Professional Investors Believe Crypto Will Become Mainstream, Study Says

A recent survey found that professional investors believe that digital assets will become mainstream in the future.  The London-based crypto hedge fund Nickel Digital Asset Management survey found that more than eight out of 10 respondents in the study of 200 institutional allocators and wealth managers said they anticipate wider use cases of cryptocurrencies.  According to the survey result, half of the professional investors thought that digital assets would play a main role in portfolio diversification in the future.  Tokenization of traditional assets — converting real, regulated assets into digital assets on blockchain — providing access to decentralized finance platforms and the ability for crypto to provide a new value transfer mechanism, were other common broader-use cases reported seen for crypto in the future.  Nickel‘s survey also found that just under half of the professional investors believe that blockchain and digital asset technology are scalable and have a good chance of achieving mainstream adoption. While about one-in-five respondents think crypto has the potential to transform the world’s economy.  Nickel CEO Anatoly Crachilov said in a statement that “to a great extent, digital assets have already achieved escape velocity — they have achieved a multi-trillion dollar market cap. There is gradual regulatory acceptance of them in

2022-03-31Malalim na Pagsisid

Robinhood's Top Crypto Executive Announces Departure

Crypto executive Christine Brown, who was overseeing Robinhoods cryptocurrency initiatives is leaving the brokerage firm, she confirmed via her Twitter account.  Brown had spent five years at the company after leaving Google in 2017.  “After 5 amazing years at RobinhoodApp, Im moving on to start something new,” Brown tweeted.  According to a source familiar with the matter, Brown is starting a crypto startup. However, further details about her company are yet to be revealed. “As for what‘s next, I’m excited to be staying in the crypto space—more from me soon!” Brown said in her Twitter thread.  “I joined RH (short for Robinhood) when it was under 100 people — before we even offered a crypto product. Watching us grow through IPO and serving more than 22 million users has been the greatest professional experience of my life,” her tweet continued.  At Robinhood, she helped build a “self-clearing firm, standing up a Product Operations team, and supporting scaling crypto business.”  Robinhood‘s chief operating officer Gretchen Howard further confirmed her departure in a statement with The Block saying “We’re so grateful to Christine for her contributions to Robinhood over the past five years - from leading our self-clearing initiative to scaling the Robinhood Crypto team. Were excited to

2022-03-31Malalim na Pagsisid

OpenSea Signals Integration of Solana NFTs by April

Solanas non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will be available for buying and selling on OpenSeas website by April. The company signalled via a video on Twitter.  The launch date, however, is yet to be revealed. Following Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC) and Klaytn (KLAY), Solana will become the fourth blockchain that OpenSea will support.  Currently, Solana users can only trade NFTs on Magic Eden, Solanart and SolSea, but the largest marketplace for NFTs will be open as a new avenue for trading next month.  Transactions in OpenSea largely happen on Ethereum.  OpenSea successfully raised $300 million in a funding round earlier this year which took its valuation to $13 billion. Crypto VC Paradigm was among the backers, and the fund was launched by Katie Haun, a former general partner at a16z.  The NFT marketplace has also launched a venture program of its own. The idea behind it is to invest in startups and projects involved in NFTs.   In February, OpenSea moved to launch a venture program of its own, with the idea of investing in startups and projects within the NFT ecosystem. Social and gaming-focused projects are also being planned by the firm.  Blockchain.News reported in January that for the first time, monthly NFT trading volume breached the $4

2022-03-31Malalim na Pagsisid

Axie Infinity's Home Ronin Network Suffers Over $600m in another DeFi Hack

The Ronin Network has suffered what is being tagged as the largest hack in the history of Decentralized Finance (DeFi), which funds in excess of $625 million carted away by the hackers.  The Ronin Networks official blog post shared that the hackers perpetrated the attack on March 23, even though it is just being discovered.  Ronin Network is an Ethereum sidechain that was created with Axie Infinitys community in mind. It is the product of the search by the Axie Infinity team for a fast, cheap, and reliable network resident on the Ethereum blockchain. As detailed in the Ronin Network blog post, a total of “173,600 Ethereum and 25.5M USDC drained from the Ronin bridge in two transactions.”  “The attacker used hacked private keys in order to forge fake withdrawals. We discovered the attack this morning after a report from a user being unable to withdraw 5k ETH from the bridge,” the blog post reads.  As detailed by Ronin Network, a transaction can only be recognized by at least 5 out of the 9 validators signatures the protocol has. The network said the hackers “managed to get control over Sky Maviss four Ronin Validators and a third-party validator run by Axie DAO.”  The Ronin Network

2022-03-30Malalim na Pagsisid

MetaMask Adds Apple Pay Integration, Expands Options for Buying Cryptos

ConsenSys-owned crypto wallet MetaMask announced Tuesday the addition of Apple Pay integration, increasing options for buying cryptocurrencies.  MetaMask is a crypto wallet & gateway to blockchain apps. It is also a tool for interacting with decentralized applications (DAPP).  The app supports Firefox, Google Chrome, and Chromium-based browsers.  The company said it now supports iPhone or Apple Pay users to buy cryptocurrencies with debit or credit cards through the mobile app without transferring cryptocurrencies from cryptocurrency exchanges.  MetaMask uses two payment gateways, Wyre and Transak, to support transactions. Users can now buy ETH with credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) stored in Apple Pay and deposit up to $400 in their wallets through the Wyre API.  “We wanted to expand how users can convert crypto within the app itself and not have to leave it,” James Beck, Director of Communications and Content at ConsenSys, said.  The Ethereum software company ConsenSys has acquired the Ethereum interface MyCrypto last month, aiming to integrate MyCrypto with the MetaMask wallet owned by ConsenSys and improve the security of all products.  As a reminder, WikiBit is ready to help you search the qualifications and reputation of projects in a bid to protect you from hidden dangers in this risky industry!  iOS: t.ly/UUCj  Android: t.ly/cfYt  Source: Blockchain News

2022-03-30Malalim na Pagsisid

Polygon NFT Gaming Firm Cross the Ages Secures $12m in Seed Round, Backed by Ubisoft, Animoca

Blockchain game “Cross the Ages” (CTA) has received a $12 million in seed round from gaming crypto investment firm Animoca Brands, video game developer Ubisoft, and Sebastian Borget, co-founder and COO of The Sandbox.  The funds raised will be used for development programs, expansion of the current team of more than 140 people and go-to-market activities. Across Ages plans to release a beta version of the game at the end of May, with digital and physical cards to be released in June.  Subsequently, the developer plans to implant non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol suites such as yield farms into the game to earn rewards and plans to launch into the metaverse in 2023.  CTA co-founder and CEO Sami Chlagou said that:  “The CTA DeFi product will be accessible via the main user interface, but it will operate as its own standalone platform. We want to keep the gaming experience somewhat separate to ensure that the more commercial aspects of the CTA experiences do not distract from what will be a dynamic and unique metaverse gaming experience.”  “Cross the Ages” (CTA) is a dystopian free-to-play digital card game built on the Polygon blockchain, Ethereums sidechain scaling solution, where players can also choose

2022-03-30Malalim na Pagsisid

WWE Inks Deal with Fanatics to Offer Fans an Enhanced NFT Experience

To render its fans a new experience through non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has signed a deal with the digital sports platform Fanatics.   As an American integrated media and entertainment company known for professional wrestling, WWE sees the partnership as a game-changer that will give its global fanbase more opportunities to showcase their pride and passion for its star-studded roster and marquee events.  Vince McMahon, WWE chairman and CEO, welcomed the collaboration and stated:  “We believe this multi-platform partnership will set a new standard for WWE e-commerce, apparel and merchandise, while providing our fans globally with more ways than ever to engage with WWE and our Superstars.”  For elevated fan experience, WWE will be able to access Fanatics Collectibles, Fanatics Commerce, and Candy Digital.   Fanatics Collectibles, the NFT trading cards, will help revamp WWEs physical and digital cards.   Michael Rubin, Fanatics CEO, noted:  “From e-commerce and licensed merchandise to trading cards and more, we‘re going to offer up an incredible set of capabilities to help WWE’s passionate fans worldwide celebrate their favorite Superstars, marquee events and the WWE brand overall.”  WWE is one of the most widely admired sports and entertainment properties worldwide. Rubin added that it made perfect sense to

2022-03-29Malalim na Pagsisid

Bitcoin Back to Positive Territory Following Rally at $46,000

The price of Bitcoin hit the level of $46,000, which has put the worlds top cryptocurrency back on track to positive territory for the year, according to Bloomberg.  Bitcoin touched $47,583 during intraday in the Asia trading session, which was above the $35,000 to $45,000 range where it has been stuck since early January.  Bloomberg said that “with the fresh gains, Bitcoin is now up about 1.2% for the year, compared with a 4.7% decline for the S&P 500.”  The Federal Reserve and other central banks have removed some of the stimulus measures around Bitcoin in response to the pandemic downturn, and it has led the coin to remain in a tight path, Bloomberg said, which means that there is less cash to go towards riskier assets.  Digital currencies have also come under scrutiny recently, with speculation swirling that they could be used to avoid Russian sanctions.  However, Bitcoin and other tokens such as Ether began a steady uptrend this month alongside broader increases in U.S. stocks, but it took until the last day for Bitcoin to take out $45,000 convincingly.  “As we test the top of the 2022 trading range for the fifth time, this is another one of these Bitcoin moments when the narrative

2022-03-29Malalim na Pagsisid

Iris Energy Raises $71m in Debt Issuance

Iris Energy raised $71 million in debt issuance for new Bitcoin mining equipment.  According to a statement, the Australia-based Bitcoin mining firm won the deal with an NYDIG subsidiary. Iris Energy used 19,800 Bitmain S19j Pro miners to secure the loan. It has a 25-month term and an 11% interest rate.  Previously, Iris Energy had raised over $500 million in funding. While last year the company received $115 million in debt issuance. The company got the fund before upsizing its initial public offering on Nasdaq to $231 million.  The firm is looking to “take advantage of a strong balance sheet” and seek more funding opportunities in the future, the statement added.  “We look forward to formalizing additional loan facilities as miners continue to be delivered and installed,” Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO of Iris Energy, said in a statement.   The company owns a large crypto mining centre in upstate New York. It plans to increase its data centre capacity to 4.7 EH/s this year, “with the vast majority of the capacity expansion focused outside of the companys original site in New York,” according to a statement.  Likewise, Greenidge Generation Holdings secured a similarly structured $100 million financing round to help in enlarging its operations in

2022-03-29Malalim na Pagsisid

Coinbase Reportedly to Acquire Mercado Bitcoin Owner 2TM

Americas largest trading platform, Coinbase Global Inc, is reportedly on track to acquire 2TM, the Brazilian startup that owns the Mercado Bitcoin cryptocurrency exchange.  As reported by the Estadão newspaper, the American cryptocurrency trading firm has been in talks with 2TM since last year, despite citing no sources, claims a deal is on track to be inked by the end of April.  Mercado Bitcoin has been on a massive growth trajectory with the exchange hitting a 3.2 million milestone in the past year. While the platform added as much as 1.1 million in 2021 alone and the platforms transaction volume topped $7.1 billion.   Latin America is growing to become a major region of interest amongst prominent trading platforms as there has been a steady growth of digital currency users in the region. Should the acquisition move be confirmed, it will lend credence to Coinbases expansion strategy as Mercado Bitcoin will be a very good pathway to make its presence felt in the Latin American world.  2TM is valued at $2.1 billion following $200 million it raised in a Series B funding round and $50 million in a second closing of the funding in last November. The startup also received a liquidity injection from

2022-03-29Malalim na Pagsisid
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