The January Crypto Crash

Massive selloff  Since 2022 started, the total crypto market cap has seen a decline of nearly 600 billion dollars. The last week in particular has been extremely volatile. Bitcoin is down over 16 percent over the last 7 days, according to CoinMarketCap. Ethereum is down over 24 percent, and nearly every other top digital asset is down over 10percent. A big factor of the selloff comes from stocks dropping and inflation continuing to rise. Everything from groceries to housing is getting more expensive, and there is fear in the air among retail investors. An additional part of this selloff comes from Russia‘s announcement for a possible ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining. At this point, talk of crypto bans are a normal part of the industry, and shouldn’t affect prices too heavily. Although that may be true, it doesnt help on top of the massive dip stocks have seen in the last week, specifically tech stocks.  Crypto prices tend to move with the stock market. Digital assets also have a history where they tend to be more volatile and often see bigger swings in price when the markets go up or down.  A repeating pattern  This isnt the first time crypto markets have seen

2022-01-24Malalim na Pagsisid

Huobi Launches $100M Lunar New Year Campaign To Support Metaverse Development

London, Jan. 24, 2022, PRNewswire – Huobi Global, one of the worlds leading digital-asset exchanges, announced today the official launch of its Lunar New Year campaign dubbed Prime Fest: Tiger Year.   Lasting until Feb. 14, 2022, the campaign encourages users to explore future possibilities in the metaverse — an expansive network of virtual worlds that may incorporate augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D holographic avatars, video and other means of communication in the future. To promote the development of the metaverse, Huobi is doling out US$100 million in prizes and rewards, including access to new metaverse token listings under Primelist, high-yielding asset management products under PrimeEarn, and special blind box draws under PrimeBox. Huobi will also invite participants to register for DIDs (decentralized identifiers), or personalized virtual identities in the metaverse. These users will be eligible to win unique tiger-themed nonfungible token (NFT) avatars.   Huobi‘s DIDs are designed as users’ entry points into the metaverse, providing an access point between Web 2.0 and Web3. DIDs are widely considered a prerequisite for anyone looking to enter the metaverse, not only granting users access but also recording and verifying all information and activity on blockchains. DIDs offer users security, ownership and interoperability. Huobis

2022-01-24Malalim na Pagsisid

Binance Becomes First Crypto Company to Join NCFTA

Binance sets precedence as the first blockchain and crypto setup to join the NCFTA.  Binance Joins NCFTA  Binance announced it has joined the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA) to help combat and counter threats of cyber crimes through the development and sharing of threat intelligence. ‍  Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Binance, announced in his January 18 tweet that Binance has become a formal member of the alliance. Binance is also the first company from the blockchain and crypto industry to join NCFTA.   “Binance is an industry leader with a proven track record in auditing international cybersecurity investigations,” said Matt LaVigna the President and CEO of NCFTA. “With their leadership, collaborate approach, and commitment to the war on cyber crime, they will enhance our ability to achieve the current mission of the NCFTA and assist in enabling a safe environment not only for the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, but for everyone.”  The purpose of the NCFTA organization is to provide a neutral and trusted environment that enables a two-way collaboration and cooperation to identify, mitigate and disrupt cyber crime. On its website, NCFTA provides the results of its efforts in combating cyber crime. It has successfully averted losses of approximately

2022-01-21Malalim na Pagsisid

Meta Reportedly Working On NFT Integrations For Facebook And Instagram

According to a report by the Financial Times, Meta has tasked teams from its Facebook and Instagram divisions to create functionality integrations and enable the minting and sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The new functionalities are said to allow users to display their NFTs or NFT collections directly through their social media profiles.  Instagram‘s company head, Adam Mosseri, stated in December that the social platform has been “actively exploring NFTs,” while initial reports on the matter have claimed that Instagram is currently doing internal testing for its NFT showcasing features. The program for Instagram’s NFT efforts was part of an initiative led by Kristin George, the platform‘s director of product and creators, and David Marcus, who previously led Facebook’s payments and crypto division. Marcus has since left Facebook and was replaced by Stephane Kasriel, former CEO of Upwork, a freelancing platform.  Meta has not released any official statement on the development, and yet according to sources familiar with the matter, Meta is also exploring the launch of a marketplace for users to buy, sell, or even trade NFTs. Such features would not be a surprise, since Meta has, in particular, rebranded itself to a metaverse company, announcing it to a global audience

2022-01-21Malalim na Pagsisid

Multichain Hacker Returns 322 ETH, Keeps Hefty Finders Fee

Owing to a security vulnerability in six tokens, Multichain users lost more than $3M over the week. A white hat hacker returned 322 ETH, but in excess of 527 ETH is still exploited.  In a dramatic twist, one of this weeks Multichain hackers has returned 322 ETH ($974,000 at the time of writing) to the cross-chain router protocol and one of the affected users.  However the hacker kept 62 ETH ($187,000) as a “bug bounty”, and a total of 528 ETH (worth $1.6M) remains outstanding after the exploits.  Earlier this week, news emerged of a security vulnerability with Multichain relating to the tokens WETH, PERI, OMT, WBNB, MATIC, and AVAX, and $1.43 million was stolen. Multichain announced on Jan. 17 the critical vulnerability had been “reported and fixed.”  However, publicity about the vulnerability reportedly encouraged a number of different attackers to swoop in, and more than $3 million in funds were stolen. The critical vulnerability in the six tokens still exists, but Multichain has drained around $44.5m of funds from multiple chain bridges to protect them.  One of the hackers, calling himself a “white hat” has been in communication with both Multichain and a user who lost $960,000 in the past day or so, to

2022-01-21Malalim na Pagsisid

Coinbase NFT Platform to Allow Purchase With Credit & Debit Cards

Coinbase Global Inc will start allowing users to buy non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with credit cards and debit cards following its new partnership with Mastercard.  To simplify the experience of buying NFTs in its new platform, Coinbase will allow users to do so without owning cryptocurrencies. The company has now accumulated more than 2.5 million people on its waitlist for its new platform since it announced the plan last October.  Per its announcement from the official blog, Coinbases new plan has made it a challenger to leading NFT platforms such as OpenSea.   “Today, if you want to buy an NFT — such as a digital art piece — you first need to open a crypto wallet, buy crypto, then use it to purchase an NFT in an online marketplace,” Mastercard‘s Raj Dhamodharan, who leads the company’s digital asset and blockchain partnerships, wrote in a blog post. “We think it should be much easier. That will ensure NFTs can be for everyone.”  “The partnership is a change from the status quo in the U.S., where crypto purchases are supported with just debit cards. Now, Mastercard will classify NFT as ”digital goods, which will allow cardholders to make NFT purchases through both credit and debit cards,

2022-01-20Malalim na Pagsisid

MetaFans: The Future of Sports Fandoms with NFTs

As the NFT craze continues to sweep across the industries of the world, its clear that the technology is moving away from the fringe “tech enthusiast” space and into the limelight. At this point, it is safe to assume that everyone has heard of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but crypto alone is far from the only game in town. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are quickly surpassing cryptocurrencies in popularity as they gain mainstream attention for their use in sports, gaming, contemporary art, and even real estate.  Currently, the NFT market boasts a multi-billion dollar valuation which is bigger than many well-established cryptocurrencies projects that have been around for several years. The market is projected to grow even more as companies and organizations begin to adopt these NFTs across an array of different industries. However, while they are mostly associated with art or gaming and collectibles NFTs are also making waves in the sports industry.  NFTs in Sports  The world of sports makes for a prime example of how NFTs can truly change the way fans interact with each other as well as with their favorite teams. Consider, for example, fans of a specific football club. Every year season ticket holders have to

2022-01-20Malalim na Pagsisid

Google Pay Hires PayPal Exec To Head Up Crypto Payments Push

The tech giant has hired a PayPal veteran to help with the expansion of Google Pay as it sets its sights on the future, including plans to explore crypto.  Google has hired a former PayPal executive to help bolster Google Pay, with plans to expand into the crypto space.  Arnold Goldberg has been given the task of running Googles payments division as part of a company-wide push into financial services, including crypto.  Googles president of commerce Bill Ready told Bloomberg that:  “Crypto is something we pay a lot of attention to [...] As user demand and merchant demand evolves, well evolve with it.”  Google Pay is an online payment system developed by Google to allow in-app, online and contactless purchases on mobile devices including Android phones, tablets and watches.  As part of the overhaul, Google will focus more on being a “comprehensive digital wallet” that includes digital tickets, airline passes and vaccine passports, Ready said.  Following the news, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) spiked to a high of $42,478 (from a 24-hour low of $41,254) before falling back down to $41,887 at the time of writing according to Coinmarketcap.  Google has been dipping its toes in the crypto space for quite some time, partnering with several crypto companies

2022-01-20Malalim na Pagsisid

Microsoft's Massive Metaverse Move: Buying Activision For $69B

Following the Activision Blizzard acquisition announcement, Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella stated that gaming “will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”  Microsoft Crop. is acquiring gaming giant Activision Blizzard Inc. for $69 billion as part of a move to ramp up its gaming and Metaverse plans.  Activision Blizzard is home to a long list of iconic gaming franchises such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, Candy Crush, World of Warcraft and Tony Hawk‘s Pro-Skater. Following the deal, its games are set to be added to Microsoft Xbox’s Game Pass service that has 25 million subscribers.  According to a Jan. 18 announcement from Microsoft, the firm will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share at a valuation of $68.7 billion. The deal is set to close in the 2023 fiscal year, and it will see Microsoft become the third largest gaming company in terms of revenue behind Riot Games owner Tencent and Playstation developer Sony.  Microsoft outlined that the acquisition will support the growth of its services across mobile, PC, console and cloud gaming, and also notably stated that it will “provide building blocks for the Metaverse.” Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella said:  “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category

2022-01-19Malalim na Pagsisid

OpenSea Acquires Dharma Labs

OpenSea, the largest non-fungible token marketplace in operation, has acquired Dharma in a private deal.  OpenSea Team Gets New Execs  With this acquisition, OpenSea will bring on board Dharma, whose team developed an Ethereum wallet with the defining feature of allowing users to buy crypto directly from their bank account.  OpenSea did not say precisely what efforts to which the team would contribute. Rather, it said that the acquisition will help it “[build] across…core priorities” such as product development, improving trust and safety, and investing in the NFT and Web3 ecosystem.  The new acquisition will also help OpenSea expand its team. Dharma‘s CEO and co-founder, Nadav Hollander, will serve as OpenSea’s Chief Technology Officer. Dharma COO and co-founder Brendan Forster will serve as OpenSeas Head of Strategy.  OpenSea did not disclose the terms of the deal. However, earlier speculation from Axios around the acquisition suggested that Dharma was worth $110 million to $130 million.  Dharma Wallet Will Come to an End  Dharma says that it will “sunset” its wallet over the next month and has instructed users to withdraw their funds before Feb. 18.  Funds can still be accessed after that date through a dApp, according to the Dharma team. However, the company strongly discourages waiting. To encourage

2022-01-19Malalim na Pagsisid
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