAX), has agreed to use AWS and include
According to a Bloomberg Intelligence report, in-kind launches and redemptions for spot bitcoin ETFs are anticipated to be permitted by Hong Kong’s financial
The company behind the biggest stablecoin in the world, Tether, is building an artificial intelligence (AI) unit and is currently hiring to staff
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) in partnership with Chainlink Labs has made public the outcomes of a recent initiative to
The week began with cryptocurrencies rising strongly, overcoming their recent correction phase, with bitcoin once again trading close to its 2021 peak values.
The United Arab Emirates Central Bank (CBUAE) is getting ready to launch the first part of its central bank digital currency (CBDC)
Big Tech is facing its most serious test in decades, as antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic hammer down on suspected
The Ethereum Scaling ProtocolPolygon has reported that its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) is now unavailable owing to a problem with the blockchain sequencer.Polygon reminded its two million followers on X that the problem is limited to the zkEVM and has no bearing on any other chains deployed using the Polygon chain development kit (CDK). “This only impacts Polygon zkEVM (which is the only rollup) and does not impact Polygon PoS, Polygon CDK, or any chain that
Following the discovery of $2.5 billion in Bitcoin in her hands, a hotel worker was reportedly convicted guilty of money laundering in a specialised court for significant fraud cases in the United Kingdom.According to a recent BBC article, Jian Wen was found guilty of money laundering by using Bitcoin to buy “multi-million pound houses and jewellery.”The inquiry included a review of 48 electronic devices and hundreds of digital files, many of which were translated from Mandarin. Wen’s change in lifestyle caught the notice of the authorities.In 2017, she reportedly moved from a flat above a Chinese restaurant to a six-bedroom property in North London that costs over $21,420 per month.On Jan. 31, Cointelegraph revealed that the attempted purchase of a $30 million property in London served as the ultimate red flag for authorities to probe her. During the same year, she reportedly sought to buy a number of costly residences in London but was unable to pass money-laundering checks, despite her claims of earning millions from Bitcoin mining.According to UK authorities, the confiscation was the “largest of its kind in the UK.”Wen was convicted of “entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement” and will be punished on May 10.CPS head crown prosecutor Andrew Penhale emphasized digital assets’ prominent involvement in criminal behavior in recent years. “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used by organized criminals to disguise and transfer assets, so that fraudsters may
Gary Gensler, Chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has blasted crypto sector participants for failing to register with the authority.In his final remarks at Columbia Law School, Gensler underlined the necessity of obligatory disclosure for market players, citing Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis’ assertion that “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”Gensler voiced concern about some players in the cryptocurrency securities markets attempting to avoid registration requirements, resulting in a lack of obligatory disclosure.He emphasized the importance of transparency in the cryptocurrency markets and suggested that some disinfection actions could assist the business. Over the last year, the SEC has brought multiple cases against cryptocurrency companies, with SEC Chair Gary Gensler continually claiming that most cryptocurrencies should be categorized as securities.For example, the government has filed a civil complaint against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried. In addition to Bankman-Fried, the SEC sued other significant cryptocurrency players, including Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao, and Coinbase.Many industry participants and advocacy groups have urged the SEC to set clear regulatory rules to encourage innovation in the United States.The SEC is apparently issuing subpoenas as part of its push to categorize Ethereum (ETH) as a securities under its regulatory scope. “[T]here still are those who would like to whittle away at the SEC’s disclosure regime,” the chairman of the SEC remarked. In recent years, the SEC has made headway in allowing cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded products for US exchanges, including investment vehicles tied to ETH and Bitcoin futures, as well as the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January. In a separate event, the SEC has again delayed the deadline for Grayscale’s Ethereum Futures Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF) clearance.The SEC said that the previously scheduled deadline of March 31 will be moved to May 30.Grayscale, a digital asset management firm, has suggested an ETF that invests in Ethereum futures contracts.The SEC’s decision to extend the deadline follows a previous deferral in December 2023, when it requested additional public input on whether the ETF should be listed. Grayscale planned to issue and trade shares of their Ethereum Futures Trust ETF under New York Stock Exchange Arca Rule 8.200-E in September 2023.Bloomberg ETF expert James Seyffart suggested that Grayscale may be utilizing its futures ETF application to influence the SEC’s decision to approve the spot Ether ETF.If the SEC approves Grayscale’s futures ETF, it could bolster Grayscale’s case for the approval of its spot Ether ETF proposal.Furthermore, the SEC has postponed its judgment on whether to approve Grayscale’s spot Ether ETF, opening the application for public comment on January 25.
The spot Bitcoin ETF market has been dismal recently amid the decrease in Bitcoin’s price. Prominent analyst and CEO of CryptoQuant Ki Young
Grayscale, a digital asset management company, has requested clearance for its Ethereum Futures Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF) and the United States Securities and
Coinbase (COIN) is more than simply a cryptocurrency exchange, and momentum in its auxiliary businesses is growing, according to a research note released on Thursday by JMP Securities. “We still estimate material growth opportunities in the exchange business as the market matures, with rising prices generally correlating with activity,” analysts
In a blog post, the Worldcoin Foundation revealed that it has made open-source components of the software that runs its iris-scanning Orbs available to the public.According to the announcement, the fundamental components of the Orb software are available on GitHub under an MIT/Apache 2.0 dual licence.The new open-source components “complement” the hardware that was previously released.The version includes Orb-specific functionality for taking photographs and securely uploading them to the product’s app.Worldcoin stated that its publicly available software and iris recognition repositories represent “significant progress” in ensuring openness for the Orb’s image processing, as well as provable privacy assurances. In addition to releasing more of the software that powers the infamous metallic, eye-scanning Orb, Worldcoin unveiled a new privacy feature called “Personal Custody.”Individual users can now self-custody data given to Worldcoin via a data package signed with the Orb’s private key and encrypted with a user-provided public key before it is delivered to their mobile phone. The developer said this means that users will “always remain in control of their data,” and only the individual can decrypt
Bitcoin pushed through intraday lows at the March 22 Wall Street open, amid decreased outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView data showed a lackluster BTC price performance as $63,000 returned on the radar.The largest cryptocurrency failed to maintain higher levels after an earlier rally, with its old 2021 all-time highs of $69,000 still uncontested.The day’s flows into and out of US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) began promisingly.According to initial data from crypto intelligence firm Arkham, GBTC saw only $96 million in outflows, less than a third of the total at the beginning of the week.So far this week, net outflows from spot ETFs have occurred every day, which is unprecedented in their short history. Analyzing current BTC price behavior, popular trader Skew detected purposeful attempts to disrupt bullish momentum. “Looks like someone is trying to force a cascade here again during weak price action,” he commented in a post