Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

UAE Airliner Emirates to Launch NFTs and Experiences in the Metaverse

First Projects Already Underway　　The UAE airliner Emirates has said it will soon launch non-fungible tokens (NFT) and “exciting experiences in the metaverse” for its clientele as well as its workers. According to the airliner, the move aligns with advances in the UAE‘s digital economy as well as with the country’s virtual assets related initiatives.　　In a recently released statement, the airliner suggested that work on the firsts projects is already underway with the “launch anticipated in the coming months.” Remarking on Emirates‘ NFT plans, the airliner’s chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum pointed to his companys history of embracing advanced technologies.UAEs Vision for the Digital Economy　　Al Maktoum also shared what Emirates hopes to achieve with the launch of the NFTs. He said:　　We are excited about the opportunities in the digital space of the future and are committing a significant investment in financial and resourcing terms, to develop products and services using advanced technologies that will deliver on revenue, brand experience, and business efficiencies.　　In order to help set Emirates on a path towards achieving these goals, the CEO said the airliner‘s future-themed Emirates Pavilion at Expo “is being repurposed as a hub to develop cutting-edge future experiences aligned with

2022-04-19Deep Dive

Iran to Increase Penalties for Unauthorized Cryptocurrency Mining

New Penalties for Illegal Cryptocurrency Mining in Iran　　An official with Iran‘s Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said the country’s administration will approve new rules to increase penalties for unauthorized cryptocurrency mining, IRNA publication reported Sunday.　　Mohammad Khodadadi Bohlouli explained that under the new law:　　The increased penalties include raising fines by at least three and at most five times, imprisoning the offender, and revoking the offenders business license.　　“Any use of subsidized electricity intended for households, industrial, agricultural, and commercial subscribers for mining cryptocurrency is prohibited,” Khodadadi said.　　The Iranian government approved cryptocurrency mining as an industry in 2019. In January 2020, the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade issued over 1,000 licenses for cryptocurrency mining operations.　　However, Iranian authorities said that some unauthorized miners are using household electricity for cryptocurrency mining, resulting in major issues for the countrys electricity industry. In December last year, crypto miners were ordered to halt operations to prevent winter blackouts. In September, the authorities reportedly confiscated over 220,000 mining machines and shut down nearly 6,000 illegal crypto mining farms across the country.

2022-04-19Deep Dive

Inflation-linked stablecoin from Frax Finance is a big deal, here’s why

Frax Finance will soon launch the Frax Price Index (FPI) token, expanding the firms suite of protocol offerings.　　FPI is unique in that its the first stablecoin to track the U.S Consumer Price Index (CPI). Using oracle data from Chainlink, each month will see a “dollar-denominated value” adjustment in line with the movement of inflation.　　“The system will adjust every month according to an on-chain Consumer Price Index oracle so that holders of the FPI will increase their dollar-denominated value each month according to the reported CPI increase.”　　The latest U.S. CPI data showed that inflation has increased to 8.5% in March versus 7.3% in February – the highest in 40 years. The increase from February was the fastest monthly jump since September 2005, keeping pressure on the Fed to step up with quantitative tightening measures.Runaway inflation is here　　Details of FPI first broke in January 2022, when the Frax team announced a new algorithmic stablecoin designed to be inflation-resistant.　　Algorithmic stablecoins differ from fiat-backed, crypto-backed, and commodity-backed stablecoins. They maintain price stability using algorithms and smart contracts to manage the supply of tokens in circulation.　　“An algorithmic stablecoin system will reduce the number of tokens in circulation when the market price falls below the price

2022-04-19Deep Dive

Terra’s UST is now the third most valuable stablecoin

Terra‘s UST is now the third-largest stablecoin by market cap behind that of Tether’s USDT and Circles USDC despite the fact that its trading volume pales significantly against that of Binance USD (BUSD), according to data from CoinGecko.　　Per the data, UST‘s market cap is now at $17.58 billion, which is slightly above that of BUSD which stands at $17.54 billion. However, BUSD’s trading volume within the last 24 hours is over $3 billion while that of UST is at a paltry $672 million.The rising supply of Terra‘s UST　　Terra’s UST is indisputably the most popular algorithmic stablecoin in the crypto market and its rise has been drawn to various factors, which include the rise in the value of the LUNA token and the decision of the Luna Guard Foundation to back up the token with Bitcoin.　　Generally, an algorithmic stablecoin depends on market movement, among other factors, to maintain its $1 peg. 　　The stablecoin has enjoyed rapid growth in its supply in recent times as it grew from just around $1.9 billion in June 2021 to having over $6 billion by November of last year.　　As of press time, that number has now grown to over $17 billion showing the level of growing

2022-04-19Deep Dive

North Korean hackers are targeting leading crypto organizations

Arthur Cheong, the founder of DeFiance Capital, believes North Korean hackers are actively looking to compromise top crypto organizations. He shared this information through a tweetstorm on April 15, citing research from leading cybersecurity experts. Specifically, Cheong mentioned a hacker group dubbed BlueNorOff, which is sponsored by the North Korean government.　　According to him, BlueNorOffs recent social engineering attacks prove the group has mapped the relationship graph of the entire crypto space. He added that this ability helps the hacker group come up with phishing emails that have a high probability of slipping through the defenses of most crypto organizations.　　Notably, BlueNorOff is not the only North Korean cybercrime group targeting the crypto space. In the past week, the US Treasury Department linked Lazarus, an infamous North Korean hacking group, to the theft of over $625 million from the Axie Infinity Ronin bridge. How to bolster security　　To help crypto organizations protect their operations from North Korean attacks, Cheong teamed up with Jun Hao, a cybersecurity expert, to propose viable solutions for the problem at hand.　　Among the resolves that the duo came up with is storing on-chain crypto assets on enterprise-grade custodial solutions. According to Cheong, Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) secured by a

2022-04-19Deep Dive

Ireland to Ban Crypto Donations to Political Parties Citing Overseas Interference

IN BRIEF　　1. Ban will counter alleged Russian cyber-interference.　　2. Measures also include protection against social media campaigns spreading misinformation.　　3. Recent Russian interference in Ireland has been subtle but significant.　　Ireland has announced electoral reforms that will ban political parties from accepting donations in cryptocurrency.　　New rules on political integrity will be introduced to counter potential Russian cyber-interference in Irelands democracy.　　Restrictions will be placed on overseas contributions, and parties will also be required to fully disclose all property holdings as part of a legislative shake-up.　　Ireland‘s Local Government Minister, Darragh O’Brien, wrote to party leaders outlining a variety of measures he is introducing to counter foreign interference in Irish elections.　　The measures include protection against social media campaigns spreading misinformation that could adversely influence the elections, and new laws governing how and from whom political parties may receive funding.　　Now all political parties must be able to produce consolidated accounts that adhere to global standards and best accounting practices. And heads of parties will need to sign declarations of compliance with the new funding laws.　　OBrien used the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a case in point for how dangerous politically-charged misinformation is to democracies globally.　　“The appalling invasion of Ukraine and insidious disinformation war highlight the ongoing fundamental

2022-04-19Deep Dive

NFTs boom in the Crypto market: Nigerian artists display their talents through NFTs

By: Damian Okonkwo　　What is NFT？　　NFT which is an acronym for Non-Fungible Token has become a popular asset in the Crypto industry today. NFTs are a digital asset built on Blockchain technology which allows artists to display forbidding their original arts, music, in-game facilities, and short videos for online bidding. NFT gives the artist the ownership signature over these items and makes it difficult to steal or plagiarize them. With NFTs, artists can sell their arts in digital forms and get paid for them through Cryptocurrency.　　History of NFT　　NFT has a recent history dating back to 2014 when the first NFT was created by the artist Kevin McCoy who minted the first-known NFT ed Quantum on the Namecoin blockchain. Quantum is a digital image of a pixelated octagon that hypnotically changes color and pulsates in a manner reminiscent of an octopus. Following the success of this art, other artists emulated it to create more NFT in 2015. Buy the year 2017, it was discovered that almost $174 million has been spent on NFTs alone in the crypto industry. Given the quick profits coming from NFT, 21st-century artists have given more recourse to it as the best way of selling their arts online

2022-04-19Deep Dive

Russian Banks Want to Ban Self-Custody Crypto Wallets

The Association of Banks of Russia, a non-governmental organization representing the interest of the Russian banking and finance community, has reportedly suggested that lawmakers ban storing crypto outside of non-custodial wallets on centralized exchanges.　　Russian Bankers Want to Outlaw Direct Crypto Ownership　　Russia‘s banking community doesn’t want users to hold their own crypto.　　According to a Monday report by the local news agency Izvestia, the Association of Banks of Russia has reportedly proposed that lawmakers criminalize self-custody crypto wallets in order to mitigate “serious problems” with the recovery and seizure of cryptocurrencies from debtors and criminals. The news agency cites a letter that the Association has reportedly sent to the Bank of Russia, the Ministry of Finance, and the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation for consideration.　　Non-custodial or self-custody wallets give users direct and absolute ownership over their crypto assets, as opposed to custodial wallets where third parties like centralized exchanges are trusted to hold the users private keys. If properly secured, self-custody wallets make it impossible for anyone besides the owner to transfer the crypto assets within them.　　According to the banking associations vice president Anatoly Kozlachkov, the regulatory framework developed jointly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs originally proposed criminalizing

2022-04-19Deep Dive

Bitcoin Plunges to $38K as Sell-Off Accelerates

The price of Bitcoin slipped to $38,547 at 5:05 a.m. UTC on the Bitstamp exchange, hitting its lowest level since March 15.　　It has struggled to bounce back after reaching the intraday low, currently trading at $38,917. 　　On March 28, the flagship cryptocurrency reached a yearly high of $48,234.　　The cryptocurrency has been under pressure due to the U.S. Federal Reserve tightening its monetary policy at a rapid pace in order to tame inflation.　　As reported by U.Today, Brandt recently predicted that the price of Bitcoin could continue trading sideways for years before starting another major rally that could occur in 2024.　　The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, a widely tracked sentiment indicator, shows that Bitcoin traders remain gripped by “extreme fear.”　　As for altcoins, most of them have underperformed within the last 24 hours, which is a common occurrence during market corrections.　　Avalanche (AVAX), Cardano (ADA), and Terra (LUNA) have shed more than 6% over the last 24 hours.　　Decred (DCR) is one of the few top 100 cryptocurrencies in the green, surging by more than 28%.　　According to data provided by Coinglass, $223 million worth of cryptocurrencies has been liquidated over the past 24 hours. Long positions account for 88.72% of the wipeout. 　　The entire market

2022-04-18Deep Dive

$1.2 Billion Worth Of Bitcoin Leaves Coinbase In A Day, Signaling Heavy Institutional Accumulation

A significant number of Bitcoin left Coinbase at the start of the weekend.　　The outflows are indicative of increasing institutional interest in the asset class.　　Whales are picking up the pace in recent days following Bitcoins dip.　　Bitcoin whales are gobbling up as much as they can since Bitcoin fell below the $40K mark. The recent outflows of the asset from Coinbase are being construed as a pointer for institutional investors.Coinbases Bitcoin Outflow　　Leading US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase has recorded a major outflow of BTC from the platform. According to CryptoQuant, Coinbase saw 30,000 BTC leave the exchange for cold wallets and custody wallets on Friday.　　CryptoQuants CEO Ki-Young Ju took to Twitter to call the trend. “30K BTC flowed out from Coinbase today. Institutional buys might be the big narrative again because the Executive Order did not create any hurdle,” said Young.　　He added that while institutional buyers may have moved assets to cold wallets, this figure is not significant. He states that the latest move was the movement of assets towards “Coinbase Custody wallets for OTC deals from institutions.”　　Whale activity has been on a high since the passing of Bidens executive order that offered a shining light at the end of the tunnel for

2022-04-18Deep Dive

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