Crypto

Crypto

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Crypto

Platform for Cryptocurrency Trading Avantis Launches Perpetual Swaps DEX on Base Network

Continuous trades exchange Avantis’ developer believes that its novel solution to the age-old issue of balancing the cryptocurrency futures markets would be attractive to retail traders when it began for trading on Base mainnet on Friday. Avantis is among the initial trading protocols to launch natively on Base, the layer 2 supported by Coinbase. Its

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Crypto

Regulation of OTC Crypto Events to Be Consulted in Hong Kong “Very Soon”

Hong Kong announced that it will begin the process “very soon” and intends to comment on a framework for over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency venues. A blog post on Friday from the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) stated that the consultation would encompass virtual-asset (VA) outlets, including online platforms and stores. “In fact, OTC venues

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Crypto

The shutdown, according to OPNX founder Su Zhu, occurred after FTX Estate claims reached a point of “recovery.”

According to co-founder Su Zhu, the bankruptcy proceedings of defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX has reached “recovery,” which is why OPNX, the exchange for trading bankruptcy claims established by the founders of failed cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, is closing. FTX announced earlier this week that it intended to reimburse all of its clients, but

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Crypto

$4.2M worth of XRP tokens that were taken from a Ripple executive’s wallet are frozen by Binance

According to CEO Richard Teng’s X post, cryptocurrency exchange Binance froze xrp (XRP) tokens valued at $4.2 million that were connected to this week’s $120 million theft. According to Teng, exchanges were alerted to the vulnerability by XRP Ledger engineers, who are in charge of maintaining the XRP-using blockchain. They were also requested to keep

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Crypto

How to manage the risks of trading Cryptofutures

The complex world of cryptocurrency futures trading necessitates not only a solid grasp of the workings of the market but also a resolute dedication to risk management and ethical trading methods. Trading in such a market requires traders to willingly enter a space where volatility is the norm and it becomes critical to comprehend the

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Blockchain Crypto

Polygon Labs ‘Enhanced Performance’ requires a 19% staff reduction, or 60 roles.

The developer company Polygon Labs, which created the layer-2 rollup network Polygon, announced in a blog post on Thursday that it had eliminated 60 positions, or around 19% of its workforce.The downsizing is being done “for the sake of enhanced performance, rather than for financial reasons,” the announcement said.The company also disclosed that in the upcoming months, the Polygon ID team will split out from the corporation. Polygon announced that individuals who were spared the layoffs will receive a minimum of a 15% rise in their overall salary and that geo-pay models would be discontinued.The latest round of layoffs occurs less than a year after Polygon previously reduced 20% of its workforce in February 2023 as part of a reorganization. “The reality is that achieving our mission often demands challenging decisions, and while difficult, the founders and I agree that we must move forward in a thoughtful way that gives us the greatest chance to execute successfully,” Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, wrote in a post on X.

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Crypto Defi

After raising $3.5 million, cryptocurrency startup Velar plans to exchange Bitcoin DeFi forever.

A crypto trading startup called Velar announced on Thursday that it has secured $3.5 million in venture capital to develop a set of tools for decentralized finance (DeFi), which is a developing area of Bitcoin.CEO Mithil Thakore of Velar told CoinDesk that the company intends to open the first permanent swaps exchange using the Bitcoin network, which is the most widely used and ancient blockchain. Unlike Ethereum, however, Bitcoin cannot support the smart contracts required for DeFi. With the rise of Bitcoin’s Layer-2s and side chains, that has started to alter.Through methods like merge mining, these networks capable of smart contracts obtain their fundamental security from Bitcoin, according to Thakore. Thakore and Velar are specifically placing bets on Stacks’ impending Nakamoto Release, an update to its universe of Bitcoin layer that will involve the launch of a synthetic bitcoin asset called sBTC that is linked to the mother-of-all-cryptos, BTC.According to Thakore, sBTC is intended to allow bitcoin owners to access the DeFi value of their assets without requiring them to give up custody.The context of trading could be one of the use cases.With regard to Velar v3, also known as Artha, which is scheduled for release in Q2 2024, Thakore stated, “People will be able to use sBTC as collateral and trade with leverage.”According to Thakore, there have been attempts to make Bitcoin DeFi a reality, but for now, it is more of a theoretical concept. A portion of the reason for this is that certain solutions are stalled due to Bitcoin’s 10-minute block timings, which are much too slow for trading settlement.This will be reduced to five seconds with the Nakamoto release of stacks. “Bitcoin DeFi is just too nascent as of now,” he said. “Even the infrastructure isn’t there to cater to 100 million users right now – but it’s all progress.” There’s also hesitancy by many bitcoin holders to participate in newfangled ways to leverage their assets. If even a sliver of holders

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Crypto

The Binance Hamas victims’ and hostages’ families filed a lawsuit

The cryptocurrency exchange Binance is being sued by families of Israeli captives and Hamas victims for allegedly facilitating transactions linked to the terrorist organisation and other players in the area. In the Southern District of New York U.S. District Court, the complaint was filed on Wednesday. It was filed “on behalf of United States citizens

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Crypto

India Maintains Tough Crypto Taxes During Election Year’s Interim Budget Disclosure

India’s contentious tax deducted at source (TDS) policy, which has an impact on the cryptocurrency market, has not been changed. As per normal, the country’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the budget to the legislature on Thursday. The high taxes on cryptocurrency transactions—which include a 1% TDS on every transaction and a 30% tax on

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Crypto

DZ, a major German bank, will test cryptocurrency trading this year.

According to Bloomberg, DZ Bank, the second-biggest bank in Germany, intends to launch a pilot programme for cryptocurrency trading later this year. The bank, which serves as the hub for over 700 cooperative lenders, plans to sell a range of cryptocurrencies, according to board member Souad Benkredda, who told Bloomberg that the sale is intended

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Crypto

George Osborne, a former UK chancellor, has joined Coinbase as an advisor.

George Osborne, a former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, has joined the advisory council of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN). Osborne, the U.K. chancellor from 2010 to 2016, is the second chancellor to join a cryptocurrency company. Philip Hammond, his direct successor, began serving as an adviser to Copper in October 2021 and later rose to

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Crypto

Jupiter’s JUP Token on Solana DEX will Launch with a 1.35 billion circulating supply.

On Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST, Jupiter, a decentralised trade aggregator based in Solana, is going to airdrop its native cryptocurrency, JUP. Jupiter’s founder, going by pseudonym Moew, said in a forum post on Tuesday that the token will have a maximum circulating supply of 1.35 billion upon launch. This represents a lower revision to

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Crypto

Bitpanda introduces a cold storage institutional cryptocurrency platform.

A cryptocurrency trading platform geared towards institutions is being introduced by Austrian fintech unicorn Bitpanda in response to the increasing demand for institutional crypto services in Europe.In order to better serve high-net-worth individuals, family offices, external asset managers, and corporate treasuries, Bitpanda, a prominent cryptocurrency broker that was established in 2014, has introduced Bitpanda Wealth.Bitpanda used the same infrastructure that several big European banks trusted to build the new institutional platform when announcing the news on January 30. Exchange-traded funds, leverage products, commodities, and other assets are among the services that Bitpanda Wealth provides in addition to a range of services that make investing in cryptocurrency easier. Bitpanda is turning its attention to a sector in Europe that “seems underserved,” Bitpanda co-founder and CEO Eric Demuth told Cointelegraph. “There’s a notable interest in this area, yet it lacks adequate solutions,” Demuth said, adding that Bitpanda has engaged with “numerous private banks and affluent clients who have expressed a need for

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Crypto

Market share of Binance increases following a $4.3 billion US settlement agreement.

Following the resolution of its legal dispute with the US Department of Justice and the payment of a $4.3 billion settlement fine, cryptocurrency exchange Binance has begun to regain its market share in terms of trading volume.Two months after the exchange resolved its legal dispute with US regulators, Binance’s trading volume market share increased to 49%, according to statistics from the crypto research firm Kaiko.The increase comes after multi-year lows while the exchange worked out its legal problems. Despite having a great start to 2023, Binance’s spot market share was negatively impacted over the year.According to cryptocurrency data provider CCData, the exchange’s spot market share decreased from 55.2% in January 2023 to as low as 34.3% in September of last year. Data aggregator DefiLlama recorded a higher amount of $3.35 billion in money leaving Binance, while analytics company Nansen reported a net outflow of $2.36 billion in June 2023.Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, asserted that the data might not be accurate because outflows are measured as changes in assets under management (AUM) by third-party analytics companies.According to Binance, despite the hits to its market share, it added 40 million new users in 2023.The exchange stated that they had seen growth in their “key services” and that this represented an almost 30% rise over 2022. In a statement sent to Cointelegraph, a Binance spokesperson said that the exchange is focusing on its users and is moving into a new chapter. They wrote. “At Binance, our focus has always been on putting users at the center of every decision we make. As a result, users can continue to

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Crypto

In 145 countries, Visa allows cryptocurrency withdrawals using debit cards.

Global payment giant Visa is stepping up its efforts to encourage the use of cryptocurrencies by opening up yet another way to convert cryptocurrency to fiat money without utilizing a centralized exchange.The companies announced on January 30 that Visa, in collaboration with Web3 infrastructure provider Transak, will launch cryptocurrency withdrawals and payments via the Visa Direct service.With the help of this new integration, users may now withdraw cryptocurrency like Bitcoin straight to a Visa debit card from a wallet like MetaMask.The integration is instantaneously available and allows users to convert cryptocurrency to fiat and make payments at 130 million merchant locations that accept Visa. “By enabling real-time card withdrawals through Visa Direct, Transak is delivering a faster, simpler and more connected experience for its users — making it easier to convert crypto balances into fiat,” Visa Direct’s North America Head Yanilsa Gonzalez-Ore said. According to Harshit Gangwar, the main investor relations representative at Transak and head of marketing, the partnership greatly increases the number of ways to exchange cryptocurrency for fiat money and marks a key milestone in linking the crypto and traditional banking worlds. Through the arrangement, users can immediately convert at least 40 cryptocurrencies to fiat without using centralized exchanges, and they can do so from 145 different countries.Transak’s global coverage page lists the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, Malta, Singapore, Turkey, Portugal, and other countries as among the supported nations. “This is a major step towards mainstream acceptance and utilization of cryptocurrencies,” Gangwar

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Crypto

Bigger Traders Can Now Keep Their Assets Elsewhere on Binance

According to a Financial Times story published on Tuesday, larger dealers are now permitted by cryptocurrency exchange Binance to retain their assets in independent banks. They were previously required to keep their assets with Ceffu, the exchange’s custodial partner, or on the exchange itself. They can now utilise cryptocurrency-friendly establishments like FlowBank and Sygnum, two

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Crypto

Traders on Polymarket See a 55% Chance of Another Trump Presidency

Ten months remain until the US presidential election, and traders on Polymarket, a decentralised prediction platform, appear optimistic that former President Donald Trump will win back the White House. In the Trump prediction market linked to the “Presidential Election Winner 2024” contract, the Yes side shares were trading at 55 cents as of this writing,

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Crypto

Floki Team Reacts to the Warning from the Hong Kong Regulator

After adding the token staking programme to its list of dubious investment products, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong expressed concerns, the team behind the meme-based cryptocurrency project Floki stated it is taking action to allay those concerns. “We’ve taken steps to mitigate concerns in jurisdictions where the regulatory framework does not

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Crypto

“SPAM does not exist.” — OKX executive on Bitcoin Ordinals

The Ordinals protocol is viewed as a hindrance to Bitcoin by some, but others are more confident in its position regarding nonfungible tokens (NFTs) within the Bitcoin ecosystem.With traders growing increasingly interested in NFTs based on Bitcoin, OKX’s NFT marketplace overtook its rivals on December 18 in terms of daily trading volume.The company said on January 29 that it will be adding Atomicals and Runes to its marketplace, further intensifying its efforts to accommodate Bitcoin NFTs.To further explore supporting Ordinals in other chains, it will also incorporate Dogecoin’s Doginals.Aside from its marketplace, OKX also declared that its Web3 Wallet would handle Atomicals, Stamps, Runes, and Doginals’ token standards. Although OKX publicly backs both Bitcoin protocols and Ordinals, other participants in the Bitcoin ecosystem have made it clear that they don’t like Bitcoin Ordinals—some have even gone so far as to call them digital spam.Chief innovation officer Jason Lau of cryptocurrency exchange OKX, on the other hand, isn’t convinced. on an interview with Cointelegraph, Lau claimed that on open, permissionless networks like Bitcoin, “spam” does not exist.As long as the fees are paid and the transactions follow the established guidelines, the executive thinks that all transactions are legitimate. He continued.“Historically, OKX has been a strong supporter of the Bitcoin ecosystem, being one of the earliest to support upgrades like SegWit, Taproot and Lightning, and Ordinals are no different.” The executive also argued that Ordinals and inscriptions can open up new use cases for users and provide a new design space for

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Crypto

China’s Harvest Global Shows Interest in Stablecoins, Accepts Spot-Bitcoin ETF Application in Hong Kong: Reports

According to different reports by Tencent News and Bloomberg, Harvest Global Investments, a significant asset management firm in China, has applied for a spot-bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and is in talks with regulators regarding the city’s stablecoin sandbox. Regulators in Hong Kong said in December 2023 that they were prepared to take applications for spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), less than two weeks after almost a dozen applicants were approved for such products in the United States.According to a Bloomberg story earlier this month, Hong Kong-based Venture Smart Financial Holdings has also stated that it will submit an application for a spot bitcoin ETF and anticipates opening for business in the first quarter. According to Bloomberg, which cited persons familiar with the situation, Venture Smart Financial, Harvest, and RD Technologies are some of the organizations reportedly in talks with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) regarding the proposed stablecoin sandbox. “The sandbox arrangement is intended for fiat-reference stablecoin (FRS) issuers who have a genuine interest in and a reasonable plan on issuing FRS in Hong Kong,” an HKMA spokesperson said in an email. “The HKMA is preparing for the launch of the sandbox and will announce relevant details in due course.” When CoinDesk asked the HKMA, the central bank involved in the region’s stablecoin initiatives, for comment, they did not answer right away.By the end of February, the Hong Kong regulators would like to hear comments on their published ideas for a licensing scheme that would oversee stablecoin issuers.

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Crypto

A $674 million cryptocurrency haul was successfully recovered in 2023.

  PeckShield, a blockchain security company, has released statistics that summarizes the losses incurred in 2023 from scams and breaches.Excluding multichain losses, the corporation reports that it lost $2.61 billion in the fiscal year.PeckShield said on January 29 that the sum is down 27.78% from 2022, when worldwide cyber thefts were estimated to be about $3.6 billion. The security company also stated that, out of the more than 600 large-scale attacks they investigated, roughly $674 million, or 25% of the cryptocurrency that was taken, was returned.The PeckShield team noted in a statement to Cointelegraph that the sum recovered had increased dramatically from 2022, when it had only anticipated that roughly $133 million had been recovered from hacks.The security team stated that increased activity in discussions with hackers and the growth of bug bounty programs were the reasons behind the monies being recovered. “Engaging in active negotiations with hackers can lead to the return of stolen funds. […] Implementing bug bounty programs or on-chain sleuthing to identify hackers and vulnerabilities in the system can enhance security.” According to PeckShield, fund recovery can also result from working with Tether, centralized exchanges, and law enforcement to freeze funds as soon as they are discovered. PeckShield emphasized a number of data elements in addition to the amount recovered from hackers, such as flash loans, decentralized finance (DeFi), and the volume difference between scams and hacks.According to the report, 40% of breaches that occurred in 2023 involved flash loan attacks.Furthermore, PeckShield emphasized that DeFi remained a top target for hacks and scams, despite some claims that security upgrades to the platform resulted in a decrease in the quantity of cryptocurrency taken in 2023.2023 will mark a “positive development” in blockchain security, according to Ronghui Gu, co-founder of CertiK, who spoke with Cointelegraph on January 4.The executive cited the expansion of reward systems and proactive security protocols as positive indicators for the upcoming year. In spite of this, PeckShield pointed out that 33% of losses in 2023 occurred in centralized finance, while 67% of losses occurred in DeFi.It further emphasized that 42% of the losses came from frauds, and 58% came from cyberattacks. Additionally, malicious actors have been expanding the range of cryptocurrencies they target with their operations.The amount of trade for unlawful transactions was dominated by Bitcoin between 2018 and 2021.But as stablecoins started to absorb a bigger share of the volume of unlawful transactions, things started to change in 2022 and 2023.

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Crypto

OKX Initiates Atomical, Stamp, Rune, and Doginal Inscription Support

Following the plans to establish a marketplace soon, OKX said that it is expanding support for Atomicals (ARC-20), Stamps (SRC-20), Runes, and Dogecoin’s Doginals (DRC-20) on its platform. OKX has announced that on February 5, it will integrate the bitcoin token standard SRC-20 for reading and transmitting inscription standards. Later in February, it plans to

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Crypto

Aggregator of Solana Trade Jupiter Records Volumes of Trades Get Ahead of the JUP Release.

Prior to its scheduled token launch on Wednesday, Solana-based trading aggregator Jupiter resolved over $500 million in trades in the previous 24 hours, surpassing Uniswap v3 to become the largest trading platform by that measure. CoinGecko statistics indicates that Jupiter has 550 tokens and over 5,550 trade pairs listed. With a volume of $166 million,

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Crypto

According to data, Bitcoin Whales increased Coin Stash by $3 billion in January.

According to statistics compiled by onchain analytics company IntoTheBlock, crypto whales, or big investors, have amassed $3 billion in bitcoin (BTC) this month. The quantity of bitcoin stored in wallets with more than 1,000 bitcoin has grown to around 7.8 million bitcoin. This rise is approximately 76,000 bitcoin. With the introduction of U.S.-based spot exchange-traded

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Business Crypto

China stops lending restricted shares in the midst of volatile markets.

In the midst of volatility in the stock market, the Chinese securities regulator has announced yet another action to restrict short-selling activity. According to reports, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) declared on WeChat that it will cease lending restricted shares as of January 29. Certain limitations apply to the selling and transfer of restricted

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Crypto

The Stellar Foundation Backs the Postponement of the Smart Contracts Update Following the Discovery of a Bug

The widely awaited Stellar blockchain update, which was supposed to include Ethereum-style smart contracts, may be delayed as a result of a glitch that caused the project’s developers and validators to reevaluate their original goal of January 30. According to a draft blog post on Saturday, the Stellar Development Foundation, which oversees the blockchain’s ecosystem,

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Crypto

CFTC requests input on market dynamics and the application of AI in compliance.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of the United States is interested in finding out more about the potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for regulated entities’ compliance efforts. In an effort to better inform employees about the risks and potential uses of artificial intelligence in the derivatives markets, the government has released a request

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Crypto

The SFC marks the staking programmes of the Floki Protocol as unlawful.

The group promised its backers that it would use all available avenues to comply with the regulations set forth by the Hong Kong authorities. The “Floki Staking Programme” and the “TokenFi Staking Programme,” two potentially hazardous investment products, have drawn the attention of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Both products are associated

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Crypto

Google may start to display Bitcoin ETF advertisements on Monday, according to community speculation.

With Google processing 100,000 queries every second, the cryptocurrency world is considering the possible effects on spot Bitcoin ETFs. Google is scheduled to revise its regulations on Monday, permitting the promotion of certain cryptocurrency products on the popular search engine. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) backed by bitcoin seem likely to satisfy the requirements, which has the

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Crypto

The CFTC cautions that AI cannot determine your cryptocurrency’s next winner.

Optimistic cryptocurrency investors were cautioned by the US authorities not to put money and trust in AI trading bots since many of them will lose all of it. AI trading bots are not a reliable source of information for investors searching for their next big cryptocurrency gain. The United States Commodities and Futures Trading Commission

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