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Showing posts from February, 2023

Solana Network Outages Weren’t Caused By Validator Messages Or On-Chain Voting, Says CEO

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Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage What – Solana network has recorded some outages in recent times. Why – The last one lasted 20 hours, causing the users to create diverse speculations about the root causes. What Next – One user attributed the downtime to the consensus layer’s massive validator messages and on-chain voting systems. However, Solana Labs CEO and Founder negated such observations stating that it’s born out of pure ignorance. Also, in a post , by Solana Foundation outlining details of the Beta outage, the developers are yet to identify the root cause of the downtime.     Solana Network Outages Solana network facilitates the creation of decentralized applications. It combines both proof-of-history and proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms to improve scalability. By that, Solana blockchain is positioned to accommodate many applications without collapsing, thereby increasing usability. Moreover, the network offers short processi

Bitcoin Depot converts BTC ATMs to software to reduce operating costs

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The software conversion of the crypto ATMs, which vertically integrates Bitcoin Depot’s hardware and software, eliminates annual software licensing fees. Crypto ATM installations have seen a steady decline across the world over the past several months. While some ATMs have been taken out of operation due to geopolitical tensions and revenue decline, some providers like Bitcoin Depot have started converting their physical Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs to software.  Bitcoin Depot recently converted all of its 7,000 crypto ATMs and kiosks to a software-based offering powered by BitAccess. The software conversion drive came after Bitcoin Depot acquired majority equity in BitAccess back in November 2022. Months before the deal, Bitcoin Depot had revealed plans to go public in 2023 via an $885 million deal with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The software conversion of the crypto ATMs, which vertically integrates Bitcoin Depot’s hardware and software , eliminates annual software licens

Bitcoin, Ethereum Traders Sell at a Loss: Is the Bottom Here?

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After quite a turbulent year, the cryptocurrency market was slowly inching toward recovery. Bitcoin [BTC] recorded gains of over 50% in 2023. While most of them were pocketing profits, it was brought to light that for the first time since December 2022, Bitcoin and Ethereum [ ETH ] traders were selling at a loss. According to on-chain analytics firm Santiment, Bitcoin and Ethereum traders were at a loss as opposed to a profit. Following the FTX debacle, BTC slumped to a low of $15.5K. In December, when the asset was around $16,000, traders sold it at a significant loss. But now, for the first time since then and in 2023, these traders are at a loss. Santiment noted that this was pertinent as it indicated that Bitcoin and Ethereum bottoms could be here. Source Elaborating on the same, Santiment said, “Historically, once the crowd is exiting their positions more frequently at a loss, bottoms are more likely to form.” Bitcoin and its price are hotly debated topics.

South Africa Added to FATF 'Grey List' Despite Designation of Crypto as a Financial Product

In a move seen as a major setback for South Africa, the international financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force, announced on Feb. 24 that it had added the country to its “grey list.” Getting grey-listed by the financial watchdog potentially makes it difficult for South Africa to obtain loans from foreign banks. A Setback for South Africa The global financial crimes watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has added South Africa to its grey list, which is a group of countries that are “committed to resolving swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes.” According to one report, the inclusion of South Africa in the FATF’s so-called grey list is a major reputational setback for the country which has been eager to avoid being added to the list. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, a South African financial industry regulator designated crypto as a financial product after the FATF reportedly voiced its concerns over the lack of regulation of suc

NFT Sales Soar 138% in Past Week, Blur Market Dominates This Week's ETH-Based NFT Sales

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Non-fungible token (NFT) sales have soared this past week, climbing 138.15% higher than the week before. Sales recorded between last Friday and Feb. 24, 2023, indicate that $801 million in NFT sales have been settled over the last seven days. Ethereum Digital Collectibles and Mutant Ape Yacht Club Lead NFT Sales Surge While crypto asset prices took a step back on Friday, the last seven days have shown a significant rise in NFT sales compared to the previous week. Bitcoin.com News reported last week that NFT sales had surged 43%, but in the past seven days, sales have increased by 138.15% since last Friday. Over the last week, $801 million in NFT sales were settled, and the number of NFT buyers increased by 34.7% compared to the previous week. Ethereum dominated NFT sales over the last seven days, accounting for $762 million of the total sold. Solana followed Ethereum in NFT sales with $17,717,911, but while Ethereum’s sales jumped 162.67% over the last week, Solana’s NFT sales drop

Elon Musk Still Needs Lawyer to Approve Tesla Tweets: SEC

Elon Musk’s tweets have always been unfiltered and unadulterated. Right from opining under various threads and participating in banter to revealing his political inclination and randomly tweeting about dogs, the Tesla executive has time and again proven to be just like any normal Twitter user. A couple of years ago, the SEC flagged Elon Musk ’s behavior. In October 2018, the executive and the regulatory agency agreed to a deal saying Musk needed to get prior permission from a sec urities lawyer to tweet any information “material to the company” that could move Tesla’s stock. In an April Fool’s prank, Musk once proclaimed that Tesla had gone bankrupt. Then, time and again, he tweeted about the financial health, potential mergers, forecasts/projections, expansion details, earnings estimates of the company, etc. His tweets have frequently influenced the price of TSLA, and as a result, the regulatory agency pushed the “permission” deal. When broken down, there were around nine aspects

FTX, Voyager Reach an 'Interim' Agreement on $445M Disputed Loan

Voyager has been making quite a few headlines lately. This was prompted by Alameda, FTX’s sister firm, after it sued Voyager while seeking $445.8 million. A recent court filing shows that the parties involved had reached a temporary agreement on the $445 million lawsuit. Veering back to January 2023, Alameda sued Voyager over loan repayments that the firm had made prior to its bankruptcy filing. Alameda was pursuing the lawsuit with the intent to recoup the aforementioned funds. Any further remuneration that may have included legal fees was also requested. Now, dismissing the same, the filings show that Voyager was allowed to hold onto the $445 million in cash. The court document read, “ Voyager OpCo shall reserve and hold the amount of $445,000,000 in cash of U.S. Dollars on account of the Preference Claims asserted by the FTX Debtors4 and their estates against the Voyager Debtors in the FTX Adversary Proceeding.” However, it should be noted that this was “until the

Dogecoin Price Prediction for March 2023

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Predicting the price of Dogecoin has become essential in light of the recent rally. Dogecoin (DOGE), the first-ever meme cryptocurrency, created quite a stir in the market. Elon Musk, a multibillionaire businessman, actively promoted the asset, putting it in the spotlight. As a result, Musk’s actions had a big impact on the price of DOGE. However, the Tesla CEO’s most recent Twitter activity resulted in a significant increase in the asset’s value. Also read: Ethereum Shanghai/Capella Upgrade Gets a Final Date From Developers At press time, DOGE is trading at $0.0851, with a 1.33% drop in value over the last 24 hours. However, the 24-hour trading volume has spiked by 57.2%, thanks to the recent tweet of Musk. Source: CoinMarketCap Dogecoin price prediction for March 2023 Based on Dogecoin ’s behavior at the start of 2023, cryptocurrency experts at Changelly predicted the price of DOGE for March. For March, DOGE’s minimum price is anticipated to be $0.0919908. The m

Coinbase staking 'fundamentally different’ to Kraken's — chief lawyer

After the SEC’s crack-down on Kraken, Coinbase’s legal head outlined the differences between Kraken’s staking product and its own. The staking services offered by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase are “fundamentally different” to what was offered by its peer exchange Kraken — which recently came under fire from the United States securities regulator — according to Coinbase's head lawyer. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, made the comments in his response to a shareholder question regarding its staking services during a Q&A session on the exchange’s fourth-quarter results, noting: “The staking products that we offer on Coinbase are fundamentally different from the yield products that were described in the reinforcement action against Kraken. The differences matter.” The first point of difference Grewal highlighted was that Coinbase users retain ownership of their cryptocurrencies at all times. In its user agreement last updated Dec. 15, 2022, Coinbase states that it m

Hope Finance exploit results in $2M stolen from users' funds

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An Arbitrum-based algorithmic stablecoin project has fallen prey to a smart contract exploit, seeing $2 million stolen from users. Prospective users of an Arbitrum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) project have been left out of pocket following a $2 million exploit . Web3 security firm CertiK flagged the incident on Feb. 21, following an announcement from the Hope Finance Twitter account notifying users that they had been scammed. #CommunityAlert @hope_fin have announced the community has been scammed for ~$2m making this the largest #exitscam on Arbitrum in 2023. $1.86m was transferred to @TornadoCash. Hope_fin have posted steps for user's to withdraw their staked LPhttps://t.co/hJbFXiKujt — CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) February 21, 2023 Details of the project are difficult to come by. The platform’s Twitter account was launched in January 2023 and outlined plans for an algorithmic stablecoin called $HOPE which dynamically adjusts its supply relative to the price of ETH. Post

Philippines Crypto Youtuber Rozz Charles Reviews Fight Out – Workout Metaverse NFT Project Early Stage

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Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Philippines cryptocurrency and NFT enthusiast Rozz Charles reviewed the innovative M2E platform Fight Out for his 45,800 subscribers. The goal of Fight Out is to provide a method through which anyone can achieve the kind of accomplishment they desire through physical activity. Filipino Trader Rozz Charles – Fight Out to Transform the World of Fitness With its revolutionary Web3 and Move-to-Earn technologies, Fight Out is altering the traditional fitness  industry. The brand-new project is developing a premium gym and training application. Fight Out is basically a Move-to-Earn platform that rewards users for exercising. Unlike other M2E projects, which only track steps, the Fight Out app will compensate users for performing a variety of activities at home or in a gym. The user’s fitness regimen is personalized to their individual needs and abilities, and their successes and improvements are automatically r

Checkout Friction May Lose Online Retailers 50% Of Their Sales

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Fifty-five percent of customers claim that checkout friction is so annoying that it causes them to abandon a transaction in the middle of it. Any eCommerce site, but notably small firms operating on slim profit margins, might see a considerable portion of lost income as a result of that possible missed opportunity. The ability to hold payment data is no longer a perk; it is now expected as online retailers develop their capacities to meet consumer expectations for a seamless experience. To attain a quicker, more efficient checkout process, 80% of consumers keep their payment information online across different merchant websites or apps, according to “Payments and Credentials Vaults: Gauging Customer Interest,” a PYMNTS and FIS partnership. This implies that there is a greater chance that customers will notice when checkout friction happens, which is typically caused by out-of-date payment information or data theft. Businesses could be apprehensive about

Bitcoin market cap ‘flips’ payments giant Visa for the 3rd time

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While the collapse of FTX shaved $100 billion off of BTC’s market cap in just four days last year, BTC has managed to fully recover and stack on another $65 billion. A 48% Bitcoin (BTC) price surge since the start of the year has pushed BTC's market cap past that of payment processing giant Visa once again. With the BTC price currently at $24,365, its market cap of $470.16 billion is now marginally above that of Visa, which has a market cap of $469.87 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. BTC has “flippened” Visa again. Source: CoinMarketCap. This is the third time that BTC has “flippened” the market cap of Visa, according to Companies Market Cap. The first time came in late December 2020, when BTC also happened to hit $25,000 for the first time. This was achieved during a price surge that saw BTC rally from $10,200 in September 2020 to $63,170 seven months later, in April 2021. Visa re-took the lead between June and October 2022, which then saw BTC surpass Visa for a very brief m

BLUR Price Soars 33% To $1.22 – Is $10 In Sight?

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Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage The BLUR airdrop has been one of the biggest trends in the crypto space this week. This was marked by redemptions and price surges. At the time of writing, BLUR price is up 36% from its listing price on Coinbase a few days ago. The price of the Blur NFT exchanges token was 33% up on the day with a daily trading volume of $634 million. $BLUR is now LIVE All traders across all marketplaces in the last 3 months, Care Package holders, and Creators are eligible for the airdrop. You have 60 days to claim your BLUR ⏰ pic.twitter.com/AZynnHeIhz — Blur (@blur_io) February 14, 2023 After Coinbase’s Twitter announcement that the U.S.-based exchange was listing the token, BLUR has become one of the most talked about altcoins in the NFT space. Will this reflect how the price performs going forward? Is It Possible For Blur Price To Reach $10? Despite listing at $0.88 on Coinbase, the price action has seen huge vol

Dormant Dogecoin Wallet Moves 326M DOGE Tokens

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Meme coins had a great week, courtesy of Elon Musk. A single tweet by Musk changed the fate of assets like Floki Inu [FLOKI]. However, the Tesla CEO’s favorite cryptocurrency Dogecoin [DOGE] did not perform as well as it was expected to. Nevertheless, this activated increased social volumes as well as some whale movement. Earlier today, a wallet that has been dormant for about 2 years now moved 326.4 million DOGE worth $28 million onto a new address. Source This wasn’t the only major transaction that occurred in the past couple of days. It was brought to light that a whale address pocketed a whopping 250 million DOGE on Thursday. During the transfer, the amount sent was worth $63 million. In addition, the whale also pocketed 200 million DOGE worth $39 million on Wednesday. Whale “D7vrVR” received 250M $DOGE($63M) from # crypto com 1hr ago and became one of the top 20 holders of Dogecoin . And he also received 200M $DOGE($39M) from # crypto com yesterday.https://t.co/Bzxi