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The brother of a former Coinbase product manager has pleaded guilty in a cryptocurrency insider trading case. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), he is facing up to 20 years in federal prison. DOJ’s First Crypto Insider Trading Case The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that Nikhil Wahi, the brother of a former product manager at Coinbase Global Inc. (Nasdaq: COIN), “pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to commit insider trading in cryptocurrency assets.” The DOJ calls it the “first-ever cryptocurrency insider trading case.” Nikhil Wahi was arrested in July. His brother, Ishan Wahi, worked at Coinbase as a product manager assigned to the cryptocurrency trading platform’s asset listing team beginning in October 2020. The Justice Department explained that on multiple occasions between July 2021 and May 2022, Nikhil Wahi profited from using “confidential Coinbase information about which crypto assets were scheduled to be listed on Coinbase.” After getting tips from his brother as to which crypto assets Coinbase was planning to list on its exchanges, Nikhil Wahi “used anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets to acquire those crypto assets shortly before Coinbase publicly announced the listings,” the DOJ detailed, elaborating: Following Coinbase’s public listing announcements, on multiple occasions Nikhil Wahi sold the crypto assets for a profit. The DOJ explained that to conceal his purchases, Nikhil Wahi “used accounts at centralized exchanges held in the names of others, and transferred funds, crypto assets, and proceeds of their scheme through multiple anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets.” Nikhil Wahi “also regularly created and used new Ethereum blockchain wallets without any prior transaction history in order to further conceal his involvement in the scheme,” the Justice Department added, noting: Nikhil Wahi, 26, of Seattle, Washington, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also slapped the two brothers and their friend with insider trading charges. Nikhil Wahi and the friend “allegedly purchased at least 25 crypto assets, at least nine of which were securities, and then typically sold them shortly after the announcements for a profit. The long-running insider trading scheme generated illicit profits totaling more than $1.1 million,” the SEC detailed. What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The famous author of the best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, has urged investors to get into crypto now, predicting that the biggest economic crash in world history is incoming. “Now is the time you need to get into crypto,” he stressed. Robert Kiyosaki Says Now Is the Time to Buy Crypto The author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, reportedly told his “Rich Dad Community” mailing list subscribers Sunday that they need to get into crypto now, before the biggest crash in world history hits. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a 1997 book co-authored by Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over six years. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in over 51 languages across more than 109 countries. Reiterating his dire predictions to his mailing list subscribers, Kiyosaki wrote: I predict the biggest crash in world history is coming. While the famous author has warned about a lengthy downturn, he emphasized that bear markets are the best times for investors to get rich as everything will be on sale. His advice echoed his tweet in July when he said his favorite four-letter word is “sale.” The famous author explained that asset prices are crashing and he is in a “cash position waiting to pick up bargains, especially in real estate and bitcoin.” Kiyosaki also warned that the U.S. dollar is crashing, leading to mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies that are not controlled by governments. Noting that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury are destroying the U.S. dollar, he repeatedly said that he does not trust the government, President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell. He also does not trust Wall Street. The renowned author emphasized: It’s not enough to WANT to get into crypto … Now is the time you NEED to get into crypto, before the biggest economic crash in history. Kiyosaki also frequently shared his predictions and investment advice on Twitter. He tweeted Tuesday that it is “time for [the] poor to get rich,” adding that stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and real estate are crashing. He noted that the middle class is being wiped out as he previously predicted. His latest tweet resembles another tweet he made in August when he warned that all markets are crashing. At that time, he also named silver and bitcoin markets among those he expect to crash. Kiyosaki has been recommending bitcoin to investors for quite some time, stating for several months that he is waiting for the price of the cryptocurrency to bottom out before getting in. After revealing that he was waiting for BTC to test $1,100, he said in July that he was in a cash position waiting to buy the cryptocurrency. Besides BTC, the Rich Dad Poor Dad author has recommended gold and silver. He also said in August that he changed his mind about buying 2-year U.S. treasury bonds after listening to economist Harry Dent. “I don’t invest in things Fed or Wall Street print. Time to open my mind,” he conceded. On Tuesday, he tweeted: “Silver moving sidewards. Silver to stay at $20 for 3-5 years, then climb to $100 to $500. Everyone can afford silver even [the] poor. Accumulate silver now.” Kiyosaki previously called silver the best investment value today. What do you think about Robert Kiyosaki’s advice on buying cryptocurrencies now? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has slammed Pierre Poilievre, the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, for telling people that they can “opt out of inflation” by investing in cryptocurrencies. Trudeau claims that his Conservative rival’s crypto advice is not “responsible leadership.” Justin Trudeau Calls Pierre Poilievre’s Crypto Advice Irresponsible Leadership Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talked about cryptocurrency in a speech Monday before the first full caucus meeting of the three-day Cabinet retreat in Vancouver for Liberal parliament members. After congratulating Conservative member of parliament Pierre Poilievre for winning his party’s leadership on Saturday, Trudeau criticized his new rival’s politics, calling it irresponsible. The Canadian prime minister also attacked Poilievre’s advice about cryptocurrency. Referring to Poilievre’s suggestion to Canadians that investing in bitcoin could allow them to “opt out” of inflation, Trudeau stressed: Telling people they can opt out of inflation by investing their savings in volatile cryptocurrencies is not responsible leadership. “By the way, anyone who followed that advice would have seen their life savings destroyed,” the Canadian prime minister claimed. Trudeau also criticized politicians for using “buzzwords, dog whistles, and careless attacks,” stating that they “don’t add up to a plan for Canadians.” He continued: “Attacking the institutions that make our society fair, safe, and free is not responsible leadership.” Following Poilievre’s statement in March about crypto and inflation, the Bank of Canada’s senior deputy governor, Carolyn Rogers, told the Commons finance committee: “We don’t see cryptocurrencies as a way for Canadians to opt out of inflation or as a stable source of value.” The Conservative leader has been a vocal bitcoin proponent. He previously confirmed that he has a personal financial interest in cryptocurrencies. The politician has promoted crypto as a hedge against inflation during his campaign. Poilievre has also proposed barring the Bank of Canada from developing its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), stating that Canadians should be free to use alternative currencies for payments. “As PM, I would scrap that and instead allow the Auditor General to audit their $400 billion money-printing fiasco,” he tweeted in April, emphasizing: The Bank of Canada has zero business developing its own digital currency. In a different tweet in April, he criticized the Canadian central bank for warning about “deflation” but then printed $400 billion “for Trudeau to borrow, causing worst inflation in 30 years.” In March, Poilievre promised to “unleash” the potential of cryptocurrencies and make Canada “the blockchain capital of the world.” In addition, he tweeted in April: “We need sound money again — and also the freedom for buyers and sellers to choose bitcoin and other technology.” What do you think about the comments by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre about crypto and inflation? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty reached a new all-time high at block height 753,984 from 30.97 trillion hashes to 32.05 trillion hashes. After two difficulty increases during the past month, the network’s mining difficulty jumped another ​​3.45% higher on September 13. Bitcoin’s Difficulty Reaches 32 Trillion The leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, bitcoin (BTC), is now a lot more difficult to mine. In fact, on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, the network difficulty tapped an all-time high at 32.05 trillion. Roughly two weeks or 2,016 blocks ago, the difficulty printed the second-largest increase in 2022 as it increased by 9.26%. Two weeks or 2,016 blocks before the last change, the difficulty jumped slightly by 0.63%. Following the increase today, at block height 753,984, it has never been more difficult to find a bitcoin (BTC) block reward. Furthermore, BTC’s U.S. dollar value dropped over 9% on Tuesday afternoon (ET), following the recently published U.S. CPI report. Despite the price drop and recent difficulty rise, BTC’s hashrate has remained above the 200 exahash per second (EH/s) range and at the time of writing, it’s running at 227.07 EH/s. During the past 24 hours, Foundry USA has been the network’s top pool with 26.85% of the global hashrate. Foundry is followed by F2pool with 15.4% of BTC’s hashpower, and Binance Pool with 14.77% of the global hashrate. Binance Pool is followed by Antpool (13.42%) and Viabtc (10.74%) respectively. 149 blocks were mined in the last 24 hours, and Foundry USA discovered 40 of those blocks, while F2pool captured 23 blocks. Currently, BTC block time is 9:17 minutes per block, and there’s 2,011 blocks left to mine until the next difficulty change expected on September 27, 2022. At current block interval speeds and the realized hashrate today, the network could see a negative 3.7% decrease. What do you think about the recent difficulty change and the difficulty tapping an all-time high on September 13, 2022? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

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PRESS RELEASE. In recent years, the cryptocurrency market has been exceedingly prosperous, with a series of cryptocurrency projects emerging, bringing rich investment opportunities and market risks to participants in the blockchain industry. KDA is also one of the emerging cryptocurrency projects. However, unlike others, KDA is referred to as the next cryptocurrency project that can be benchmarked with BTC because of its simplicity and transaction cost-efficiency, better scalability than BTC, and the future circulation potential of 990 million tokens. With the joining of BITMAIN, the world’s largest miner manufacturer, KDA may become a new opportunity for cryptocurrency investors. HASHFROG, a diversified cryptocurrency investment platform, announced that it had reached strategic cooperation with BITMAIN and ANTPOOL and will jointly launch KDA cloud mining products to provide low-cost, flexible and efficient mining services for KDA participants around the world. On September 13, 2022, the three parties jointly held an online product launch and elaborated on the cooperation relationship and their expectations for the future of the KDA market. Representatives from the Kadena development team and the Kadena Mining Club community also participated in the press conference and expressed their interest and support. It was introduced at the press conference that HASHFROG will adopt the ANTMINER KA3 (hereinafter referred to as KA3) that is newly developed by BITMAIN, with a hash rate of 166 T and an energy efficiency ratio of 19 J / T, bringing KDA’s mining efficiency into a new era of energy conservation and efficiency. KA3 adopts the latest design of BITMAIN’s flagship product, which is the 19 series miners and the leading air-cooled heat dissipation technology, so miners can enjoy the top mining experience under the Blake2s algorithm. Xmei Lin, the marketing director of BITMAIN, also announced at the press conference that BITMAIN would gift three KA3 miners to Kadena’s development team to support the technical research of the development team. As a firm believer in the POW consensus mechanism, BITMAIN will continue to contribute to the POW ecology in the future and actively support the long-term development and ecological prosperity of outstanding POW projects such as Kadena. ANTPOOL, the world’s leading mining pool, sits at the crucial part of the mining industry chain providing pool services for various cryptocurrencies. ANTPOOL can provide HASHFROG with sufficient KDA mining pool resources and security endorsement in this cooperation. So far, ANTPOOL is the only mining pool that specializes in optimizing KDA’s hash rate, which allows KDA’s high hash rate miner to give full play to its performance in the shortest possible time, technically guaranteeing the long-term stable operation of the KDA miner, aiming at maximizing the mining revenue of customers. ANTPOOL has become the strongest guarantee for KDA’s high-quality output of its advanced algorithm, simplicity, transparency, and operational efficiency while reducing energy consumption simultaneously. As the platform providing KDA mining products in this cooperation, HASHFROG will divide the hash rate of the KA3 miner exclusively supplied by BITMAIN into a minimum order size of 10t. Customers can flexibly choose the mining unit to purchase based on their needs. Multiple mining cycle options such as 90 days, 120 days and 180 days are provided to improve the investment flexibility significantly. For example, the management team from HASHFROG announced at the press conference that the platform would provide $1000000 worth of bonus benefits to users who purchase KDA mining products in this initial launch and encourage users to engage in cloud mining. This large amount of welfare will further expand the return on mining output. HASHFROG, positioned as a diversified crypto service provider, will also launch mining services for various cryptocurrencies in the future, with more crypto product launches planned on the platform around the end of October this year to provide investors with various asset allocation options. HASHFROG is committed to building a safe and compliant blockchain infrastructure and producing innovative and diversified digital currency investment products. It is a one-stop platform that provides cloud mining service, extensive crypto-financial management, and flexible digital asset allocation solutions for global digital currency lovers. This strategic cooperation with BITMAIN and ANTPOOL on KDA marks that the three parties will deeply integrate miner, site and mining pool resources and continue to deepen and enrich ecological cooperation in mining as well as energy industry by increasing upstream and downstream value along the industry and providing a solid guarantee for long-term investment of cryptocurrencies. Official website: https://www.hashfrog.com/?utm_source=newsbitcoin&utm_campaign=oefjhu Official group: https://t.me/hashfrog_EN Twitter: https://twitter.com/HashFrogTech Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hashfrog Media Contact: contact@hashfrog.com This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

A number of financial giants including Fidelity Digital Assets, Citadel Securities, and Charles Schwab Corp. announced on Tuesday that the consortium of companies plans to launch a cryptocurrency exchange called EDX Markets. Reports note that firms like Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial are also backing the new crypto trading platform. The story was first reported during the first week of June, but the companies confirmed creating the new crypto exchange this week and appointed a CEO. EDX Markets Plans to ‘Remove Significant Conflicts of Interest That Affect Existing Cryptocurrency Exchanges’ In a press release published Tuesday, Fidelity Digital Assets, Charles Schwab, and Citadel Securities revealed that the financial heavyweights have plans to launch a crypto exchange. The exchange will be called EDX Markets (EDXM), and the former Citadel Securities executive, Jamil Nazarali, will be the platform’s CEO. The EDX launch date is unconfirmed at the moment, but the trading engine will be operated by MEMX, otherwise known as the Members Exchange. The Wall Street Journal reports that the high-speed trading company Virtu Financial, and the venture firms Paradigm and Sequoia Capital are behind EDX’s upcoming launch. EDX will cater to institutional and retail investors and it will be different than traditional crypto exchanges today. EDX aims to “remove significant conflicts of interest that affect existing cryptocurrency exchanges,” the EDX press release published on Tuesday notes. Fidelity’s digital assets arm has been into cryptocurrencies and bitcoin for quite some time, but Citadel’s Ken Griffin has been a skeptic. In March 2022, Griffin’s perspective on crypto assets changed, and he mentioned the securities giant planned to make moves in crypto. Following Griffin’s commentary, months later in June, it was reported that Citadel Securities, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity Digital Assets would launch an exchange. “We know there is significant interest in this cryptocurrency space and we will look to invest in firms and technologies working to offer access with a strong regulatory focus and in a secure environment,” Mayura Hooper, a spokesperson for Charles Schwab said at the time. At the end of July, Charles Schwab’s asset management subsidy launched its first crypto-related exchange-traded fund (ETF). Amid the crypto winter, while the crypto industry laid off thousands of employees, Fidelity Digital Assets said in June it was on a hiring spree for individuals who can manage crypto trading and digital currency custody services. What do you think about Citadel Securities, Charles Schwab and Fidelity Digital Assets launching a crypto exchange? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

On Tuesday, the non-profit technology consortium, the Linux Foundation, announced the launch of the Openwallet Foundation (OWF) in order to bolster the development of open-source crypto wallets. OWF’s goal is to increase “interoperability for a wide range of wallet use cases” and to develop a “secure, multi-purpose open source engine” that anyone can use to build a wallet. Linux Launches Openwallet Foundation to Support Development of Open-Source Crypto Wallets The Linux Foundation (LF) has supported open-source software since the foundation’s inception 22 years ago. The foundation is made up of software developers from all around the world, and corporate giants like AT&T, Cisco, Fujitsu, Google, Hitachi, Tencent, Vmware, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Meta, Microsoft, NEC, Oracle, Orange S.A., Qualcomm, and Samsung are also LF members. The announcement published on September 13 notes that the LF’s mission is to bolster universal digital wallet infrastructure. “We are convinced that digital wallets will play a critical role for digital societies. Open software is the key to interoperability and security,” Jim Zemllin, the LF executive director, said in a statement. OWF to Host a Keynote Presentation at the Open-Source Summit Europe, Foundation Is in the Midst of Constructing Group’s Governance and Structure On Tuesday, OWF will host a keynote presentation at the Open Source Summit Europe. The newly formed group has no intentions of publishing a wallet or creating new standards. “The community will focus on building an open source software engine that other organizations and companies can leverage to develop their own digital wallets,” the LF announcement details. “The wallets will support a wide variety of use cases from identity to payments to digital keys and aim to achieve feature parity with the best available wallets.” David Treat, the Global Metaverse Continuum Business Group and Blockchain lead at Accenture said that a massive change is coming to the traditional business model and digital businesses will earn trust. “Universal digital wallet infrastructure will create the ability to carry tokenized identity, money, and objects from place to place in the digital world,” Treat said. Presently, the OWF has not formulated a governance system but it is in the midst of “working on its governance and structure with the goal of launching later in 2022.” What do you think about the Linux Foundation’s Openwallet Foundation? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Digital asset trading has long suffered due to high crypto exchange transaction fees, regulatory hurdles by regulators, and stringent crypto exchange rules. Then came CoinFloww, the most advanced digital asset exchange. Based on the world-class digital asset exchange technology, CoinFloww is proud to launch at a time when crypto exchanges are fighting for rights and struggling with a fraught market. The team behind CoinFloww Exchange is constantly improving the UX and UI so that users can trade easily. In addition, the team will update the new UX and UI design of CoinFloww soon for an even smoother experience. Rather than profiteering on crypto startups, CoinFloww is on a mission to nurture and patronise upcoming projects. CoinFloww does not charge any listing fee and offers reasonable promotional packages. Often left behind in the crypto ecosystem are derivative users; however, CoinFloww Exchange is a platform that caters to derivative traders with up to 300x leverage. CoinFloww is not just a digital asset exchange; it is much more than that. Besides typical digital asset exchange functions, CoinFloww has a roadmap to becoming a one-stop application for the crypto user to gain financial freedom. CoinFloww has recently announced its whooping 150k USD prize pool. Any CoinFloww user can participate in the CoinFloww Bug Bounty Program to win our prize pool of $150,000. This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

When society looks at the crypto industry today, one cannot deny that Dogecoin (Doge) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) are just as widely known as Bitcoin (BTC). SHIB to date has the highest percentage gain est. Thirty million per cent from launch to an all-time high; no other cryptocurrency has come close to this percentage return. While most meme coins have taken a -70%+ beating from an all-time high (like the rest of the cryptocurrency market), one has proven it will be a force to reckon with even during this bear market. Shibtosi (anonymous alias) is the CEO of Squidgrow, a meme coin launched in June of 2022 that may show future promise. Shibtoshi has been a cryptocurrency supporter since the early days of Bitcoin around 2011. Shibtoshi has set an example by showing that diamond hands can win. Apart from diamond handing Bitcoin – the individual has made it to the top wallet in Shiba Inu. During the all-time high of Shiba Inu (Oct 2021), Shibtoshi’s holdings in SHIB were estimated to be close to USD 5.7 billion. Accumulating all this wealth has not stopped Shibtoshi from giving back to society; from giving bone marrow to donating time and money to sick and terminally ill children, Shibtoshi showcases how caring and extensive a heart can be. These character qualities can also highlight what kind of CEO Shibtoshi can be. Despite massive success, there have been some failures that have been learning experiences. Part of the reason for these failures was getting into projects that were total scams. The lessons learnt from the failures motivated Shibtoshi to have a safe place where friends and family could invest, creating Squidgrow. Initially, Squidgrow was meme quality, but with some future utility plans. “I would rather be surprised than be disappointed”, Shibtoshi had said, meaning having a working product or close to working is better than overpromising a timeline or product that would end up disappointing investors if expectations are not fulfiled. In addition to growing an investor base in Squidgrow to 11,000+ and reaching an all-time high market cap growth of $50 million with the help of crypto marketing firm Blockchain Brothers, Shibtoshi expressed the determination to have Squidgrow be a force in the crypto world. Squidgrow has a total supply of 1 quadrillion, audited by Solidity Finance, and listed on top exchanges (Gate.io, MEXC, Bitrue, BigONE, Bitmart, Bkex, LBank) 11 in total. Staking is live with more utility coming. With a team focused on delivering and a CEO passionately dedicated to sharing the gift of winning and profiting with crypto investing, Squidgrow is set to make waves in the meme coin ocean. Being early to coins like Shiba Inu is an investor’s dream and one that isn’t too late with Squidgrow. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

While digital currencies jumped in value during the early morning trading sessions on Friday (ET), the new Terra token, LUNA 2.0, jumped more than 200% in value against the U.S. dollar. LUNA jumped from a low of $1.90 per unit to a high of $6.87, but the token’s value has slipped to the $5.41 per unit range following the high. Terra’s Phoenix Blockchain Token LUNA Rallies by 200% Bitcoin managed to jump 9.4% higher today, rallying above the $21K zone while ethereum increased 4.9%, surpassing the $1,700 per unit range. Amid these jumps, Terra’s LUNA, the new luna token issued by the Phoenix blockchain, increased more than 200% on Friday against the USD. Presently, LUNA is up 175.2% after dropping from the 24-hour high on Friday. 14-day stats indicate LUNA has increased 224.1% against the dollar and the coin has an overall market valuation of around $978 million. Since the spike LUNA has seen $2.55 billion in global trade volume on Friday as it’s the seventh largest volume out of all the coins in existence today. Luna classic (LUNC) is the sixth largest token in terms of 24-hour trade volume as LUNC has printed $2.81 billion in global trades. LUNC is up 69.5% during the last seven days, but it lost 13.6% during the past 24 hours. The once-stable coin UST (now known as USTC) is close to a U.S. nickel in value at $0.047 and has increased by 4% against the dollar on Friday. USTC jumped 27.3% during the last seven days and two-week statistics show USTC is up 55.9%. Terra’s former stablecoin has a $461.67 million market cap and $211.24 million in global trade volume today. 57% of LUNA trades today were swapped with tether (USDT) which was followed by BUSD with 32% of all LUNA swaps. The Turkish lira (TRY) has 7.15% of all LUNA trades today which is followed by USDC’s 2.27%. The U.S. dollar represents 0.83% of all the global LUNA swaps on Friday followed by EUR, ETH, and USDD. Terra 2.0’s decentralized finance (defi) total value locked also doubled in size on Friday jumping from $24.72 million to $51.48 million. Riskharbor and Astroport are Terra’s largest defi applications in terms of TVL. Riskharbor currently commands $33.59 million in value while Astroport captures $16.7 million. The Terra defi application Stader currently has $2.61 million locked, according to defillama.com metrics on Friday. What do you think about Terra’s LUNA 2.0 jumping more than 200% in value on Friday? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Shiba inu moved to a three-week high on Friday, as crypto markets surged during today’s session. Markets were mainly in the green, as bullish sentiment returned to end the week. Cosmos was a notable mover once again, as the token rose by over 20% today. Shiba Inu (SHIB) Shiba inu (SHIB) rebounded during Friday’s session, as prices rallied following a recent spell of consolidation. SHIB/USD rose to an intraday high of $0.00001379 on Friday, as prices broke out of two consecutive resistance points. The first ceiling that SHIB rose past was the $0.00001290 level, which has been in place since late August. Following this, bullish momentum intensified, with the token surging towards another resistance level of $0.00001380. Overall, shiba inu is now trading at its highest point since August 26, when prices were above $0.00001400. As of writing, some of today’s earlier gains have eased, as the relative strength index (RSI), moved closer to an obstacle at the 54.00 mark. Cosmos (ATOM) Cosmos (ATOM) was higher for a third straight session, as prices rose to a fresh four-month high this afternoon. Following a rally beyond its ceiling of $13.35 during yesterday’s session, ATOM/USD hit a high of $16.23 earlier today. Today’s move sees ATOM climb to its highest point since May 7, and comes as the token has now risen by nearly 30% in the past two days. Looking at the chart, the RSI is now tracking at 72.23, which is deep in overbought territory. Overall, price strength is now at its strongest point since the start of the year, which could potentially see bears begin to reenter the market. It is yet to be determined if ATOM has hit its current peak, or if this week’s run can be extended into the weekend. Register your email here to get weekly price analysis updates sent to your inbox: Do you believe cosmos can hit $20.00 in September? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. View the full article

20 days ago, a poll was shared on Twitter asking miners where they planned to dedicate their hashrate, after The Merge transitions Ethereum into a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. The proof-of-work (PoW) contenders at the time were tokens like ravencoin, ergo, flux, and ethereum classic. When the poll concluded, flux and ravencoin outpaced the pack in votes, but reality shows ethereum classic has been the main beneficiary of hashrate so far. Twitter Poll With More Than 10,000 Votes Chooses Flux, While Ethereum Classic Ends up Reaping the Benefits Stemming From The Merge Ethereum Classic (ETC) is gathering most of the hashrate leaving Ethereum (ETH) as there are only four days left until The Merge. According to metrics recorded by 2miners.com, ETC’s hashrate reached an all-time high on September 8, 2022, tapping 53.29 terahash per second (TH/s). Ethereum’s hashrate has dropped below the 900 TH/s region and at the time of writing, the network hashrate is 883.78 TH/s. On August 20, 2022, the Twitter account Cryptovium published a poll that asks miners where they will dedicate their hashpower when The Merge is implemented. “With the imminent PoS ETH Merge, I’m curious what all the miners out there are planning on moving their rigs to,” Cryptovium said. “Top PoW contenders seem to be RVN, FLUX, ERG, [and] ETC. Are you going with one of these or choosing something else?” The final results of Cryptovium’s poll got 10,347 votes and flux (FLUX) received the most votes with 45.7%. The second most popular token with poll participants was ravencoin (RVN) with 27.3% of the votes, and ergo (ERGO) captured 22.1% of the poll’s votes. Ethereum classic (ETC) saw the lowest number of votes, as it recorded 4.9% of the 10,347 votes. Despite ETC being dead last on the social media survey, ETC has managed to become the main beneficiary of the hashrate leaving Ethereum. ETC’s hashrate continues to break lifetime records and has done so at least five times during the last two weeks. RVN, FLUX, and ERG have seen small spikes in hashrate but nothing compared to what ETC has recorded during the last 30 days. Ergo’s hashrate jumped 99.14% from 14.04 TH/s on September 2, to 27.96 TH/s on September 4. Since then, however, Ergo’s hashrate dropped 18.77% down to 22.71 TH/s. On September 5, Ravencoin’s hashrate was coasting along at 2.42 TH/s and since then it has increased by 70.24% to 4.12 TH/s. Flux uses a solution called sol and performance is measured in sol per second. On September 3, Flux’s hashrate was 1.98 MS/s and it jumped 55.55% higher to 3.08 MS/s during the last six days. Although, Flux’s hashrate has slipped back down to the 2.28 MS/s range. While Flux was the winner of the social media poll published on Twitter, it was the loser in reality when it came to acquiring hashrate leaving the ETH network. Price-wise, FLUX has risen 33.1% during the last seven days, ERGO is up 48.1% this week, and RVN has jumped 54% against the U.S. dollar during the last seven days. In terms of the past week’s gains, ETC saw the lowest rise against the dollar as the token has risen 19% during the past week. What do you think about the alternatives miners can choose to mine after The Merge goes into effect next week? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Bitcoin rose by over $2,000 in the last 24 hours, as markets responded to bullish comments from United States Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Speaking yesterday, Powell stated, “We need to act now, forthrightly, strongly as we have been doing.” Ethereum also surged, moving above $1,700 on Friday. Bitcoin Bitcoin (BTC) rose rapidly during today’s session, as markets responded to bullish comments from Jerome Powell. Speaking on Thursday, the Fed Chair hinted at further rate hikes, stating that, “My colleagues and I are strongly committed to this project and we will keep at it until the job is done.” As a result of these hawkish comments, crypto prices surged, with BTC/USD racing to an intraday peak of $21,080.49 on Friday. The rally comes days after the token was trading at a low of $18,527.71, which was the lowest point BTC had hit in two months. Bitcoin is now trading at its highest point since August 26, with bulls seemingly targeting a higher ceiling of $21,600. As of writing, the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) is tracking at 52.29, which is its strongest point in almost a month. Ethereum In addition to bitcoin, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, ethereum (ETH), also surged on Friday following Powell’s comments.. ETH/USD raced to a high of $1,711.84 earlier today, which comes as the token moved past a key resistance point. Following a low of $1,594 on Thursday, ETH struggled to break out of its ceiling at $1,615, however that changed earlier in today’s session. Ethereum rallied beyond not only the aforementioned resistance, but has since broken another ceiling at the $1,700 mark. As of writing, ETH is trading at $1,705.95, which is its strongest level since August 25, following a similar break out. In order to overcome the peak seen in late August, bulls will likely need to intensify their pressure, possibly targeting $1,800 in the process. Register your email here to get weekly price analysis updates sent to your inbox: Could we see ethereum hit $1,800 this weekend? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. View the full article

The Argentine tax authority (AFIP) found three different clandestine cryptocurrency mining farms last week. The farms were located in San Juan and in the city of Cordoba. More than $600,000 in hardware was found at just one of these locations, and the high level of power consumed helped the institution track these farms. Argentine Tax Authority Detects Three Different Clandestine Crypto Mining Farms The Argentine tax authority (AFIP) has put its eyes on the business of illegal cryptocurrency mining and has already detected three clandestine cryptocurrency farms in the last week. Two of the farms were located in the city of Cordoba, and one in San Juan. The last one was identified by the organization because the import of mining equipment was being done by a company that had no license. The two farms in Cordoba were detected thanks to the high consumption of power that these farms need to operate. According to authorities, the mining operations were using 85,000 kilowatts of energy every month, at an expense of $7,000. One of the companies operating the farms had undeclared benefits of more than $200,000, with $600,000 invested in mining hardware. In the procedure executed in the Province of San Juan, the Argentine tax authority was able to detect the cryptocurrency address that received the crypto mined in the operation. The equipment was located in a refrigerated chamber designed to store fruits. In an official statement, the AFIP explained: One of the disrupted companies had carried out 474 transactions in the Ethereum (ETH) virtual currency data chain from January 31 to date, for which they had received 137.25 units of that asset, equivalent to $217,000, which had not been declared. Mining Boom in Argentina According to analysts, the activity of mining cryptocurrency has become a lucrative business in Argentina due to the cheap and relatively stable supply of energy, and the presence of high-speed internet. This has even put the country in the sights of international cryptocurrency companies seeking to establish their operations on Argentine soil. One of these companies is Bitfarms, a Nasdaq-listed mining conglomerate that is already building a mega farm in the country that will allow it to power 55,000 miners, to expand its mining capacity to reach its 8 exahash per second (8 EH/s) by the end of this year. However, the country began to eliminate the subsidies for power provided for cryptocurrency mining companies in February, with Cammesa, the energy wholesaler, raising power fees four-fold for these operations. What do you think about the recent discovery of three clandestine cryptocurrency mining farms in Argentina? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Web3 relationship aggregator KNN3 Network announced it had raised $2.4M in a seed round led by HashGlobal and Liang Xinjun, former co-founder of Fosun International. Mask Network, MetaWeb Venture, Eniac Venture, Tess Venture, Stratified Capital, Fundamental lab, Incuba Alpha, Zeuth Venture, Cogitent Venture, Atlas Capital; Impossible Finance, RSS3, ShowMe and Yan Xin & Potter Li, ETHsign’s co-founders also took part in the round. KNN3 Network will utilize the $2.4M funding for protocol development and product market-fit. From these struggles and pains on data isolation and cross-platform redundancy, it can concur that a universal solution for interoperability is the only way forward. With such a belief, these investors decided to support KNN3 Network in driving a future of multi-chain relationship aggregating and a diverse, decentralized world. The Vision of KNN3 Network After a paradigm shift, processors of decentralized applications are now at the centre of Web3, bringing to the world Peer-to-Peer transactions and optimized counting of state changes. “As smart contracts and distributed virtual state machines underlie blockchains, decentralized WWW solutions truly give back ownership to the users and return democracy to the Web,” said Thomas Yu, Co-Founder of KNN3 Network. “However, there is a need to keep updating knowledge of Web3 to generate more flexible and innovative ideas constantly. Without permissionless cross-platform data collaboration, individual applications just run in silos. For example, the flywheel of Web3 will fail to set the crypto universe in motion. Therefore it is imperative to have a more sophisticated protocol to increase the reusability of web3 data. As a multi-chain relationship aggregating protocol for dApps and analytics, KNN3 Network perfectly fulfils that role.” What is KNN3 Network? KNN3 Network provides web3 graph solutions for relational aggregation across multiple blockchain universes to empower social dApps and AI analytics. It aims to become a community-driven data curation protocol that enables on-chain data collaboration. “The team believes in a relationship creating meanings by converting users’ footprints into relational connectors that collectively form a massive graph network,” said Thomas Yu, “The team is excited to be a part of the Web3 wave and hope KNN3 Network can get the ball rolling.” If a user is a web3 dApp builder, they can seamlessly retrieve the abundant web3 users’ relationships data using KNN3’s high-performance GraphQL. KNN3 Network collects and compiles multiple dimensions of relations through users’ historical behaviour and status. If a user is a web3 analyst, KNN3 allows them to conduct structural and relational queries in one place. In addition, it provides SQL-style graph query components for any SQL-compatible BI/analytics platforms to integrate with their existing query services. Moreover, algorithm developers can build and train their AI/ML algorithms with KNN3’s Graph Computing Environment Solutions. Permissionless Cross-platform Data Collaboration Solutions “Although AI analytics toolkits allow people to extract data’s value on individual platforms, these applications usually function in isolation. When such applications segment the market, users navigate a highly complex environment. In short, there lacks integrated middleware to enable more advanced web3 use cases.” as Thomas Yu explained, “the company wants to press ahead without compromising the core values ​​of crypto, i.e. composability and plug & play. KNN3 Network provides such one-stop-shop solutions for on-chain data-driven dApps. Compared with conventional SocialFi dApps embedded with SaaS (Software as a service), KNN3 Network provides a trustless protocol featuring decentralization-as-a-service (DAAS) and true censorship-resistance.” Use cases In the current iteration, KNN3 Network provides data solutions for web3 dApps for social discovery and user empowerment. Specifically, it has already assisted some dApps in maximizing their value delivery – it provides Quest3 with Virtual Credential Service, which is the fundamental architecture for Quest3’s on-chain quest system used to validate whether a Web3 user is eligible to complete a specific task; it provides MetaMail and Shorum with social graphs. KNN3 provides a trustless analytic environment for user recommendation algorithms based on real-time on-chain data to encourage users to connect with more friends with just one click. It also provides AI-friendly solutions to Algorithm Registry. KNN3’s easy-to-use graph database and open algorithms allow the latter to establish an open platform allowing users to choose algorithms independently and submit their algorithms. In the future, KNN3 Network aims to be a data collaborating building block to empower mix-dApp, SocialFi, open AIs, etc. Target Customers KNN3 Network’s permissionless relational aggregating solutions and virtual credential services mainly target SocialFi, on-chain credits protocols and web3 campaign tools. KNN3 Network also provides ecosystem tools to enable analytics platforms to expand their database to seamlessly incorporate web3 multi-chain relational data. The vision of KNN3 Network is to empower NFT/DAO/GameFi promoters to onboard more Web3 users while providing them with a better on-ramp experience with its profiling/enabling toolkits. It also allows Web3 dApp builders to provide a better Web3 social experience with its multi-chain graph solutions. About KNN3 Network KNN3 is a Web3 cross-chain relationship aggregator that enables social discovery and user empowerment. KNN3 Network provides graph solutions for web3 multiverse relational aggregation to empower Social d/App and AI analytics. KNN3 aims to become a community-driven data curation protocol for on-chain data collaboration. Website | Twitter | Discord | Mirror | Medium This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

Abuse expands with use in the case of cryptocurrency, Europol has acknowledged while also noting that blockchain technologies offer authorities a new opportunity to fight crime. Europe’s law enforcement agency also says they can help investigate money laundering networks. Understanding Cryptocurrencies Is Vital to Tackling Organized Crime, Europol Says The growing use of cryptocurrency across borders and industries comes with increasing abuse, new forms of crime, and money laundering, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) has concluded after a recent gathering with crypto experts, financial investigators, regulators, and representatives of business. The 6th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies was recently held at the agency’s headquarters in the Netherlands. The two-day event was supported by the Basel Institute on Governance through the joint Working Group on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies and meant to boost collaboration among participating parties in investigating and prosecuting crypto-related crimes. Speakers also noted that when employing the right tools, blockchain technologies can “offer an unprecedented opportunity to investigate organized crime and money laundering networks and to recover stolen funds,” Europol said in a press release. It emphasized that increasing understanding and capacity in the crypto sphere is vital to tackling crime and the laundering of illicit money. Law enforcement, regulatory bodies, and the private sector are working hard to stay ahead of those who try to abuse crypto assets, Europol remarked. The agency highlighted the tightening of EU legislation, with upcoming rules designed to ensure that digital currencies like bitcoin receive the same treatment as other assets in the context of money-laundering prevention. This is also easing seizure and management of crypto funds, the police authority added. Europol further pointed out that investigators are taking advantage of blockchain-based tech to follow money flows, which has allowed them to identify not only scammers and hackers but also to expose more ‘traditional’ crime groups and money laundering networks. “Private companies are innovating fast to provide the tools and analytical capacity to trace funds laundered across multiple blockchains using different obfuscation techniques,” the agency said. The latest edition of Europol’s crypto conference was attended by over 1,700 participants from 119 nations with speakers representing EU institutions such as the European Parliament, crypto service providers like Binance, the world’s leading digital asset exchange, blockchain forensics and asset recovery companies, including Chainalysis, alongside law enforcement officials from a number of European and other countries like the United States and South Korea. The event follows important developments toward regulating Europe’s crypto space. This summer, key EU institutions and member states made a deal on the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory package after reaching an agreement to adopt a set of anti-money laundering rules for cryptocurrency transactions. Do you think EU authorities will expand the use of blockchain technologies for law enforcement purposes? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article

According to reports, the Japanese government is one of the first countries to use non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a supplementary award to local authorities that excelled in a digitization competition. The awards were given to local authorities as recognition for their efforts in using digital technology to solve local challenges. Issuing and Distributing NFTs via a Low-Cost Blockchain In what has been described as a first for the Japanese government, the country’s cabinet secretariat recently used non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a supplementary prize during a ceremony to recognize local governments that excelled in a digitization competition. According to a Coinpost report, this year’s award ceremony was supported by four technology companies: Indiesquare, Bitflyer Holdings, Tree Digital Studio, and Tomonari Kogei. As noted in the report, Indiesquare’s low-cost blockchain platform, the Hazama Base, was used to issue and distribute the NFTs. Before this, the platform was similarly used to issue and distribute NFTs at an event held by the Liberal Democratic Party Youth Bureau. Known as the 2022 Summer Digi Denkoshien, the award ceremony was held to honor and recognize initiatives by local authorities that “utilize digital technology to solve local issues and improve their appeal.” Non-Transferable NFTs While the tokens were issued on the Ethereum blockchain, the report, however, states the NFTs had used the Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) technology. Such tokens are non-transferable but easy to use for commemoration and verification. Meanwhile, another report has revealed that a total of 9 mayors had received the NFT awards. Among the dignitaries that attended the event was Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Thailand’s securities regulator recently said it had referred digital asset service provider Zipmex and its Thai unit chief executive officer, Akalarp Yimwilai, to a technology crime division of the Royal Thai Police. The regulator said it made decision after Yimwilai and his company failed to comply with the request to furnish an official with information relating to customers’ digital wallets. Zipmex Fails to Share Details on Transfers and Withdrawals on Its Platform Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (TSEC) said it has referred Zipmex and the digital asset service provider’s Thai unit chief executive officer (CEO) Akalarp Yimwilai to local law enforcement for non-compliance “with the order of the competent official.” In a statement, the regulator said it took action after Yimwilai and his company failed to submit information relating to customers’ digital wallets. Zipmex is also accused of failing to furnish the TSEC official with details on the transfer and withdrawal of digital assets via its platform. The announcement by the TSEC came on the same day that Zipmex told its customers that it had temporarily suspended baht and cryptocurrency withdrawals. In its message to customers, Zipmex reportedly claimed the crypto market volatility, as well as problems with major trading partners, had prompted the suspension of withdrawals. According to a report in The Nation Thailand, Zipmex’s suspension of withdrawals drew an angry response from customers. The report added that in its attempt to pacify furious customers, Zipmex had issued another statement via Facebook promising to lift the suspension by 8 p.m. on September 2022. Criminal Proceedings Against Zipmex However, in its statement, the Thai regulator said the actions of Zipmex and its regional CEO violated the Digital Assets Act. “Such actions by Zipmex and Mr. Akalarp are considered to be in non-compliance with the competent official’s orders. Which is an offence and has a penalty under Section 75 of the Digital Assets Act,” the regulator’s statement explained. The TSEC said the step it has taken represents the start of a process of criminal proceedings against Zipmex and the CEO. What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Russia has seemingly drawn a line in the sand and will not turn on Europe’s main gas pipeline until the “collective West” lifts the financial sanctions against the country. The move follows the Nord Stream 1 pipeline allegedly shutting down for “maintenance,” but reports from Interfax that followed five days later indicate Moscow will not be turning the gas back on until demands are met. Putin’s Spokesperson Says Nord Stream 1 Pumping Problem Due to the Collective West’s Sanctions While it was said Russia’s state-run Gazprom was having “technical difficulties” with the gas pipeline that connects Russian gas to Germany, and that the pipeline was under “maintenance,” president Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, claims the shutdown is due to Western sanctions against Moscow. Gazprom reported this past weekend that Nord Stream 1 pipeline would be shut down indefinitely because of “oil leaks.” BREAKING: Gazprom announces that Nord Stream cannot operate safely due to turbine damage — Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) September 2, 2022 Gazprom claims the technical difficulties stem from the German-made turbines. However, Peskov was quoted by the news agency Interfax, and he made it quite clear that the Kremlin wants the sanctions lifted before the Nord Stream 1 pipeline delivers fuel again. “The problems pumping gas came about because of the sanctions Western countries introduced against our country and several companies,” Peskov stressed. “There are no other reasons that could have caused this pumping problem,” Putin’s spokesman added. Peskov added: Other reasons that would cause problems with the pumping don’t exist — It is these sanctions imposed by the Western states that have brought the situation to what we see now. EU Accuses Russia of ‘Weaponizing’ Energy Supplies, Iran Offers Europe Cheap Gas in Exchange for Sanction Lifts and Nuclear Deal Following Peskov’s statements, during the weekend, Europe’s gas futures markets had shown significant pain was due during Monday’s trading sessions. The max pain came to fruition on September 5, as Reuters reported that “European gas prices rocketed as much as 30% higher on Monday after Russia said one of its main gas supply pipelines to Europe would stay shut indefinitely.” While the Kremlin believes the “collective West” is at fault for the disturbances, Reuters reported that Europe “has accused Russia of weaponising energy supplies.” Morning! Europe's "worst case scenario" is starting to materialize. European mkts poised to plunge as investors react to Gazprom's announcement Friday that NS1 pipeline will be closed indefinitely, hours after G7 agreed price cap on Russian oil to reduce revenues to the country. — Julianna Tatelbaum (@CNBCJulianna) September 5, 2022 The news also follows the Russian gas giant Gazprom telling the public that gas supplies funneled to the French industrial energy group Engie would stop. Meanwhile, the EU believes it can endure a winter without Russian gas, while others believe the winter could be very harsh for Europeans. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said the EU may deal with an energy crisis in the coming months, and he told Europeans to expect a difficult winter. In addition to Russia, Iran is tempting Europe with cheap Iranian gas exports for a nuclear deal. Reports show that Tehran “teased” Europe with cheap gas and the country’s leaders want financial sanctions lifted as well. While Nord Stream 1 is the largest pipeline for gas from Russia to Europe consisting of 100,000 pipes, Iran holds the world’s second-largest gas reserves, in terms of natural gas supplies. Iran’s state-operated Mehr news agency reported on the offer to Europe, and reportedly Tehran told Europe that “Winter is coming.” Media’s Interpretation of the Nord Stream 1 Could Be Hyperbole On Saturday, Gazprom told the public Siemens Energy would attempt to repair the oil leaks. Siemens Energy, however, claims oil leaks, like the ones found this past weekend, usually would not stop gas deliveries. “Such leaks do not normally affect the operation of a turbine and can be sealed on site. It is a routine procedure within the scope of maintenance work,” a TASS report quoting Siemens Energy explains. Amid the speculation, Gazprom did explain on Monday that it will provide Europe with 42.4 million cubic metres of gas. Furthermore, some people don’t believe the media’s interpretation of Russia’s gas shut-off. One individual crunched some data and claims Russia’s gas halt only represents “3.1% of the EU’s daily [gas flows].” The individual continued by adding that some of the media’s reports are “sensationalism at its best.” In another tweet the individual insisted that “high Russian flows helped a lot in early 2022,” but further noted that “this is a 2023-24 issue, and a big one.” What do you think about Dmitry Peskov’s claims and Iran tempting Europe with cheap gas? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

In eight days Ethereum is planning to undergo one of the most intensive upgrades since the DAO hard fork in 2016, as The Merge aims to change the network’s consensus mechanism from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). Amid the lead-up to The Merge, the decentralized finance (defi) and liquid staking protocol Lido’s total value locked (TVL) jumped 6.34% this week and the project’s native token increased by more than 23% against the U.S. dollar during the past seven days. Liquid Staking Service Lido Sees Demand Ahead of The Merge The Merge is coming and it’s just over a week away from now. Crypto supporters and participants are getting ready for Ethereum’s most notable fork since 2016. Amid the anticipation, the defi protocol Lido Finance has seen significant action during the last seven days. Lido is a liquid staking service that allows people to wrap their ethereum and collect revenue from the tokens while being able to trade and hold the assets in a non-custodial fashion. In fact, lido staked ether (STETH), which is the wrapped version of ethereum issued by Lido, currently is the 13th largest market capitalization in the crypto economy. STETH has a market valuation of around $6.57 billion on September 5, 2022. During the last day, STETH has seen $4.18 million in global trading volume. Lido Finance has seen some demand ahead of The Merge and the total value locked (TVL) increased by 6.34% during the last seven days. Stats from defillama.com and lido.fi both show that Lido’s TVL today is $6.95 billion. $6.78 billion of the $6.95 billion is staked ethereum, according to Lido’s website. Lido is the second largest defi protocol under Makerdao according to defillama.com metrics. The defi project’s native token lido dao (LDO) jumped 23.4% against the U.S. dollar during the past week. LDO is ranked #48 out of more than 12,000 crypto assets and the token has recorded $56,716,794 in 24-hour global trade volume. There’s a circulating supply of 604,677,030 LDO today and the price has ranged from $1.93 to $2.07 per unit. What do you think about the action Lido has seen during the last seven days ahead of The Merge? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Toki Universe, consists of Antiques NFT, PFP, and own Miniverse already in place. A brand-new project on the Ethereum blockchain created with the goal of bringing a breath of fresh air to the NFT space. The fractionalized NFT PFP project is delivering an unprecedented antique-themed NFT collection with an out-of-this-world storyline, inspired by the courageous journey of the ever adventurous and resourceful Toki characters to Planet Earth. This other-worldly collection comprises 10,000 treasure hunter PFP NFTs built on the ERC-721a Improvement Protocol. Tiny but mighty, the little hunters showcase over 300 hand-drawn attributes that are spread across 14 traits including character type, background, upper body, lower body, pet, and avant-garde accessory. All holders of Toki Universe will be able to receive, and mint fractionalized antique NFTs issued by DGallery. The fractionalized antique NFT is based on the actual products that the gallery has in store. Most items are purchased from auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Christie, and other private channels. DGallery is established with the sole purpose of putting the spotlight on the rich Chinese cultural and traditional craftsmanship. It brings together thousands of years’ worth of authentic Chinese arts, crafts and heritage, and is committed to preserving them to the fullest extent. On top of that, the gallery has been actively collecting artworks and antiques with high values in China that can be traced back as far as the Ming and Qing dynasties. Today, it has evolved to become a modern antique collection house to serve a wider crowd of zealous and modern art collectors, with more than 1,000 pieces in its inventory to choose from. Backed by a team of seasoned NFT investors, the pioneers of Toki Universe have witnessed firsthand the successes and pitfalls of other recent projects. They observed that NFT is gradually becoming more common in the mainstream and wanted to create something truly impactful which makes them stand out. In addition, the team understands the importance of delivering transparency and consistency while building a loyal and devoted community in the NFT space. Therefore, a model is employed where unremitting value is channeled back to the community through high-quality artwork and purposeful utility. After successfully assembling a team of experts in their respective fields, the mission to bring Toki Universe to Planet Earth has commenced. According to Mr. Louivee Lim, the project advisor of Toki Universe: “We want to merge our expertise in both the traditional and virtual world to bring about a fascinating and extraordinary collection that the NFT space has never seen before. While we wow the new world, we also work hard to preserve the old world, which includes beautiful ancient relics.” Other significant Toki Universe utilities include revenue stream from antique sales, exclusive invitation to play games on metaverse, as well as the opportunity to participate in the Toki Achievement Bar or TAB. Our dedicated roadmap has laid out the timeline for the development of TAB and other benefits of the Toki Universe. This includes the access to merchandise such as T-shirts, hoodies and caps. Holders who have reached a certain level will further unlock invites to the latest and most happening parties and events where they can meet other holders in real life. There are plans to develop Toki Universe in The Sandbox in the future and Decentraland are in talks and will soon be added to the roadmap. The highly anticipated collaboration with Otherside through the purchase of metaverse lands, as well as joining forces with the Bored Ape Yacht Club have also been added to the pipeline. The long-term ambition for Toki Universe is to foster a sustainable and community-led environment. 10,000 in total supply of Toki NFTs will soon be launched through the new and exciting Toki Auction medium  to  effectively set the trend and lead the way in the NFT world. Inspired by Doodles, this type of auction allows bidders to bid as much ETH in their initial bids as they wish, while having the option to increase their bids. At the same time, the supply of NFT for sale and auction schedule have been determined and fixed. During the end of the Toki Auction, the clearing price is identified and all bids above the clearing price will successfully receive the NFTs as well as a refund if there is any remainder after taking into consideration the individual user bid and clearing price. For any unsuccessful bids, a full refund will be issued accordingly. During the actual sale of the antique, a portion of the profits will be channeled back to the community wallet to generate more value for the highly valued and loyal holders. Additionally, holders will also receive access to the dedicated Toki Marketplace. As the official launch day for Toki Universe is fast approaching, the team is working tirelessly to ensure that things are on track to meet the expectations of future holders while setting the stage for the emerging NFT world. This trailblazing Toki Universe NFT PFP collection will officially hit the market during a grand launch on September 9, 2022. Toki Universe welcomes every WEB3.0 enthusiast to join their community and be part of their metaverse journey. “Our design comes with PFP, card game design, and future metaverse game attributes. The first that we know in NFT space. It took us more than 8 months to build this project and we are still at the beginning.” by QX Creative Director of Toki Universe. Official Launching(Minting): 9th September 2022, 6:00AM EST Reveal Date: 16th September 2022 Get in touch: Website: https://tokiuniverse.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tokiuniverse Discord: https://discord.com/invite/tokiuniverse Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tokiuniverse/ Register your interest: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7_M7dJ89vcD6KG_FzFsWe98gns_LBarKKyZhwJYy39LzI1A/viewform For more information contact: admin@tokiuniverse.com This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Ethereum Classic’s hashrate surpassed the 40 terahash per second (TH/s) region last Wednesday and four days later, the network’s hashpower reached an all-time high (ATH) at 48.82 TH/s on September 4. Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) is expected to take place eight days from now, and a great deal of hashrate has left the crypto asset’s network during the last few days. Ethereum Classic’s Hashrate Runs Hot Skyrocketing Toward 50 Terahash The sibling blockchain of Ethereum, known as Ethereum Classic, has been reaping the benefits of Ethereum’s upcoming upgrade called The Merge. That’s because when The Merge happens, ethereum (ETH) miners will no longer be able to mine ETH as the blockchain will transition to a PoS system. Four days ago, Bitcoin.com News reported on ETC’s hashrate rise over the 40 TH/s zone but at that time, Ethereum’s hashrate remained the same. The report noted that the hashrate would likely come in waves, and since the report on August 31, 2022, the waves of hashpower have started to increase. Metrics recorded by the Ethash mining pool 2miners.com indicates that ETC’s hashrate tapped an ATH at 48.82 TH/s on September 4. Ethereum Classic’s hashrate is 19.86% higher than the ATH recorded on August 31. At that time, Ethereum’s hashrate remained roughly the same but during the course of the last four days, it’s been fluctuating more often and declining at the same time. By the first day of September, ETH’s hashrate according to 2miners.com statistics was coasting along at 917 TH/s. Today, on September 5, Ethereum’s hashrate is running at 926.02 TH/s and Ethereum Classic’s hashpower has a dedicated 46 TH/s. ETC’s hashrate is just a hair down from the 48.82 TH/s ATH and will likely surpass the ATH again this week. The Merge is expected to happen in just over eight days from now and it’s likely larger waves of hashrate will move from ETH to ETC. However, there is a planned Ethereum PoW fork in the cards called ETHW and the public won’t know how much hashrate this proposed chain will have until the network’s first few days of mining. At the time of writing, Ethermine.org is the largest ethereum mining pool with 260 TH/s dedicated to the chain. Ethermine noted at the end of August it would stop mining ethereum at the PoW level and revealed it would offer a liquid staking service for ETH 2.0. Antpool announced it would not support a new ETH PoW chain and said it would bolster ETC. Antpool also revealed an Ethereum Classic firmware upgrade for the company’s E9 Ethash mining rig. Below Ethermine’s hashrate, in terms of the largest dedicated streams of Ethereum hashpower, are the mining pools F2pool, Hiveon, Poolin, 2miners.com, and Flexpool.io. Most of the mining pools that mine ethereum (ETH) mine ethereum classic as well. Poolin is the largest ETC mining pool on Monday with 9.73 TH/s of hashrate dedicated to the chain. Poolin is followed by F2pool, 2miners.com, Ethermine, Hiveon, and Antpool. What do you think about Ethereum Classic’s hashrate tapping an all-time high on September 4? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Polkadot rose to a multi-week high to start the week, as price increased for a second straight day. The token briefly broke out of a key resistance point, during Monday’s surge. Chainlink also moved to its highest point in nearly two weeks, with the token now trading nearly 13% higher in the last seven days. Polkadot (DOT) Polkadot (DOT) was higher for a second successive session, as prices of the token neared a two-week high. Following a low of $7.21 on Sunday, DOT/USD surged to an intraday high of $7.61 to start the week. The move saw polkadot briefly break out of its long-term resistance level of $7.60, before swiftly retreating. As seen from the chart, this resistance point has historically been a point of uncertainty, with bears recently dominating sentiment around this area. Since earlier highs, DOT is now trading at $7.52, as bulls opted to secure gains shortly after colliding with the aforementioned resistance. Bulls will likely continue to target a breakout, with the higher ceiling of $8.10 a potential exit point. Chainlink (LINK) Chainlink (LINK) was also higher on Monday, as it too moved closer to its strongest level in the last two weeks. LINK/USD surged to a high of $7.25 to start the week, which is the highest point it has hit since August 25. As with polkadot, Monday’s move led to a breakout, with LINK surging past its ceiling of $7.20. The move came as another resistance level was broken, this being that of the 14-day relative strength index (RSI). As of writing, the index is tracking at 51.28, which is higher than its long-term ceiling of 50.00. Should this trajectory continue, then we will likely see LINK bulls attempt to recapture the $7.50 level. Register your email here to get weekly price analysis updates sent to your inbox: Could we see chainlink hit $8.00 in September? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. View the full article

Last week Bitcoin.com News reported on two old bitcoin addresses created in 2013 sending 10,001 bitcoin to a myriad of wallets. Heuristics and clustering techniques indicate that the bitcoins were associated with Mt Gox, roughly around the same time the exchange was hacked in June 2011. Five days later, 5,000 bitcoins were transferred from a wallet created on the same day in 2013, and the stash of coins were also connected to Mt Gox in some type of fashion. The Onchain Tale of 15,001 Bitcoin Associated With the Mt Gox Saga Another 5,000 so-called ‘sleeping bitcoins,’ from a wallet created on December 19, 2013, were transferred on September 4, 2022. The action, caught by Btcparser.com, took place five days after 10,001 bitcoin (BTC) moved from two bitcoin addresses created close to nine years ago on the same day in 2013. The 5,000 BTC sent on Sunday, September 4, 2022, have a mysterious history as they are associated with the now-defunct Mt Gox bitcoin exchange right around the same time the exchange was hacked in June 2011. When our newsdesk reported on the 10,001 BTC associated with Mt Gox, there wasn’t much fanfare about the coins moving. Coindesk columnist Jocelyn Yang, however, discussed the situation with a data engineer at Coin Metrics. The engineer said the bitcoins from 2013 may have been associated with “an old Kraken cold storage address, a Kraken OTC (over the counter) deal, [or] a Kraken user.” Then on September 3, 2022, the OXT researcher Ergobtc published a Twitter Thread that cites our report quoting OXT user Taisia, the admin of the GFISchannel Telegram group. “By referring to the work of a well-informed OXT user, bitcoin.com [is] much closer to the mark than Coindesk,” Ergobtc said. “Despite a Kraken deposit, these coins are not sourced from Kraken. They are however sourced from Mt Gox and possibly controlled by Jeb McCaleb.” Ergobtc further discussed the two addresses (1,& 2) and explained how OXT can backtrack the source of the coins. “Doing so leads to a large cluster with a user annotation,” Ergobtc details. “The user annotation to this cluster links to a blog post by @wizsecurity blog. Wizsec is the Mt Gox saga expert. The blog post references an address belonging to Jeb McCaleb and wrongfully claimed by CSW.” The Twitter thread further explains that the second transaction for 5,000 BTC was “clearly made to Coinbase.” The OXT researcher added: Evidenced by the telltale denomination splitting with secondary splits down to 10 BTC. Splits are co-spent with Coinbase clustered addresses. These coins are sourced from the Gox saga, and possibly controlled by Jeb McCaleb. Two txs for 5K BTC were sent to Kraken and Coinbase. Another Strange Transaction Associated With Mt Gox Moves on September 4 At block height 752,637, on September 4, 2022, 5,000 BTC was sent from “18xGH” and the address was created on the same day (December 19, 2013) as the two addresses that sent 10,001 BTC on Sunday, August 28, and Monday, August 29, 2022. Moreover, by backtracking the transactions, the 5,000 BTC are also connected to the Mt Gox saga and the address “1McUC.” At the time of writing, the address “bc1qp” held 4,929.43 BTC that stemmed from the 5,000 sent on Sunday. By Monday morning, 8:00 a.m. (ET), the coins were dispersed to a myriad of multi-signature bitcoin addresses. Bitcoin.com News spoke with the admin of the GFISchannel Telegram group Taisia about the latest movement. “The situation is quite strange,” Taisia told Bitcoin.com News. “The dev of oxt.me confirmed to us that in his opinion, the bitcoins are indeed connected with Mt Gox, and possibly belong to Jed McCaleb.” The GFISchannel administrator also said she spoke with the former Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles who “did not directly confirm this information, although he did not rule out that it was ‘close to the truth.’” “If these are really McCaleb’s bitcoins, why won’t he make a statement to stop speculation on this topic?” Taisia asked during her conversation with Bitcoin.com News. “And, returning to the original question, why are all these movements going on right now? In the midst of the FUD with trustee payments and Vinnick’s recent extradition to the United States.” Once again a blockchain parser, onchain analysis, and heuristics discovered thousands of bitcoins with an interesting past. These ancient bitcoins that sat idle for close to nine years only to wake up when BTC is trading for $19.9K. It should be noted that these coins have absolutely nothing to do with the bitcoin payments associated with the Mt Gox trustee, except for mere coincidental timing with the trustee’s latest update. Presently, Mt Gox creditors have not seen a hard date set for payment distribution, despite rumors and inaccurate reports last week saying this was the case. What do you think about the whale that moved 15,001 bitcoin this week and the association with Mt Gox? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article