Another NFT marketplace launches ‘vampire attack’ against OpenSea

Mark Cuban-backed non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Mintable launched a self-described vampire attack against top marketplace OpenSea by selling popular collectibles at a loss.Fast facts　　Singapore-based Mintable conducted a fire sale of nine Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs by selling them 1 to 2 ETH below their floor price on Jan. 26, while another was bought for 18.7 ETH and sold for 18.05 ETH — a loss of US$1,587 at the time.　　Mintable said in a statement shared with Forkast the platform intends to repeat such sales to chip away at OpenSea despite running at a loss on some individual sales.　　A vampire attack is a strategy of offering rewards or incentives to users of a particular platform to lure them away to another platform.　　OpenSea has been the target of recent vampire attacks including from newcomer marketplace LooksRare airdropping its native LOOKS tokens to OpenSea users that spent at least 3 ETH in the second half of 2021. 　　A similar airdropping tactic was used by competing marketplace Infinity last October.　　Mintable‘s monthly sales volume of US$755,000 January is dwarfed by OpenSea’s over US$5 billion for the same month.

India Adopts Crypto, Introduces ‘Crypto Tax’ At Union Budget 2022

India in its Union Budget 2022 has decided to introduce a ‘Crypto Tax’. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a 30% tax on any income from the transfer of virtual digital assets. No Tax deductions or exemptions apart from the cost of acquisition shall be permitted, according to Sitharaman.　　With this decision, a lot of ambiguity around cryptocurrency has been addressed, ensuring better clarity on how exactly cryptocurrency will be taxed in India.　　Cryptocurrency in India had gained tremendous popularity in the past few years, with over 10 crore cryptocurrency investors. India currently happens to be one of the biggest markets for digital tokens. 　　India for a quite long time had been unclear about the taxation scheme for cryptocurrency. Investors now have a concrete taxation framework to refer to about these virtual asset investments.What Exactly Does This Proposed Crypto Tax Mean 　　“The proposed section 115BBH seeks to provide that where the total income of an assessee includes any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset, the income tax payable shall be the aggregate of the amount of income-tax calculated on income of transfer of any virtual digital asset at the rate of 30% and the amount of income-tax with which the assessee

Is Bitcoin in for a short Squeeze? 4 bullish trends to look out for

Bitcoin is now into its 12th week of the prevailing drawdown since the all-time-high, and derivatives traders are betting on more downwards movements by the premiere cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, on-chain demand models suggest a more bullish undertone is in play, according to on-chain analysts Glassnode.　　“As a percentage of the Bitcoin market cap, open interest in perpetual swaps is hovering around 1.3%, which is historically high, and often as precursor to a deleveraging event,” Glassnodes writes in this weeks newsletter.Short bias in perpetual swap markets　　At the same time, funding rates have traded negative for much of January, Which may indicate a short bias in perpetual swap markets. A similar negative trend can be seen in options markets, with a multi-month high put/call ratio of 59%; an indication that traders have shifted towards buying downside insurance.　　“With this observable shift from long into short bias across derivatives markets, the dominance of futures liquidations has started to creep towards the short side. With high negativity, elevated leverage, and an overall short bias, a reasonable argument could be made for a potential counter-trend short squeeze in the near-term,” the newsletter reads.　　Looking at the demand side of the market, the number of non-zero Bitcoin wallet balances is

How Blockchain Improves Flight Delay Insurance?

Fossils vs. Renewables, PoW vs. PoS: Key policy issues around crypto mining in the U.S.

On Jan. 27, a group of eight U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, sent letters to the world‘s six largest Bitcoin mining companies, demanding to reveal the detailed data on their electricity consumption. This isn’t the first time Senator Warren requested this information from a mining operation — last month a similar letter was sent to Greenidge Generation, which uses a natural gas plant to power its facility.　　These moves highlight the increasing regulatory pressure on crypto mining businesses in the United States. But, as last week‘s Congress hearing showed, the growing scrutiny might turn out to be an opportunity to align the mining sector’s development with the broader political push for clean energy. Here are some of the key themes around crypto mining that have captured the lawmakers attention and that will likely inform the intensifying policy conversation.Total energy consumption　　A cornerstone of any environmental critique of Bitcoin and crypto in general, the question of how much energy cryptocurrency mining consumes was expectedly prominent at the hearing. In a 2018 paper published in the prestigious journal Nature, a group of researchers predicted that Bitcoin‘s growth could singlehandedly push global emissions above 2 degrees Celsius within less than three decades —

What is the SX Network?

The cryptocurrency community has numerous ideals that helped grow the market to over $3 trillion at its peak. These ideals include security, decentralization, and free markets and are now being upheld by SportX via the SX Network.　　To understand what the SX Network is we first need to look at SportX itself, which is a consumer-facing front-end prediction market application. It uses the SX Protocol, a set of smart contracts, to power and govern the non-custodial market.　　SportX is decentralized and members of its community vote and submit governance proposals. To do so, they must hold the SX Token, as it importantly defines who can vote on decisions that may impact the SX Treasury, which is an on-chain fee pool that receives 55% of all SX along with the fees generated by the SX Protocol.Understanding the SX Network　　Taking all of this into account, we get a bigger picture of the SX Network, which includes the SX Chain, the base layer for the network. The blockchain is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible one in which users keep the same wallet address they did on Ethereum, along with the same token names, block explorers and wallets.　　SX Network is the first layer-two blockchain for

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Analyst Lowers The Forecast

It‘s always a great time to be alive when you’re predicting the future of bitcoin. Panelists from various industries and fields have revised their predictions with us again, but they still think this cryptocurrency will hit new highs by 2022. Cryptocurrencies are not for the faint-hearted, but experts believe that record highs await us in 2022.　　Bitcoin has seen a significant drop in value this week, with prices currently sitting at around 50% of their all-time high. However, it has recovered slightly after reaching as low as $33K on Monday morning and is worth about $37K.　　Analysts are split on whether or when to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency. However, more than half believe this is a good time for buyers, with only 45% disagreeing.　　It is interesting to see how different groups respond when given an investment opportunity. In this case, 29% of those surveyed said they should neither buy nor sell, while 10% thought investors should sell. Bitcoin Price Predictions　　By the end of 2022, experts from the top 33 fintech predict that the bitcoin price will reach an all-time high. The prediction is $93 717 – more than $20,000 higher than its current all-time high in November.　　Bitcoin price has managed to

Crypto Winter: An Investor’s Big Fear…

It‘s been a challenging few months for crypto investors since Bitcoin fell from its all time high of 69k; on top of that, many coins have followed in BTC’s price action footsteps.　　The entire crypto market has shed more than $1 trillion in value since, and many experts believe more is to come and that this will not be the last of the wave; many people scramble to get a grasp onfwhats to come and if we will fall into another dreaded crypto winter.Cold World For Crypto…　　The entire crypto market has lost roughly $1 trillion in value since November, around the time of bitcoin‘s all-time high, and other tokens such as ether and solana followed the number one digital currency to trade sharply lower. Ethereum has more than halved in value since reaching its peak in November, while Solana has suffered an even steeper decline, falling 65 percent. Back in 2018, bitcoin went through what many now refer to as ’crypto winter, which saw witness to an 80 percent drop in bitcoin; could this be another case of the current price action　　BTC: Bitcoin fighting to break 40k after hitting all time high in November 2021. | BTC:USDtradingview.com　　David Marcus, the former head

People Working At Bitcoin And Cryptocurrency Exchanges Can Earn More Than One Million Dollars A Year

President Job Biden told U.S. federal agencies to regulate cryptocurrencies, digital assets, Bitcoin, and NFTs. Biden maintains that regulating this fast-growing industry is so important that its become a “matter of national security.” Its an interesting point of time for this action as the crypto market is going through a tumultuous time, losing large amounts of value for its investors. 　　Regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Internal Revenue Service, and FINRA will likely coordinate their investigations, audits and examinations. Theyll also review whether or not tokens should be considered and registered as securities. 　　So far the likelihood of regulation and the “The recent crash in the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has not yet affected the rich total compensation packages offered by cryptocurrency firms, according to an analysis by the professional social network Blind.”　　The compensation is highly competitive at cryptocurrency exchanges. They also tend to offer remote work options and other great benefits. Typical total compensation packages at Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges usually offer employees equity, stock options, and restricted stock units— which could result in future windfalls if the firm does well. 　　According to self-reported salary data listed on Blind,

ERTHA One of the Most Searched Play-to-Earn Tokens

Following a series of record-breaking IDO‘s and recent listings on two of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges Huobi Global and KuCoin, Ertha Metaverse has emerged as one of 2022s highest trending Play-to-Earn games.　　According to CryptoRank, Ertha ranked 2nd in its list of the ‘Most Searched Play-to-Earn Tokens’ during a 30 day period. The project generated an incredible 52,290 page visits, a 58.2% increase on the previous 30 days, and currently holds a market cap of $21 million. This can, in part, be attributed to its strong ties with some of the industrys top launchpads such as Seedify, GameFi, and RedKite and its Prime Listing on Huobi.　　A hugely successful token launch, coupled with the fact that Ertha‘s NFTs are getting snapped up almost as quickly as they can be released, means that prospective players shouldn’t wait long to get involved in one of blockchain gamings hottest properties.　　Sales of Erthas NFTs have greatly exceeded expectations. They recently passed the 20,000 milestone and show no sign of slowing down.　　2022 is set to the year that blockchain gaming finally enters the mainstream and Ertha will have a large part to play.Introduction to Ertha　　In Ertha, mankind finds itself on the brink of extinction. World leaders