IMF Chief Warns of Terra Crash, Calls it as Pyramid Scheme

While the heat with respect to the Terra protocol collapse is cooling off, global experts, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva waded in to express her feelings about the LUNA and UST crash, calling it a ‘Pyramid’ scheme.  The comments about LUNA were made at the World Economic Forum (WEF) ongoing in Davos.  Per a Bloomberg report quoting Kristalina, the global financial regulator said world leaders should not lose focus of the positivity that surrounds the crypto ecosystem even though there is an urgent need to bring functional regulations to the space.  “I would beg you not to pull out of the importance of this world. It offers us all faster service, much lower costs, and more inclusion, but only if we separate apples from oranges and bananas,” also noting with respect to stablecoins that “The less there is backing it, the more you should be prepared to take the risk of this thing blowing up in your face.”  UST, the algorithmic stablecoin of the Terra protocol, lost its peg a few weeks ago, dragging along the LUNA coin, which shed off more than 99.9% of its value overnight. With many investors reeling in losses, regulators worldwide are exploring a

2022-05-25Malalim na Pagsisid

eBay Joins the NFT Space, Offering Traders a Seamless Experience

Through a strategic partnership with Web3 company OneOf, e-commerce giant eBay has entered the non-fungible token (NFT) sector to enable traders to buy and sell items confidently.  eBays exclusive NFTs will include animated and 3D interpretations of iconic athletes highlighted on Sports Illustrated covers in the past years.   To offer high-value items and heightened passion to the eBay community of buyers and sellers, NFTs emerged as an ideal stepping stone, according to Dan Block, the VP of Collectibles, Electronics, and Home at eBay.  Block added:  “NFTs and blockchain technology are revolutionizing the collectibles space, and are increasingly viewed as an investment opportunity for enthusiasts. Through our partnership with OneOf, eBay is now making coveted NFTs more accessible to a new generation of collectors everywhere.”  With 142 million buyers worldwide, eBay is the second-largest e-commerce player after Amazon and seeks to render more economic opportunities through cutting-edge technologies like NFTs.  Lin Dai, OneOfs CEO, pointed out:  “You dont have to be a crypto expert to buy, sell, and collect NFTs. OneOf and eBay are bringing transformative Web3 technology to the next 100M non-crypto-native mass consumers.”  The NFT collection will comprise 13 limited editions, classified as green, gold, platinum, and diamond.   Wayne Gretzky, a Sportsman of the Year, noted:  “Forty

2022-05-24Malalim na Pagsisid

FTX Quietly Seeks to Buy Brokerage Startups Amid Move into Stock Trading

A report by CNBC media outlets shows that the FTX cryptocurrency exchange has been planning to acquire brokerage startups. The new interest comes after the crypto exchange recently expanded into stock trading.  Sources familiar with negotiations have disclosed that the Bahamas-based crypto exchange has approached at least three privately held stock trading startups for a possible acquisition.  The sources asked for their identities to remain anonymous because the deal talks were confidential.  In recent months, FTX has spoken to firms including Webull, Apex Clearing and Public.com, among others, sources said.  Last week, FTX announced plans to move into equities. The exchange intends to provide commission-free trading in the U.S. as part of its effort to acquire more users.  FTX has already created strategic investments in the space. In April, the firm acquired a stake in IEX Group, a major stock exchange based in New York. Earlier this month, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried bought a major stake in Robinhood amid speculation that the crypto firm is looking for a possible acquisition. However, the Robinhood takeover may prove to be difficult without the founders approval.  Responding to Changes in The Market  FTX has been ambitious to become a leading crypto exchange in the US. Last week, the exchange opened

2022-05-24Malalim na Pagsisid

GameStop Launches Self Custodial Wallet for Crypto, NFTs

Video game retailer GameStop Corp is advancing its reach into the Web3.0 ecosystem with the launch of its new digital currency wallet.  As announced by the company, the new wallet is a non-custodial one, and it gives allowance to users to connect to decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms from within their web browsers.  The company said allowance will be provided by the “digital asset wallet to allow gamers and others to store, send, receive and use cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (”NFTs“) across decentralized apps without having to leave their web browsers.”  The new wallet is based on the Ethereum blockchain and it can easily be obtained by visiting the Chrome Web Store to download it. Besides granting access to users to connect with any mainstream marketplace in the space, the GameStop non-custodial wallet will also grant seamless access to the companys highly anticipated NFT marketplace.  The Grapevine Texas-based company, best known for its meme stock trading, has been charting a new path for itself to bring more value to its users and the company at large. The companys stock soared in an unusual way back in January this year as it unveiled its grand entry into the crypto and NFT ecosystem.  While it has made a

2022-05-24Malalim na Pagsisid

S. Korean Exchanges to be Held Accountable for LUNA Crash

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem including the protocols two flagship digital currencies, LUNA and UST may have more aftermaths than earlier imagined.  According to the latest reports from local media platform Newspim, the top cryptocurrency exchanges are now likely to be held accountable for failing to implement measures to protect investors from the crash.  In just about a week, UST depegged widely from the expected $1 price while the LUNA coin lost more than 99.99% of its value, charting the course of history as the worst collapse of a major cryptocurrency in recent times.  South Korean regulators and lawmakers are notably looking for who to hold accountable for this unfortunate event and exchanges including Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax are the best culprits. With a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 24th, a number of government officials, crypto industry giants, and members of the legislative arm will be present to assess the customer protection measures instituted before the crash by the trading platforms.  While it is not clear the exact yardstick and the modalities the inquiries will take, the latest reports confirm earlier stories that show the government has resorted to intensive scrutiny for digital assets trading platforms operating in the country.  With the

2022-05-24Malalim na Pagsisid

Ethereum Merge Might Happen in August as Testing Enters Final Round

Speaking at the Permissionless 2022 Conference in Florida, the U.S., Ethereum Researcher Justin Drake disclosed that the merge of Ethereum (ETH) might happen in August.  Market insight provider Bankless pointed out. He noted:  “Strong desire to make this happen before difficulty bomb in August. Stars are aligned.”  Meanwhile, Ethereum core developer Preston Van Loon shared similar sentiments that testing was in the final stages and said:  “As far as we know, if everything goes to plan, August—it just makes sense. If we dont have to move, lets do it as soon as we can.”  The merge, which will transition the current proof-of-work (PoS) consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS), has been elusive because it was slated for June.  Previously, Ethereum lead developer Tim Beiko revealed that the shift would not happen in June as planned. He pointed out:  “It wont be June, but likely in the few months after. No firm date yet, but were definitely in the final chapter of PoW on Ethereum.”  The merge is estimated to be the biggest software upgrade in the Ethereum ecosystem because the PoS algorithm will allow the confirmation of blocks in a more energy-efficient way. After all, it requires validators to stake Ether instead of solving a cryptographic puzzle.   Validators

2022-05-23Malalim na Pagsisid

Crypto Market Crash Leaves Investors Counting Losses

Over the previous two years, a boom in crypto prices minted a generation of millionaires and billionaires. Some industry executives and even regular investors acquired extraordinary wealth out of cryptocurrency trading.  But of late, the crypto market has crashed. Last week, central bank interest rates tightening reports, inflation concerns, and the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and its LUNA token, helped ignite a wider meltdown, plunging Bitcoin price and wiping $300 billion in value from the wider crypto economy. The recent crypto market crisis has not only hurt investors but also erased billions of dollars from their fortunes.  Lost opportunities  Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is one of the heavyweight investors who faced the wrath. After Ethereums price surpassed $3,000 and hit a high of over $4,800 in November last year, Vitalik possessed a digital wallet whose ETH contents were valued at about $1.5 billion.  But on Friday last week, Buterin revealed on social media that he is no longer a billionaire. Due to the ongoing market sell-off, Ether has lost 60 % of its value, trading at around $2,028 during the intraday on Monday Asia section, according to Coinmarketcap.  Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance - the worlds largest crypto exchange - also has

2022-05-23Malalim na Pagsisid

LUNA and UST Crash Could Have Been Averted if Bitcoin Reserves were Used Earlier, Binance CEO Says

The collapse of LUNA and UST, the native tokens of the Terra network, could have been avoided if the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) had used its Bitcoin reserves earlier, according to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ).  Sharing his insights on the Binance website, CZ noted:  “The Terra team was slow in using their reserves to restore the peg. The entire incident may have been avoided if they had used their reserves when the de-peg was at 5%. After the value of the coins had already crashed by 99% (or $80 billion), they tried to use $3 billion to do the rescue. Of course, this didnt work.”  Things started going wrong when the price of the algorithmic UST stablecoin experienced a free fall to the extent that it hit lows of $0.225 from its $1 peg.  Later on, LUNA sent shockwaves to the crypto market because it nearly lost 100% of its value overnight after reaching the near-zero level.   CZ also opined that the rain started beating the Terra network after more LUNA was minted in an attempt to salvage the situation. He pointed out:  “Printing money does not create value; it just dilutes existing holders. Exponentially minting LUNA made the problem a lot worse.”  The other

2022-05-23Malalim na Pagsisid

Prosecutors Investigate Do Kwon with Ponzi Fraud Charges amid Terraform Labs Dissolvement

Do Kwons scandal seem to be deepening. Prosecutors are investigating whether they will file Ponzi fraud charges against him following the Terra crash, according to The Korea Times.   This comes a day after LUNA and UST investors filed a legal complaint against Do Kwon and Daniel Shin, the co-founders of Terraform Labs. LUNA and UST are the native tokens of the Terra network developed by South Korean fintech company Terraform Labs.  Having wiped out at least $38 billion of investors money in a week, prosecutors in South Korea are delving deeper into the Terra crash. For instance, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office that is leading the case intends to seek the services of an investigation team based on lodged complaints and various factual backgrounds.  Per the announcement:  “Prosecutors in charge of the case are looking into whether they can make a Ponzi scheme case against ”Anchor Protocol,“ under which depositors of TerraUSD are guaranteed a 20 percent annual return.”  Financial authorities believe 280,000 South Korean investors hold approximately 70 billion LUNA coins, even though the exact amount remains unknown.   Earlier this week, relevant governmental agencies beefed up crypto exchange inspections to try and unravel what transpired during the crash.  Did Do Kwon dissolve Terraform

2022-05-23Malalim na Pagsisid

a16z Floats $600m Gaming Fund

After more than a decade of actively investing in the gaming industry, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) wants to further exert its influence in that space.  In order to do this, the investment giant has floated a $600 million fund which it believes will help position it aright to tap enough market share in the more than $300 billion industry.  The company said it floated the fund which it named Games Fund One with the backing of key players in the gaming industry including David Baszucki, founder of Roblox; Jason Citron, founder of Discord; Marc Merrill, co-founder of Riot Games; Mike Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard; Aleks Larsen and Jeffrey Zirlin, co-founders of Sky Mavis; Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga; and Riccardo Zacconi, founder of King.  The enormous funds will be used to support startups building a wide range of solutions in the space. These solutions border on infrastructure, supporting ecosystems for developers, and outfits developing games directly.  “GAMES FUND ONE is founded on the belief that games will play a pivotal role in defining how we socialize, play, and work over the next century. Over the past decade, games have undergone a radical transformation, from simply being packaged entertainment to becoming

2022-05-20Malalim na Pagsisid
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