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The multinational music corporation  Universal Music Group (UMG) announced the company has partnered with the non-fungible token (NFT) platform Curio on Thursday. UMG says Curio will be a “dedicated global outlet for future officially licensed NFT projects” for the company’s labels and recording artists worldwide. Curio Platform Will Be Universal Music Group’s Dedicated Global Outlet for NFTs Following the UMG’s non-fungible token (NFT) metaverse music group project featuring four Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, the music-based entertainment company has revealed a new partnership with the NFT company Curio NFT. The NFT marketplace platform Curio launched in 2020 and has issued more than 75,000 NFTs to date. According to UMG’s announcement, Curio will be used to bolster “future NFT projects from its unrivaled roster of global artists and labels, providing greater scalability and flexibility to issue authentic fan-orientated collectibles, carefully curated for each project.” Universal Music Group is a well known firm with roots in music stretching all the way back to 1934. In 1996, UMG’s parent company officially became known as Universal Studios, Inc., and the music division of the multinational corporation was dubbed: Universal Music Group. UMG has a wide array of recording artists worldwide including Sting, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Lil Wayne, Adele, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Coldplay, and more. Michael Nash, UMG’s executive vice president of the firm’s digital strategy unit said that NFTs are a great way to interact with a recording artist’s fans. “UMG and our labels are focused on developing NFT projects that authentically engage and speak to our artists’ fanbases and new audiences,” Nash said in a statement. “With Curio, our labels will have a secure and dedicated platform to host these premium projects and provide new opportunities for collectors and fans from around the world to acquire unique pieces, inspired by their favorite artists and labels,” the UMG executive added. Nash further noted that Web3 is on UMG’s radar and stated: UMG is focused on developing new opportunities in this space that place our artists and labels at the forefront, working to ensure that the evolution of Web3 provides exciting new avenues for their creativity. Curio’s Co-Founder Says UMG’s Huge Catalog Has ‘Unlimited Opportunity to Deliver Value to Fans Across the Globe’ The non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem has become a billion-dollar industry very quickly and UMG follows many well known brands that have entered the space. The list of NFT industry participants includes firms such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Budweiser, Adidas, Arizona Iced Tea, Rolling Stone, Topps, Major League Baseball (MLB), Nike, Gannett News, Coachella Festival, Konami, Ubisoft, and more. One recording artist that has already worked with Curio NFT is System of a Down’s (SoaD) lead vocalist, Serj Tankian. Bitcoin.com News spoke with Tankian about his NFT collection and working with Curio on his exhibition. In regard to the partnership with UMG, Curio’s co-founder Ben Arnon said the firm looks forward to working with UMG “in the NFT and Web3 space.” “UMG has a huge catalog with unlimited opportunity to deliver value to fans across the globe,” Arnon remarked during the announcement. What do you think about  Universal Music Group partnering with Curio NFT? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Spellfire has packed 30 years of history into an amazing experience and combined it with the latest trends of tomorrow. Defining the future of NFTs and adding new standards to collectible card games has become the core aims of game developers. St. Valentines day has marked an important date in the game’s development. “Massive news for 10 days in a row starting now – celebrities, MV integrations, leaks – be the first to know!” has appeared in their social media channels and made all their fans keep a close eye on the progress, also looking at the green candles appearing in $SPELLFIRE charts. Spellfire has worked, grown, developed, and made many partnerships and deals in recent times. The game’s development has reached incredible speeds and is almost ready to be shown-off. The best news was packed in the ‘10 Days of Growth’ sprint that has just started promising amazing developments every day. New NFT’s, celebrity backers, in-game partnerships, sneak-peaks, integrations of the game, and of course – massive rewards for the hodlers is just the beginning they say. Definitely worth watching the calendar for fans of the game. Here is what they have offered so far: Buy into more than just a whitepaper. Spellfire has been in development for over four years, and it shows. The re-designed physical game is already playable on tabletops with a Unity-powered digital version arriving later this year. Those looking for the best returns should get in on the ground floor. Limited Prime Edition NFT cards have already reached the shelves at Opensea for Polygon users and are promised to arrive on other chains soon. Earn frictionlessly, without needing to play the game. Spellfire’s Original NFT card owners earn up to 90% of the profits from subsequent sales of their playing card copies. The NFTs offer an incredible ROI of 10X for prime edition owners. Physical and digital editions ensure that both tabletop players and PC gamers are well catered to. This thought process extends into the crypto world too. The game will be among the first to support multichain NFTs minted on Polygon, Solana, and BSC. 2022 has already been deemed ‘the year of the metaverse’ with avatars and online meetups becoming commonplace. Spellfire’s design is at odds with this thinking. It has bet big on interactivity and retained the human element that has been lost with so many digital-only CCGs. Re-master the Magic is the best Spellfire has ever been! New cards, new mechanics, and new ways to play keep it fresh for both new and established audiences. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

On February 17, the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital announced the launch of a new $500 million to $600 million sub-fund dedicated to “liquid tokens and digital assets.” The company noted during its announcement that the new fund highlights Sequoia’s strategic “commitment to crypto.” Venture Firm Sequoia Capital to Launch a Fund Focused on Liquid Tokens and Digital Assets The American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Sequoia Capital is starting a fund that will be focused on investing in crypto assets. In a blog post dubbed “A Block Step Forward,” Sequoia says the new liquid token fund “complements” the firm’s ongoing crypto investing. Sequoia’s announcement further discussed prior partnerships with crypto movers and shakers like FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and Michael Shaulov the co-founder of Fireblocks. The venture capital firm also mentioned blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, and “major” decentralized finance (defi) protocols. While investing in these technologies, Sequoia mentioned learning a great deal along the way. “Today, we are doing just that with a new $500–600M sub fund focused primarily on liquid tokens and digital assets,” the blog post published on Thursday notes. Sequoia Capital continued: Sequoia Crypto Fund complements our broader commitment to crypto. Our goal with this fund is to participate more actively in protocols, better support token-only projects, and learn by doing ourselves. We remain committed to working collaboratively with the crypto community, including providing ongoing support for open-source research. Venture capital aimed at blockchain protocols, crypto assets, and up-and-coming blockchain startups grew exponentially last year. In fact, overall venture capital (VC) investments in 2021 broke records at $621 billion. Last year’s venture capital, funds that were primarily focused on crypto tokens and blockchain technology businesses, represented 5.28% of 2021’s aggregate VC investments with $32.8 billion. While the Sequoia Crypto Fund will deploy $500 million to $600 million toward “liquid tokens and digital assets,” Sequoia says it also plans to continue partnering with crypto teams across the industry. During the first week of February 2022, Sequoia Capital India led the $450 million investment round in Polygon. Sequoia is considered one of the 20 top venture investors in blockchain and crypto. The California company has investments in Metastable, Polychain, Binance, Huobi, Polygon, Orchid Labs, and String Labs. What do you think about Sequoia Capital announcing the launch of a new $500 million to $600 million sub-fund dedicated to cryptocurrencies? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Several U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill to mitigate the risks from El Salvador adopting bitcoin as legal tender. “El Salvador recognizing bitcoin as official currency opens the door for money laundering cartels and undermines U.S. interests,” said a U.S. senator. US Concerned About Risks From El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations announced Wednesday that Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) have introduced a bill titled the ‘‘Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador Act’’ or ‘‘ACES Act.’’ The proposed legislation requires a report from the State Department on El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin as legal tender and “a plan to mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system,” the announcement details. The State Department report would include an analysis of El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption as legal tender and the risks for cybersecurity, economic stability, and democratic governance in El Salvador. Senator Risch commented: El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin as legal tender raises significant concerns about the economic stability and financial integrity of a vulnerable U.S. trading partner in Central America. He added: “This new policy has the potential to weaken U.S. sanctions policy, empowering malign actors like China and organized criminal organizations. Our bipartisan legislation seeks greater clarity on El Salvador’s policy and requires the administration to mitigate potential risk to the U.S. financial system.” Senator Cassidy opined: El Salvador recognizing bitcoin as official currency opens the door for money laundering cartels and undermines U.S. interests. Responding to the bill’s introduction, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, tweeted: OK boomers… You have 0 jurisdiction on a sovereign and independent nation. We are not your colony, your back yard or your front yard. Stay out of our internal affairs. Don’t try to control something you can’t control. El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar in September last year. Since then, the country has purchased 1,801 BTC altogether. The U.S. is not the only country concerned about El Salvador’s Bitcoin law. In November last year, Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey raised concerns about bitcoin being used as legal tender in El Salvador. Furthermore, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeatedly urged the country to abandon bitcoin as legal tender. According to the IMF, the costs of making BTC legal tender exceed the potential benefits. El Salvador, however, does not see a reason to scale back its Bitcoin law. In fact, President Bukele has predicted that two more countries will adopt BTC as legal tender this year. What do you think about the U.S. introducing a bill to mitigate the risks from El Salvador adopting bitcoin as legal tender? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, wishes crypto would be banned immediately. He says the government made “a huge mistake” to allow cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin. “It’s like a venereal disease,” he opined. Charlie Munger Says ‘It Was a Huge Mistake’ to Allow Crypto at All Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s right-hand man and longtime business partner, talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency Wednesday in an interview with Yahoo Finance ahead of the annual shareholders meeting at the Daily Journal, where he serves as chairman. Munger previously called bitcoin “rat poison” and said last year that he hated the success of the cryptocurrency. He was asked if he is surprised that bitcoin has gotten even more mainstream since then. The Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman replied: “If you stop to think about it, it’s an ideal currency if you want to commit extortion, or kidnapping, or have a protection racket or something.” He added: “Why should a civilized government want an ideal untraceable technology to come into the payment system run by a bunch of people who want to get rich quick for doing very little for civilization. Of course, I hate it.” Munger elaborated: I don’t think it’s good that our country is going crazy over bitcoin and its ilk. I think the Communist Chinese were wiser than we were. They just banned it. He was also asked if he had any predictions on what’s going to happen with crypto in the U.S. “No,” he replied. “You let a bad genie out of a bottle, God knows what happens.” The Berkshire executive opined: It was a huge mistake to allow it at all. Munger proceeded to comment on crypto regulation. “The truth of the matter is our regulatory establishment when they quit the government, they go out into this heavily promotional capitalism and so it’s very hard to get the government to make good, wise decisions about something like bitcoin.” At the Daily Journal meeting, Munger reiterated: “I wish it [crypto] had been banned immediately, and I admire the Chinese for banning it.” He continued: I certainly didn’t invest in crypto. I’m proud of the fact I’ve avoided it. It’s like a venereal disease or something. I just regard it as beneath contempt. Munger’s statements echo his previous comments about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He said in December last year: “I’m never going to buy a cryptocurrency. I wish they’d never been invented.” He also advised other investors to never buy BTC. In May, he said: “The whole damn development is disgusting and contrary to the interest of civilization.” What do you think about Charlie Munger’s comments about bitcoin and crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The U.S. state of Colorado is preparing to accept cryptocurrency for tax payments, said Governor Jared Polis. “We expect to accept crypto by this summer,” he said, adding that after tax payments, crypto will be accepted for other things like driver’s licenses or hunting licenses. Colorado to Accept Crypto for Tax Payments The governor of the U.S. state of Colorado, Jared Polis, talked about his state’s efforts to become the leader in cryptocurrency acceptance in an interview with CNBC Tuesday. Regarding his state accepting cryptocurrency for tax payments, he said: “We expect by this summer — pretty soon — to accept crypto for all of our state tax-related purposes, and then we plan to roll that out across all of state governments for things like … driver’s license or hunting license, within a few months after that.” He reiterated: The biggest set of transactions are the taxes that people pay. We expect to accept crypto by this summer. However, the governor clarified: “It’s important that people know from the state perspective that we cannot be in the business of having exposure to a market where securities, including cryptocurrencies, fluctuate. Our expenses are in dollars … All of our expenses are in dollars. Our budgets are approved by legislators in dollars.” He emphasized: “When we talked about accepting crypto for payments, they will be converted back into dollars for our purpose, so there will be an intermediary there that would convert them for our purposes back to dollars.” The governor was also asked whether he is worried about the volatility of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and whether it affects the state’s plan. ‘Not at all,” the governor promptly replied. “In our case, we wouldn’t hold it as bitcoin, as ethereum. We would not hold it as an asset class. It would be paid and converted in real time to the way that we do our accounting, still,” he continued, reiterating: Our budget is approved and our expenses are incurred in dollars. It would really be converted at the moment it is paid … just like accepting a credit card but with a much lower transaction cost than a credit card. What do you think about Colorado’s efforts to become the leader in crypto acceptance? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Ertha Metaverse looks unstoppable on its path to becoming the industry’s top metaverse. The project is already recognized as having one of the most searched-for tokens in GameFi and at the time of writing, holds a fully diluted market cap in excess of $380 million. Today its developers have announced that a new sales record has been set. Rome no longer belongs to the Romans, but to the buyer who spent $120,000 for the privilege to call one of Europe’s most famous cities their own. Not only do they now have control of world-famous landmarks such as The Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain, but also Vatican City, the home of the Pope, and its famed Sistine Chapel. This exceeds previous highs that were set for Tokyo, which sold for $59,000, and the majority of Sweden, which a single buyer purchased for $50,000. To some, these might seem like eye-watering amounts to spend on digital plots of land. However, each plot, especially those with the higher prices, comes loaded with resources that can be exploited to generate its owner revenue in the form of $ERTHA tokens. The Metaverse is divided into 360,000 purchasable land plots, each of which collects taxes, fees, and other forms of revenue from the transactions taking place on them. With Ertha’s trajectory continuously on the up, Rome’s purchase price might not seem so high once the game is live and hundreds of thousands of players flood into its playspace. Investors looking to buy into the hype surrounding metaverses and Play-to-Earn gaming should look no further than Ertha Metaverse. The games marketplace, an interactive globe, is being updated continuously with land in new countries being released daily. Prospective landowners shouldn’t hesitate. Buyers are ready and waiting to snap up land the moment it becomes available. There is still much to look forward to with an exciting list of improvements and additions approaching in Ertha’s roadmap. Introduction to Ertha: In Ertha, mankind finds itself on the brink of extinction. World leaders failed with their last-ditch attempts at saving Earth, and in the years that followed untold natural disasters devastated the planet. Players are given the opportunity to right the wrongs of our past by building a new world, from the ground up. Extract resources, develop land, re-build economies, and re-form countries and their governments in the way they see fit. Each player’s actions can have lasting impacts within an ever-evolving metaverse. Ertha’s Gameplay: Ertha’s world is a complex and intricately designed playspace ripe for the creation of new governments, economies, and shaky alliances between its player base. Players must balance production, trade, and financial budgets, in order to stay one step ahead of the competition. For those looking for an introduction to Metaverses and Play-to-Earn gaming, Ertha represents an opportunity like no other. What Is the $ERTHA Token? The $ERTHA token will play an essential role for anyone serious about entering the Erthaverse. As a game of economic and political intrigue, the token has various uses for players. Use $ERTHA to influence in-game political policies, purchase land, develop real estate, and much more. However players decide to use them, $ERTHA tokens will have a real impact on each player’s influence within the Erthaverse! Social Media Channels: Twitter : https://twitter.com/ErthaGame Discord : https://discord.gg/ertha Medium : https://erthium.medium.com/ YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHiXL-GSDqd9jIa1hsr20Kw Telegram : https://t.me/erthagame This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

It’s impossible to ban cryptocurrencies in Russia, the country’s minister of finance has stated in his first comments on his department’s latest disagreements with the Russian monetary authority. The two institutions are reportedly failing to reach consensus on crypto regulation but the treasury intends to submit draft legislation despite their differences. Disagreements on Future of Cryptocurrencies Persist Between Finance Ministry and Bank of Russia A meeting between the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) Governor Elvira Nabiullina, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko — devoted to adopting a common approach to the regulation of cryptocurrencies — has failed to produce the desired results, domestic and foreign media unveiled this week. According to a report by Bloomberg, quoting knowledgeable sources, the participants have not reached a consensus on Russia’s future policy regarding the crypto space, but merely formalized their disagreements, despite President Putin’s call. The only common ground so far has been the shared position to prohibit the use of bitcoin and the like as a means of payment. In January, Bank of Russia proposed a blanket ban on operations such as issuance, exchange, and mining of cryptocurrencies, citing threats to financial stability and investors. However, the federal government has sided with the treasury department’s view that most crypto activities should be legalized and regulated, under strict rules, rather than banned completely, an announcement published on Feb. 8 indicated. As cryptocurrencies are quite volatile, the ministry thinks it’s necessary to restrict access to these assets for non-qualified investors, suggesting a limit of 50,000 rubles (approx. $650). At the same time, Minfin wants to make them attractive for other investors, according to Siluanov, and considers “controllable” all risks highlighted by the CBR. Commenting on the discord, quoted by Forbes and Reuters, the finance minister stated: The Central Bank wants to ban cryptocurrencies, arguing that this creates risks, primarily for citizens, can “infect” financial institutions, banks and create an opaque settlement market. It’s the same as banning the internet, which is impossible… We don’t use the methods that China uses. Earlier this month, Russian media reported that Dmitry Grigorenko has instructed the finance ministry and the central bank to draft new crypto legislation together and present it by Feb. 18. In case the disagreements with the CBR persist, the ministry plans to submit to the government a package of bills along with a table listing the differences, Finmarket reported on Wednesday. Any delay would hinder the development of the crypto sector and lead it into the shadows, Siluanov warned, speaking to reporters. He added that the Ministry of Finance is aware of the active development of this market and recognizes the need for its regulation in the Russian Federation. Quoted by Tass, his deputy Alexei Moiseev said that the draft law will be prepared by the said date. Meanwhile, another report by the Russian edition of Forbes revealed that Bank of Russia has proposed a different set of amendments to the current Russian legislation in the field. The regulator wants to incorporate a ban on the circulation of cryptocurrencies into the law “On Digital Financial Assets” which went into force in January 2021, only partially regulating crypto-related matters. Do you expect Russian government institutions to eventually reach an agreement on the future of cryptocurrencies? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article

On Tuesday, the team behind the Umbria network announced the launch of the new Narni cross-chain Avalanche bridge. Umbria says the bridge is 90% cheaper than the official Avalanche bridging solution allowing users to move ether between the Ethereum blockchain and the Avalanche network. Narni Cross-Chain Bridge Adds Avalanche Solution During the last two weeks the price of avalanche (AVAX) has increased 33.4% and this week, AVAX made its way into the top ten crypto positions in terms of market capitalization. As far as the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) is concerned, the Avalanche network has 169 defi protocols with $10.97 billion in value. In addition to the increase in AVAX value, this week Umbria network revealed the new Narni cross-chain Avalanche bridge. The Narni bridge already allowed cross-chain transfers from Ethereum to Binance Smart Chain and Polygon. Furthermore, Narni’s new bridge to Avalanche is cheaper than the official AVAX bridge. According to Umbria, the cost to transfer leveraging Narni is $2.43 while the official AVAX bridge is $27.62 per transfer. The estimated rate provided by Umbria is 91.20% cheaper and instead of ten minutes using the official AVAX bridge, a Narni transaction is less than three minutes. “Onboarding new crypto users to Avalanche can be difficult due to the technical challenges and knowledge required, the lengthy transaction times and the prohibitive costs. Our bridging protocol removes these barriers, which ultimately increases access to Avalanche projects from Ethereum,” Barney Chambers, the co-lead developer and founder of Umbria Network explained during the announcement. During the last 12 months, cross-chain bridge technology has grown a great deal. Statistics show that the aggregate total value locked in cross-chain bridges with Ethereum is $25.45 billion and the TVL has increased 14.7% in the last 30 days. Avalanche bridge metrics show $6.1 billion TVL, according to data stemming from Dune Analytics. The Umbria network is built on Polygon and offers a staking pool and decentralized exchange (dex) platform in addition to the Narni cross-chain bridge. What do you think about the Narni bridge adding Avalanche support for cross-chain transfers? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Despite Thursday’s selloff in cryptocurrencies, cosmos managed to hit its highest level in the last week. The rally came as one of yesterday’s big gainers, THETA, slipped in today’s session. Biggest gainers Cosmos (ATOM) moved higher in today’s session, despite the global cryptocurrency market cap falling by over 3% as of writing. ATOM/USD rose to a peak of $30.79 earlier today, following its climb from yesterday’s low of $27.97. This recent surge in the price of ATOM, comes after a Valentine’s day bounce of its support level at $25.90. Since being hit by cupid’s arrow, ATOM/USD has had four consecutive sessions of higher highs, leading to Thursday’s run. Today’s move also saw ATOM break out of its resistance level at $29.20, however as the day progressed, profit-takers liquidated positions, leading to the 1D candlestick fading. This false breakout has also seen the 14-day RSI held at resistance of 47, a level which it has been unable to climb over in the last 10-days. Should price strength be lessening, we may soon see some consolidation in the price of cosmos. Biggest losers Although SAND, AXS, and LEO were all deep into the red on Thursday, it was THETA that fell by the most in the top 100. Coming off the back of a $3.98 high yesterday, THETA fell to a low of $3.60 during today’s session, nearing a 10% loss in the process. Thursday’s selloff began after prices approached the resistance of $4.00, and now look set to fall to support at $3.48. Price strength also faded, with the RSI falling to its own support of 50.20, after being held up at resistance at 58.65. Many now wait to see if THETA will continue with this consolidation, and trade sideways between support and resistance. However, as long as we continue to linger at these levels, bulls will likely continue to circle. Will THETA rebound in tomorrow’s session? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. View the full article

Canada’s national police have sent letters to cryptocurrency exchanges asking them to freeze at least 34 crypto addresses allegedly connected to the Freedom Convoy protests under the Emergencies Act recently invoked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Banks have also received letters about “designated persons” tied to the protests as the police vow to take back Ottawa. Canadian Police Order Exchanges to Freeze Crypto Addresses Canada’s federal police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), has reportedly sent letters to financial institutions, including banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, with a list of individuals and crypto addresses. The letter to crypto exchanges demands that they “cease facilitating any transactions” with a list of 34 crypto wallet addresses it provides. Claiming that these wallet addresses are associated with the Freedom Convoy protests, the RCMP wrote: The Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police are currently investigating cryptocurrency donations being collected in relation to illegal acts falling under the scope of the Emergency Measures Act. The letter continues: “Pursuant to the Emergency Economic Measures Order, under subsection 19(1) of the Emergencies Act, there is a duty to cease facilitating any transactions pertaining to the following cryptocurrency address(es).” Among the 34 crypto addresses, 29 are bitcoin (BTC) addresses and two are ethereum (ETH) addresses, the Counter Signal reported, citing a letter it has obtained. The remaining three are cardano (ADA), monero (XMR), and litecoin (LTC) addresses. At least one wallet containing over $1 million in bitcoin was part of the Honkhonkhodl campaign to support truckers, the publication conveyed, adding that each wallet has transacted cryptocurrencies worth between $0 and $1.1 million. The RCMP added that “Any information about a transaction or proposed transaction in respect of these address(es), is to be disclosed immediately to the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.” Banks Receive Letters About ‘Designated Persons’ Traditional financial institutions, including banks, reportedly received a different type of letter from the RCMP. The letters to banks name about 20 people the police have identified as being involved in activities related to the Freedom Convoy protests, the Globe and Mail reported, citing a source who has reviewed the document. The letters include pictures and summaries with details about the people, some of whom were allegedly the main organizers of the protests. The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) confirmed banks have received letters about “designated persons” from the RCMP. Financial institutions must now disclose these customers’ banking details and transaction records to the RCMP or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. However, they can decide themselves whether to freeze accounts or cut off services. Trudeau’s Emergencies Act and Police’s Vow to Take Back Ottawa in Entirety Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act Monday to deal with the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa. The Act gives law enforcement additional powers to respond to continuing blockades and protests against pandemic restrictions. Specifically, it enables financial services providers to “immediately freeze or suspend the account of an individual or business affiliated with these illegal blockades without a court order.” Steve Bell, interim police chief with the Ottawa Police Service, told the city council Wednesday: We are going to take back the entirety of the downtown core and every occupied space. Bell explained that police officers will enforce a plan to remove anyone who refuses to leave, stating, “You will be hearing and seeing these actions in the coming days.” What do you think about how the Canadian government is handling the Freedom Convoy protests? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Lester Green, known to millions of fans as Beetlejuice, has been a pop-culture icon through four decades. Having initially conquered radio, television, and movies, Beetlejuice has continuously evolved and is now also a social media superstar with over 2 million Instagram followers and featured on some of today’s most popular memes. “There has never been anybody like Beetle and there will never be again,” said Bobby Rooney, Beetlejuice’s longtime friend and manager. “Beetle is a true innovator, with a passionate following from all walks of life.” Dave Amerman, Auction Director at Goldin, noted, “Beetlejuice is universally loved around the world. His millions of social media followers are vehement fans. Beetlejuice’s legend has continued to grow and resonate with people of all ages and backgrounds. Goldin is excited to be presenting his One-and-Only NFT”. For the first time in five years, Beetlejuice returned to the Howard Stern Show on December 13, 2021, to break the news that his only official NFT will be minted in 2022. This news created a viral moment and has fans clamoring to this one-of-a-kind piece of pop-culture history. The Beetlejuice One-and-Only NFT is an original work of art based on the historic T206 baseball card design and highlights some of the greatest milestones in his life. Included with the Beetlejuice One-and-Only NFT is his 1-of-1 Autographed Rookie Card and the Exclusive Life Story Video of Beetlejuice, as told by Beetlejuice. In 2022, Beetlejuice has set out to mint the Greatest Collectible of all-time with his One-and-Only NFT, available for bidding at Goldin right now. This One-and-Only Beetlejuice NFT is “As Bad as Can”. Links: Goldin OpenSea For questions, please contact: BigLeague NFTGreatness info@bigleaguenftgreatness.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

The processing power backing the Bitcoin network has continued its upward momentum tapping another all-time high (ATH) on February 15, 2022, at 249 exahash per second (EH/s). Following the latest ATH, the network’s mining difficulty increased on Thursday morning (EST), up 4.78% and reaching a value of 27.97 trillion. The mining difficulty has increased six times in a row since November 28, 2021, which makes it 23.34% harder for bitcoin miners to find bitcoin block rewards since then. Bitcoin Hashrate Cracks Another ATH, Block Rewards Become Much Harder to Find After Difficulty Jumps Close to 5% Higher At the time of writing, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate is coasting along at 212.21 EH/s after cracking a new ATH on Tuesday, February 15. On that day, the hashrate climbed to 249.75 EH/s, according to coinwarz.com’s six-month statistics. The new ATH follows the high recorded three days prior when the hashpower metric tapped 246 exahash per second (EH/s) on February 12. After the new 249 EH/s high on Thursday, the network’s difficulty increased by 4.78% to another lifetime high. At the time of writing and for the next 13 days, the mining difficulty will be approximately 27.97 trillion. It’s a lot higher than the low difficulty value recorded 215 days (seven months) ago on July 17, 2021. At that time, BTC’s network difficulty was only 13.67 trillion because it experienced four decreases in a row — one of them being the largest decrease in history on July 3, 2021 (-27.94%). However, since July 17, there have been 16 different difficulty adjustment algorithm (DAA) changes and 15 of them increased. The last decrease recorded in the seven-month spread was on November 28, 2021, dropping 1.49%. The jump from 13.67 trillion to the current 27.97 trillion is an increase of 104.60% in seven months. The hashrate seven months ago was less than half the value it is today, at 97.87 EH/s. While bitcoin miners have recorded another ATH, the top pool during the last three days is Foundry USA with 15.59% of the global hashrate and 33.62 EH/s. The second-largest miner during the last three days is F2pool with 14.76% of the world’s hashrate and 31.83 EH/s. Foundry USA and F2pool are followed by Antpool, Poolin, Binance Pool, Viabtc, Slushpool, Btc.com, SBI Crypto, and Luxor, respectively. There are 12 entities dedicating hashrate to the BTC chain and 11 of them are known pools. Currently, unknown hashrate or stealth miners have the least amount of hashrate with 0.83% of the global hashrate, or 1.79 EH/s of dedicated SHA256 hashpower. With the current global hashrate coasting along above the 200 EH/s range, the next epoch DAA estimated to come in 13 days is currently expected to be another increase. While the estimate could change, right now it’s expected to jump 0.04% from the current 27.97 trillion to 27.98 trillion. What do you think about the hashrate reaching new highs and the difficulty increasing close to 5% on Thursday? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Cryptocurrency markets were trading lower for a second consecutive session, leaving bitcoin and ethereum both in the red. Overall, the crypto market cap was nearly 2% lower as of writing. Bitcoin Bitcoin bulls were nowhere to be found on Thursday, as bearish pressure continued to dominate recent market sentiment. Following a high of $44,309.03 on Wednesday, BTC/USD fell below $43,000 during today’s session, and is down by over 3% as of writing. The move saw BTC hit an intraday low of $42,685.75, sending prices closer to recent support at $41,765. This drop in price comes as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 14-days fell below its floor of 56, and is currently tracking at 53.10. In addition to the decline in price strength, the shorter term moving average of 10-days (red), is trending downward for the first time since January 30. Despite BTC being down 3.33% in the last seven days, history shows us that the closer we get to support, bulls will likely be waiting to buy the dip. Ethereum Following a battle to remain over the $3,000 level on Wednesday, ETH struggled to stay above water during today’s session. ETH/USD fell to an intraday low of $2,987 on Thursday, following a breakout of its long-term support at $3,022. Although prices have since moved back above $3,000, this was a sign to bears that there could yet be further declines. Many are looking at the $2,840 floor as the next price target, should the current bearish pressure persist Looking at the RSI, price strength remains near the floor of 51, despite a marginal breakout, which could be a good sign to bulls anticipating a reversal. How long will this bearish pressure last? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. View the full article

Start building your roster of rookies, vets, and rising drivers and be a part of an exciting game universe thanks to AnteFame, a race-to-earn (a play on “play-to-earn”) club with two main components: a motorsport fantasy league and a sim-racing league; and also get a chance to participate in an exciting and grand competition to win a Maserati Levante MC Special Edition. AnteFame – Play-to-Earn Motorsport Fantasy League and Sim-Racing eSport Welcome to club AnteFame, an exciting prospect to earn by playing in a motorsport fantasy league and a sim-racing league. AnteFame is being launched by the former Vice President of Top Gear at BBC Studios and a professional driver and now talent manager. The foundation of AnteFame is simple and is based on the concept of meritocracy: if you can dream it, AnteFame helps you achieve it, provided someone can demonstrate that they work hard to attain and reach a certain level of performance. Initially, this starts in motorsport and later will extend to other sectors. Joining AnteFame means entering an exclusive club composed of world-class teams in motorsport with whom AnteFame has signed partnerships and brought on more than 100 drivers. You will surely like the game if you like the Netflix series Drive to Survive. The game itself is not complicated, and it is divided into two sections – a motorsport fantasy league where the participant plays the role of a team owner and a sim-racing league that is an eSport experience where players race against other in a 3D game based on two series: NASCAR & GT3. As a team owner, the players experience creating and owning a racing team in the fantasy league—the player scouts for drivers in disciplines like F1 and more. The performance of the drivers that the player chooses, in real life, is indexed on the teams’ score. Thus, the better a player is a scout, the better the picked drivers perform during the race week, the higher the score of the team and the more rewards earned – distributed in the form of non-fungible tokens monthly and annually, based on the tier that the player belongs to. (Novice, Rookie, Confirmed, Veteran, and Legend) Some drivers will also provide their collectable non-fungible token that will act as a booster of score in the fantasy league. The club also rewards ANTE tokens based on points awarded – calculated from actual race results & the tokens are given out monthly and annually. ANTE tokens are used as the medium of exchange in AnteFame and are supported through several features – from being awarded to players for completing player milestones to buying NFTs. In AnteFame, players can stake their ANTE tokens in their wallets. The rewards are paid out automatically monthly into their wallets. The prize pool is 45M tokens per year/approx. $3M. Join the club today and be part of an exciting game by purchasing one of four NFT passes, with the purchase beginning with the Rookie pass on February 17th. How You Can Win a Maserati Levante MC Special Edition AnteFame is proud to announce a partnership with the legendary Italian car manufacturer Maserati. Maserati has a rich racing heritage and will return to racing in 2023, in the Formula E championship that AnteFame offers in the Fantasy league. To celebrate this return to racing, AnteFame and Maserati have partnered to offer real-world racing experiences as rewards to participants in the Fantasy and Sim-Racing leagues. To participate in the competition and win a Maserati Levante MC Special Edition, participants must purchase an AnteFame NFT Rookie Pass. The NFT Rookie Pass is available for public sale from February 17th, with a 10% discount for bitcoin.com readers until February 20th. Only 5999 are available, so don’t miss the opportunity to participate and purchase it as soon as possible to be part of something fascinating. Only a few Levante Special Editions exist globally, and one owner of the AnteFame NFT Rookie Pass will be able to walk away with a limited-edition vehicle. The terms of the competition are simple: Additional to your pass benefits, don’t you just love a good sweepstakes? When all pass sales have been completed, an NFT containing a passphrase for a crypto wallet will be randomly sent to one of the pass owners. Don’t sit around & be left out, buy your NFT pass now at: https://pass.antefame.com. 10% discount for bitcoin.com readers until February 20th Maserati Corse: two words that spell out performance, victory and audacious driving. The new Maserati MC Edition is the continuation of a story that began at the starting line of the Targa Florio over 95 years ago. https://t.co/0LP2sib7GE pic.twitter.com/AYarJhn8od — Maserati (@Maserati_HQ) February 2, 2022 To learn more about the project visit the website, and follow the team on social media. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia has suggested that crypto mining should be allowed in energy-rich regions and miners provided with access to inexpensive electricity. The department has joined calls to legalize the industry and utilize Russia’s strengths as a mining destination. Crypto Miners Should Have Access to Cheaper Power, Economy Ministry Says Amid ongoing discussions on the future of cryptocurrencies in Russia, the country’s Ministry of Economic Development has proposed permitting the minting of digital currencies in regions with a surplus of electricity, and the adoption of acceptable rates for mining companies. It believes this would help to deal with power deficits experienced by households and industries in other territories. The proposal also envisages a reduction of the tariffs for connecting mining farms and data processing centers to energy sources, the Russian daily Izvestia reported, quoting the department’s press service. The ministry wants the Federal Grid Company (FGC) to lower its transmission fees as well. The extraction of cryptocurrencies should be registered as a business activity and taxes levied upon the exchange of the digital coins into rubles, the economy ministry says, giving Japan and Germany as an example. This regulatory approach has been backed by a number of officials in Moscow and regions such as Irkutsk, where mining in residential areas has led to a spike in power consumption and outages. The ministry has put forward another proposal in that context — to introduce a threshold for electricity usage by private individuals. Exceeding the limit would signal that a consumer might be operating energy-hungry mining equipment. This would then lead to imposing higher tariffs, or the commercial rates paid by businesses across the country. The status of crypto mining is one the debated subjects between various Russian authorities trying to put the crypto industry in order. Like the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Energy has also supported crypto regulation while the Bank of Russia wants to ban it, along with other crypto operations such as trading. In January, President Vladimir Putin urged government institutions to reach a consensus on the matter and highlighted the “competitive advantages” of Russia in regards to mining. He referred to the surplus of electrical power and the availability of a qualified workforce. Russia’s importance as a mining hotspot has increased since China cracked down on the industry last May. Do you think Russia will adopt favorable regulations for cryptocurrency miners? Share your expectations in the comments section below. View the full article

The Republic of the Marshall Islands has announced it will allow decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to become legal entities. At the time of writing, only one DAO has successfully incorporated in the country. DAOs Will Be Allowed to Register as Legal Entities The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has said it will allow decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to register as legal entities. The move, which has been made by the recent passage of the Non-Profit Entities (Amendment) Act 2021, makes it possible for DAOs to be “recognized by the international legal system.” According to a recent media release, the island nation has already established a domestic organization, MIDAO Directory Services Inc., to help DAOs register as legal entities within the Marshall Islands. The media release adds that MIDAO was involved in the successful incorporation of Shipyard Software’s Admiralty LLC, an entity that builds “decentralized exchanges for specific types of trades, traders, and instruments.” In justifying the country’s decision to recognize DAOs, the media release points to the RMI’s track record in the sphere of regulatory compliance. “The RMI’s track record of regulatory compliance and fair legal adjudication is recognized worldwide, and the country is well-positioned to become the leading domicile for DAOs in the world,” explained the media statement. De Facto Choice for DAOs Similar to the U.S. state of Delaware, which “has become synonymous with incorporation” within that country, the Marshall Islands said in the statement that it is attempting to become “the de facto choice for DAOs interested in legally registering their organization.” Meanwhile, the media release also quotes Bobby Muller, president and co-founder of MIDAO, who acknowledges that DAOs “present an enormous opportunity for people to organize in a more efficient and less hierarchical manner.” According to Muller, the island nation sees its decision to formally recognize DAOs as a “unique moment to lead in this critical space.” What are your thoughts on this story? You can share your views in the comments section below. View the full article

Exotic Markets is a DeFi (Decentralized Finance) platform on the Solana Blockchain. It aims to become the most flexible structured products protocol, offering the widest range of payoffs and underlyings in DeFi. For example, it aims to offer payoffs based on baskets of tokens, trading ranges, accumulators, and capital preservation. Joffrey Dalet is the Founder and CEO of Exotic Markets. He recently joined the Bitcoin.com News Podcast to talk about the business: The Exotic Markets team founder, Joffrey Dalet, spent nine years trading volatility products and served as a quant volatility hedge fund manager. The team was a top options market maker on FTX. Then the market changed and they shifted strategies. Instead of market making on CEX, they decided to offer new investment strategies on DeFi. Thanks to the low costs and high throughput of the Solana blockchain, Exotic Markets can offer fair and transparent on-chain computation for fair value. The robo advisor will reduce complexity and guide users towards tailor-made solutions. Tokenization of positions on Serum Exchange will allow users to trade positions while the structured product is still active, offering unprecedented liquidity for products that have traditionally been illiquid and distributed on a one-sided basis. And this will all be made possible thanks to the EXO token, which will be embedded with a governance function and will absorb a portion of platform fees. To learn more about the project visit exotic.markets, and follow the team on Twitter, Telegram and Discord. The Bitcoin.com News podcast features interviews with the most interesting leaders, founders and investors in the world of Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), NFTs and the Metaverse. Follow us on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. This is a sponsored podcast. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Nearly seven out of ten surveyed Americans said they were aware of risks that are associated with cryptocurrencies, a new study by Nordvpn has found. However, about 32% of the respondents said they were not aware of any risks. Understanding Cryptocurrencies According to the findings of a new Nordvpn study, about seven in ten Americans, or 68% of study participants, said they were aware of the risks involved with cryptocurrency. The study also found that an almost identical number (69%) of all the respondents “had some understanding of what cryptocurrency is.” Despite being knowledgeable about cryptocurrencies, the surveyed Americans still expressed their uneasiness over the prospect of these digital currencies “becoming the standard for online purchases.” Also, in a breakdown of the risks identified, the study found that 59% of the respondents were aware that trading platforms and exchanges can get hacked. About 57% said they were aware of the risk of an account takeover, while 56% are aware of phishing emails or texts alerting a change in funds that may be used by criminals. Meanwhile, in commending the observed high crypto awareness levels, the report said “the more understanding individual consumers have of cyber threats, the better equipped they’ll be to protect themselves.” A Troubling Trend On the other hand, the study also found that some 32% of the 1,000 respondents that took part in the survey “did not report any awareness of the associated risks.” The study report describes this lack of awareness as not only “a real problem” but part of a bigger and possibly more troubling trend. “The real issue is that many people in the wider population, in the U.S. and beyond, have a poor understanding of online risks in general,” the report explained. In conclusion, the report urged cryptocurrency holders or internet users to create stronger passwords as these are “often the only things standing between hackers and our online accounts.” The report also encouraged users to use VPNs which “protect internet traffic with layers of powerful encryption.” What are your thoughts on this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

On Wednesday, the publicly-listed cryptocurrency firm Coinbase announced the launch of a collaborative effort called TRUST, which stands for “Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology.” The plan is described as an “industry-driven solution” developed to comply with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Travel Rule. There are currently 18 crypto firms that have joined TRUST so far, and the collaborative effort is welcoming other companies to join the initiative. 18 VASPs Launch TRUST in Order to Comply With FATF’s Travel Rule For quite some time now, FATF’s Travel Rule has been a top concern within the crypto industry as virtual asset service providers (VASPs) have been told they need to comply with the regulatory policy. As cryptocurrency has grown more popular, FATF has been releasing guidelines on the Travel Rule, as the intergovernmental organization believes the rule needs to be applied to VASPs. Essentially, the ‘Travel Rule’ is a descriptive label for the regulatory guideline that aims to curb illicit transactions and money laundering. The rule mandates that all companies that deal with finances have to pass on KYC/AML transmission data concerning their customers’ identities to the next financial institution. The transfer amount tied to FATF’s Travel Rule has a threshold that’s equal to $3,000 or higher. In a blog post published on Wednesday, Coinbase explains that it has crafted a new plan called TRUST with a slew of other well known VASPs. “Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology” or the TRUST collaborative effort includes VASPs such as Robinhood, Fidelity Digital Assets, Tradestation, Zero Hash, Bittrex, Coinbase, Gemini, Avanti, Circle, Bitflyer, Zodia Custody, Paxos, Anchorage, Symbridge, Bitgo, Kraken, Blockfi, and Standard Custody & Trust. “The core goal in designing TRUST was to achieve top-tier compliance with the Travel Rule, while fully honoring customers’ expectations over how their information is handled,” Coinbase detailed. The plan called TRUST follows the 17 crypto firms that launched a similar collaborative effort called the Crypto Market Integrity Coalition (CMIC). That specific coalition, launched last week, said it has plans to “promote public and regulatory confidence in the new asset class.” TRUST Partners With Global Compliance and Risk Management Provider Exiger, Travel Rule-Focused Plan Aims to Expand to ‘Many Other Jurisdictions’ The TRUST plan highlighted three fundamentals to the effort’s compliance solution. The first is the TRUST members “never centrally store sensitive customer information” and secondly TRUST will leverage a mechanism that utilizes “proof of address ownership.” Moreover, TRUST members must have “core security [and] privacy standards.” The Coinbase blog post adds: We require all TRUST members to meet core anti-money laundering, security, and privacy requirements before joining the solution. And we are partnering with Exiger, a global market leader in technology-enabled compliance and risk management solutions, to help us meet that bar, and to provide ongoing compliance support. Now that the TRUST has been launched, the collaborative initiative will continue to add members and the blog post notes that the Travel Rule’s reach is “expanding internationally, and so must the TRUST solution.” During the next 12 months, the group plans to expand to “many other jurisdictions,” according to the Coinbase announcement. What do you think about the recently formed TRUST and the organization’s Travel Rule goals? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. INTERNET CITY, DUBAI, Feb. 17, 2022 – LBank Exchange, a global digital asset trading platform, will list Marhaba Network (MRHB) on February 17, 2022. For all users of LBank Exchange, the MRHB/USDT trading pair will be officially available for trading at 21:00 (UTC+8) on February 17, 2022. As an ethical decentralized financial platform, Marhaba Network (MRHB) DeFi aims to bridge the gap between the Muslim community and the blockchain world. But as the name Marhaba which means “Welcome” in Arabic indicates, it has a vision of bringing a platform that includes all communities, rather than making it an offering exclusive to only Muslims. MRHB, the utility token of the platform, will be listed on LBank Exchange at 21:00 (UTC+8) on February 17, 2022, to further expand its global reach and help it achieve its vision. Introducing MRHB DeFi MRHB DeFi is an ethical decentralized financial platform that encourages participation in this new era of financial revolution and aims to uphold halal standards within cryptocurrency offerings via a user-friendly interface that simplifies the complexities of DeFi. Through its technical expertise and extensive knowledge of how the Islamic ecosystem works, MRHB DeFi will aim to bridge the gap between the Muslim community and the blockchain world. MRHB DeFi is a platform built to promote the true spirit of an “Inclusive DeFi”, where all communities, including the ones from the Islamic world, can reap the rewards of DeFi. Based on the core principles of blockchain such as trust, transparency, and security, MRHB DeFi has focused on encapsulating Islamic Finance principles in the blockchain. Smart contracts play a crucial role in the MRHB ecosystem, they are set to prohibit the use of any ‘haram’ assets, ensuring that halal principles are upheld while trading or investing in cryptocurrencies. The platform offers numerous products and services, including Sahal Wallet, a non-custodial iOS and Android wallet that allows only compliant tokens to be stored, transacted, and managed by the user; Souq NFT, a cross-chain “no-code” marketplace to encourage and promote Islamic arts and contemporary calligraphy; Liquidity Harvester, a cross-chain passive income generator (5 – 15%) for the masses; Cross-Chain DEX Aggregator, an aggregator serving to bring the best rates with minimal slippage and TX fees wherever possible; Interest-Free Lending and Borrowing; DePhi Protocol, a decentralized philanthropy protocol relying on ZK-Snarks privacy to maintain privacy and anonymity; Launchpad, a decentralized cross-chain Launchpad funding and building the start-ups of tomorrow within the blockchain space; Governance and DAO, a DAO handed over to MRHB holders via governance. Powered by a team of dedicated experts in the fields of finance, technology, and Islamic finance & theology, MRHB DeFi welcomes all to a world full of decentralized financial opportunities. About MRHB Token MRHB is a utility token that is initially minted on the BSC. It will be used to facilitate the entirety of the MRHB ecosystem. The MRHB token is Halal and will maintain compliance throughout its existence. It has utilities in platforms and services such as NFT Minting Platform, NFT Marketplace, Liquidity Harvester, Sahal Wallet, MRHB Launchpad, MRHB DEX, Incentivisation, and Governance. The MRHB DeFi ecosystem has a total supply of 1 billion (i.e. 1,000,000,000), which means that the number of tokens that will ever be minted for the platform will be a maximum of 1 billion, and this number can never be changed. 30% of it is sold as a part of the seed round, 3% is sold as a part of the strategic round, 9% is provided for the pre-IDO public sale, 1% is provided for the IDO sale, 7% is provided for strategic partnerships, 15% is allocated to the team, 5% is allocated to advisors, 10% is provided for platform rewards, and the rest 20% is provided for the treasury. The MRHB token will be listed on LBank Exchange at 21:00 (UTC+8) on February 17, 2022, investors who are interested in MRHB DeFi investment can easily buy and sell its token on LBank Exchange then. The listing of MRHB on LBank Exchange will undoubtedly help it further expand its business and draw more attention in the market. Learn More about MRHB Token: Official Website: https://mrhb.network Telegram: https://t.me/mdf_official Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarhabaDeFi Discord: https://discord.com/invite/DubSjKmkBX Listing Announcement on LBank Exchange: https://support.lbank.site/hc/en-gb/articles/4419379306777-MRHB-Marhaba-Network-will-be-listed-on-LBank About LBank Exchange LBank Exchange, founded in 2015, is an innovative global trading platform for various crypto assets. LBank Exchange provides its users with safe crypto trading, specialized financial derivatives, and professional asset management services. It has become one of the most popular and trusted crypto trading platforms with over 6.4 million users from more than 210 regions around the world. Start Trading Now: lbank.info Community & Social Media: l Telegram l Twitter l Facebook l Linkedin Contact Details: LBK Blockchain Co. Limited LBank Exchange media@lbank.info MRHB Network cecilia@marhabadefi.com PR Contact: ZEXPRWIRE info@zexprwire.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

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the Chinese central bank, has revealed how its central bank digital currency (CBDC) is being used at the Beijing Winter Olympics. A top PBOC official says, “It seems all the foreign users are using hardware wallets.” Digital Yuan’s Latest Trial A top official from the Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), provided an update of the latest trial of the Chinese central bank digital currency (CBDC) during a webinar arranged by the Atlantic Council Tuesday. The digital yuan, or e-CNY, is currently being tested at the Beijing Winter Olympics. According to Mu Changchun, director-general of the PBOC’s Digital Currency Research Institute, the Chinese CBDC is being used to make 2 million yuan ($315,000) or more of payments each day at the Olympics. While admitting, “I have rough idea that (there are) several, or a couple of million RMB (yuan) of payments every day, but I don’t have exact numbers yet,” Mu said: It seems all the foreign users are using hardware wallets … The software wallets are mainly used by the domestic users. Besides mobile apps, the digital yuan can be spent using e-CNY payment cards, which look like credit cards without the normal chip and magnetic strip. Bank of China, a state-controlled commercial bank, has set up a number of digital yuan ATMs at some central venues at the Games, inside the “closed loop” of teams, officials, and organizers, the publication conveyed. The machines can convert foreign currency banknotes into either digital yuan or normal yuan banknotes. In January, the PBOC made its digital yuan app available in the Android and iOS app stores in trial regions. The Chinese central bank then revealed that e-CNY had 261 million unique users at the end of 2021, and transactions worth 87.5 billion yuan ($13.78 billion) had been made using the Chinese central bank digital currency. In addition, more than 8 million merchants now accept the digital yuan. Besides the Winter Olympics, the digital yuan is being tested in various cities across China, including Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xian, Qingdao, and Dalian. What do you think about the digital yuan being tested at the Winter Olympics? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Famous actor Ryan Reynolds says crypto is “emerging as a huge, huge player.” The Hollywood star added that “companies are doing a good job of bringing it into a sort of safer, more mainstream light.” Ryan Reynolds Sees Crypto as a Huge Player Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds shared his view on cryptocurrency in an interview with Bloomberg Tuesday. Reynolds is also the chief creative officer of the self-service ad platform MNTN. He claims that his company can give clients Super Bowl-level attention whenever they want. Regarding cryptocurrency, the actor said: “I think companies are doing a good job of bringing it into a sort of safer, more mainstream light.” He added, “90% of the word ‘crypto’ is ‘crypt’ so I see why certain folks might be put off or intimidated by it.” Nonetheless, Reynolds said: I think it’s emerging as a huge, huge player. He further opined: “It’s been emerging for a long time as a huge player so I’m not super surprised.” However, Reynolds would not disclose whether he is investing in cryptocurrency. “I don’t really want to comment on that,” the Hollywood actor replied when asked about whether he owns any crypto currently. Commenting on Super Bowl ads by cryptocurrency companies and celebrities starring in many of them, he said, “I see that as enterprise companies looking to create and carve out space in their zeitgeist.” One of the crypto ads that caught attention at the Super Bowl this weekend was the Coinbase ad which did not feature a celebrity. Reynolds commented: “Sometimes, a great way to do that is to use celebrities. Sometimes a terrible way to do that is to use celebrities … [overall] they seem to be doing some things pretty well.” The Hollywood actor further shared, “I enjoy the LeBron piece.” LeBron James stars in a commercial for cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com. What do you think of Ryan Reynolds’ comments on crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Adshares ($ADS) – the decentralised advertising protocol, has just shared an asset pack for DCL Builder, which enables seamless integration, automated settlement and automatic monetization of ads across Decentraland ($MANA) Metaverse advertising is inevitable Advertising is present in every sphere of life and already appears in metaverses in a very simplified form. Sooner or later it will appear there on a large scale. Moreover, as the virtual world is in a very early stage of development, the events and experiences created for the Metaverse need advertising in order to attract guests — and dto grow. Land owners who invested in Decentraland may be looking for ways to increase their ROI by monetising their parcels with paid advertising. Up-and-coming ad networks who may need to automate their ad placements with a more automated exchange and ad-buying process. Adshares offers intuitive, smart-object based advertising integration A smart object, just published on the company’s Github page, allows any DCL parcel owner to easily and intuitively integrate their ad placements with the Adshares protocol. The system will automatically detect a new placement – and serve ads immediately. The whole process takes around 10 minutes and you can see it in the company’s new blog post https://blog.adshares.net/decentraland-programmatic-ads-ddde9b95ab2e. The profits (‘ad shares’) are transferred to their native ADS wallet automatically, every hour. This makes $ADS the “advertising currency” – and gives any holder a share in the whole digital advertising market. The whole process requires no media or coding knowledge. However, those who wish to track their advertising performance, can create an ad server account in order to receive live campaign data: revenue, clicks, views, CPM, CPA, and others, in an easy to export format. Owners may freely change their ad sizes, placements or take down ads they deem inappropriate – contributing to making Metaverse advertising better. Decentraland is the second integrated metaverse right after Cryptovoxels. As the space is growing so is Adshares. The team is constantly working on new integrations with metaverse projects like Sandbox, TCG World, Polkacity and others. Creating a healthier adtech industry “Haters say we want to litter Metaverse with ads, but they’re completely missing the point” – says Adshares CEO Chris Bochenek, “we are doing exactly the opposite. By providing a protocol designed for advertising, by making it decentralised, and by creating DAO which we plan to do – we are providing a baseplate, a backbone, a standard for a healthier digital advertising“. The summary is simple. All of our activities are leading to the acceleration of this new universe. About the company Adshares ($ADS) is a decentralised advertising settlement protocol working since 2017. Using a blockchain protocol, ADS enables direct contracts between Publishers and Advertisers and allows them to sign advertising contracts without intermediaries. Adshares is built to carry vast amounts of advertising microtransactions, making it the best blockchain-based advertising protocol. The Adshares team is constantly working to expand its ecosystem – integrating more publishers, websites, advertising placements in the Metaverse. Adshares already is one of the largest decentralised ads platforms in the world, sharing over 200 million monthly ad impressions across the web and Metaverse. Good news for investors. On February 15, 2022, $1,400,000 was added to the liquidity pool on Uniswap, enabling easier exchange and trading of ADS. In addition to current bridges to ERC-20, BSC and Polygon – makes the Adshres coin a truly universal advertising currency. 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

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has registered a trademark application to offer digital currency and NFT trading services in the metaverse. The application, filed on February 10th, constitutes the first foray of the company into the concept of the metaverse. The organization might be competing with other exchanges and established NFT marketplaces in the future. NYSE Takes Metaverse Seriously The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the first bourses in the world seeking to anticipate the rise of virtual worlds and the business opportunities associated with them. The company filed a trademark application on February 10 to offer trading services using augmented and virtual reality tools, this meaning that the NYSE might be thinking of opening a metaverse-based trading platform. The applications mention several keywords, including: Downloadable virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality software; downloadable software for enabling users to experience virtual reality and augmented reality visualization, manipulation, and immersion. The filings also mention the technology for offering trading services for NFTs and digital currencies. This would put NYSE as a direct competitor to other already established markets such as Opensea and Rarible. According to Michael Kondoudis, a trademark lawyer, this is proof of the importance of the metaverse as part of the business model of the financial institution. He stated: This filing is the latest confirmation that the metaverse is real and businesses need to plan accordingly. Businesses no longer need to wonder if it is going to happen. It is just a matter of when. A Race to Be First Companies are rallying to offer their services in the metaverse to gain advantage as first movers. This is the opinion of Kondoudis, who has reported several similar applications of companies trying to push their presence into these burgeoning virtual worlds. He stated: The NYSE is clearing taking a proactive, forward-thinking approach to ensure that it is the leading financial exchange in the metaverse. Other financial companies also seem to be taking the metaverse seriously. This is the case with JPMorgan, one of the biggest investment banks in the world, that just recently opened a lounge in Decentraland, a metaverse-based platform. This week, Victoria’s Secret, the famous lingerie company, also filed several trademark applications to offer its products in virtual worlds as NFTs. What do you think about NYSE’s trademark application and potential push into the metaverse? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article