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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban see dogecoin as the “strongest” cryptocurrency when it comes to using it as a means of payment. To promote the use of dogecoin further, the NBA team Dallas Mavericks will be offering “special pricing for those who pay with dogecoin.” Elon Musk Agrees With Mark Cuban That Dogecoin Is the ‘Strongest’ Medium-of-Exchange Crypto Tesla and Spacex CEO Elon Musk and the billionaire owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, have affirmed their belief that the meme cryptocurrency dogecoin is the “strongest” cryptocurrency when it comes to paying for goods and services. Cuban touted DOGE in an interview with CNBC Make It on Friday. Noting that dogecoin is “a medium that can be used for the acquisition of goods and services,” he said: The community for doge is the strongest when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange. Replying to Cuban’s comment about dogecoin, Musk, who is sometimes known as the Dogefather, tweeted: “I’ve been saying this for a while.” In July, Musk reaffirmed his support for dogecoin by changing his profile picture to include an image of the Shiba Inu dog that represents Doge. The Tesla technoking recently confirmed that he owns and will not sell his dogecoin. His baby son, X Æ A-12, also owns some DOGE. Moreover, Musk has also been pushing for Doge improvements. Cuban’s Mavericks started accepting dogecoin in March. Since then, the Shark Tank star has revealed that “substantial sales” have been made with DOGE. He even urged popular talk show host Ellen Degeneres to accept it at her shop. To encourage the use of dogecoin for payments further, Cuban tweeted Thursday that the Mavericks will make a special announcement about dogecoin. He called it “a summer merch sale with special pricing for those who pay with dogecoin.” Some people disagree with Cuban and Musk on the merit of dogecoin, emphasizing that the meme crypto has an infinite supply. However, the infinite supply argument did not lessen Cuban’s enthusiasm for Doge. Cuban’s co-star on Shark Tank, Kevin O’Leary, however, is among those who are not so keen on the meme cryptocurrency. He recently said he would not invest in dogecoin. “I don’t understand why anybody would.” O’Leary added: “When you speculate on something like dogecoin, that’s no different than going to Las Vegas and putting your money on red or black. It’s pure speculation.” A recent survey by Finder showed that a panel of experts expect the price of dogecoin to hit $1.21 by 2025 and $3.60 by 2030. Do you agree with Elon Musk and Mark Cuban about dogecoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

British detectives have seized $22.25 million from operators of an international cryptocurrency scam. Among the items seized was a USB stick containing ethereum worth $9.5 million. The police are now attempting to contact the victims of this scam to return their funds. UK Police Seize Crypto in USB Stick The U.K.’s Greater Manchester Police announced Wednesday that its Economic Crime Unit has seized a USB stick containing “huge amounts of ethereum, the second largest crypto currency after bitcoin.” The USB stick was discovered after the police arrested a 23-year-old male and a 25-year-old female for fraud and money laundering offenses. The pair have since been released under investigation. The announcement details: Specialist officers received intelligence that those running the scheme had been in Manchester for a limited time and tracked them down, recovering an encrypted USB stick containing $9.5 million of stolen ethereum. The police said that $12.7 million more were seized a few days later when a “cryptograph safety deposit box” and “the code to access it” were located. In total, $22.25 million were seized from the scammers, the Economic Crime Unit confirmed. At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $3,231. The victims of the scam were based in the U.K., U.S., Europe, China, Australia, and Hong Kong. They “deposited money, including life savings, into what they thought was an online savings and trading service using Binance Smart Chain, which stores and records transactions made in crypto-currency confirming their movement and value,” the police described. After a significant amount of money had been deposited, the scammers shut down their website and transferred the funds to their own accounts. The police detailed: The sum totalled 90% of the cryptocurrency stolen, and work has now begun on re-uniting it with the rightful owners, some of whom are still unknown and located across the world. Detective Chief Inspector Joe Harrop commented: “We urge anyone involved [in] these platforms to use extreme caution, and know that there are still significant vulnerabilities and risks that could put their savings at risk.” UK police have recently been active in seizing cryptocurrencies. In July, the Metropolitan Police seized £180 million in crypto as part of a money-laundering investigation after they confiscated £114 million in crypto a few weeks prior. What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Ever since the CEO of Twitter and Square, Jack Dorsey, started appreciating the crypto asset bitcoin, crypto enthusiasts have been following his coattails. However, there are very mixed views about Dorsey because while some people adore him, others are skeptical of his goals as his firm has been accused of mass censorship. Then on August 13, Dorsey tweeted out a URL link to a book called “Anatomy of the State” by the economist Murray Rothbard. The tweet not only attracted likes from bitcoiners but a number of libertarians were also confused by his tweet. While Some Bitcoin Supporters Love Him, Many Other Crypto Advocates Don’t Trust Jack Dorsey For quite some time now, the CEO of Twitter has been a bitcoin (BTC) supporter as he sports a Lightning Network emoji next to his username and keeps a bitcoin symbol in his Twitter bio. Jack Dorsey has also talked about the benefits of bitcoin on various occasions and recently tweeted about the vast number of Nigerians that leverage the crypto asset. Dorsey’s other company Square allows merchants to accept bitcoin and people can purchase BTC via the Cash App as well. However, Dorsey is not liked by everyone and in fact, a great number of crypto supporters don’t like that he’s a maximalist, that his firm has censored individuals, and many believe he’s just a run-of-the-mill status quo figurehead from Big Tech. Dorsey recently said that bitcoin would be a big part of Twitter’s future and recently discussed the subject of bitcoin with Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood and Tesla’s Elon Musk at the “B Word” event. Dorsey’s company Square is also in the midst of developing a bitcoin hardware wallet. But while Dorsey was on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami he was heckled by a conference attendee over “censorship” and “interfering in elections.” Since the onset of Covid-19, just like Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram, Dorsey’s firm Twitter has been accused of mass censorship when tweets involved alternative discussions concerning the narrative surrounding the coronavirus and the 2020 election. Twitter CEO Shocks Bitcoiners and Libertarians With Rothbard Book Tweet To many people’s surprise, on Friday the 13th, Dorsey shared a URL to Murray Rothbard’s magnum opus called “Anatomy of the State.” So far Dorsey’s Rothbard tweet has close to 13,000 likes and almost 2,000 retweets. The Twitter CEO even got the name “Rothbard” trending across Twitter since he shared the link stemming from Mises.org. It confused a number of bitcoiners and popular libertarian voices as well, because Dorsey is considered a leftist who still endorses the state. Bitcoin.com News readers can read Murray Rothbard’s book in its entirety here. The American economist Murray Newton Rothbard, on the other hand, was a leading theoretician of anarcho-capitalism and one of the founders of the Austrian School of economics. The reason people were confused by Dorsey’s tweet is that today’s neo-liberal ideals, something Dorsey is known for advocating, would almost certainly be scorned by Rothbard. Free Market, Anti-War, and Anti-State Rothbard’s book “Anatomy of the State” is considered one of the economist’s finest works and the first chapter, “What the State Is Not,” lays the groundwork of people’s false perceptions of the world’s nation-states. Essentially, the state is humanity’s enemy and the institution is a monopoly of violence that leverages force and coercion as a means to get its ends. Rothbard’s “Anatomy of the State” describes why the state is immoral and how the so-called “good intentions” are used as excuses for theft and manipulation. Rothbard’s famous magnum opus is wholeheartedly free market, anti-war, and anti-state. “Since production must always precede predation,” Rothbard writes, “the free market is anterior to the state. The state has never been created by a ‘social contract’; it has always been born in conquest and exploitation.” The Austrian economist adds: The State is that organization in society which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area; in particular, it is the only organization in society that obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by coercion. We don’t know if Jack Dorsey’s tweet meant that he was moved by Rothbard’s book and words that describe the state or if it was just a Friday the 13th gag. It’s doubtful that the CEO of Twitter will become a Rothbardian after reading “Anatomy of the State,” but even though some bitcoiners and libertarians were skeptical, some thought that maybe Jack is changing ideological directions. Maybe the Twitter CEO realizes the value of voluntary cooperation and believes force and coercion are wrong? What do you think about the CEO of Twitter sharing Murray Rothbard’s book “Anatomy of the State”? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

While dogecoin fans saw the first crypto-scented Dogecan body spray made by Axe, Oscar Mayer’s 10-pack of dogecoin branded weenies, and an augmented reality game called Dogemon Go, supporters now have the opportunity to attend a DOGE-centric festival called “Dogepalooza.” The dogecoin-themed event will have live entertainment from major artists like Dionne Warwick, Damon Elliott, and Chloe Flower. Dogepalooza 2021 Fans of the meme-based crypto-asset dogecoin (DOGE) are throwing a festival dedicated to the digital currency and its economy. Dogepalooza 2021 of course borrows the name from the popular music festival Lollapalooza. 🔥SO looking forward to seeing @ChloeFlower perform @Dogepalooza October 9, at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, TX!🔥 🚀#Dogepalooza #ChloeFlower #Dogecoin #DogecoinToTheMoon #Dogearmy #DogecoinRise 🚀 https://t.co/nyogkykZe2 — Dogepalooza (@dogepalooza) August 13, 2021 According to the event’s web portal, the first Dogepalooza will begin on October 9, in Sugar Land, Texas. The promoters also note that other Dogepalooza events will be hosted in “multiple cities and countries around the globe” going forward. “There will be live entertainment, drinks, food, Dogecoin merchandise and an all-around celebration of Doing Only Good Everyday,” the website details. The promoters also say that “many top secret entertainers” have “agreed to participate.” One headliner that’s been announced so far is the Grammy award-winning Dionne Warwick. Dogepalooza will also feature another Grammy Award winner, producer and DJ, Damon Elliott. Furthermore, the last headliner mentioned is the American composer and classical pianist Chloe Flower. The website will also be hosting a non-fungible token (NFT) store but currently, the page is under construction. Elon Musk: ‘Sounds Kinda Fun’ Last June, when someone asked on Twitter whether people would attend Dogepalooza 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the tweet. “Sounds kinda fun,” Musk said on Twitter that day. Warwick has also been tweeting about the meme-based crypto asset and shared a meme of herself surrounded by DOGE. Dogecoin fans have also suggested a number of other celebrities that could promote DOGE at the event. Dogepalooza 2021 has strategic partners as well, including web portals like shopdoge.xyz and blockapescissors.com. The Dogepalooza 2021 store is already selling gear too like Dogepalooza flip flops, backpacks, a baby onesie, hoodies, tote bags, and coffee mugs. At press time, Dogepalooza’s official Twitter page has around 5,500 followers. What do you think about Dogepalooza 2021 event? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A U.K. judge has reportedly ordered cryptocurrency exchange Binance to identify hackers and freeze their accounts after one of its users claimed to be the victim of a $2.6 million hack. Binance Ordered to Help Recover Funds Allegedly Stolen in a Hack A London high court has ordered global cryptocurrency exchange Binance to identify hackers and freeze their accounts after one of its users, Fetch.ai, claimed to be the victim of a $2.6 million hack, Reuters reported Friday. The judge granted requests by the artificial intelligence (AI) company for Binance to identify the hackers as well as track and seize the alleged stolen assets, the judgment made public this week revealed. Fetch.ai, incorporated in England and Singapore, develops AI projects for blockchain databases. The company claimed that its Binance account was hacked on June 6. “Unable to remove the assets because of account restrictions, they allegedly sold them to a linked third party at a fraction of their value in under an hour,” the news outlet conveyed. A Binance spokesperson said, “We can confirm that we are helping Fetch.ai in the recovery of assets,” elaborating: Binance routinely freezes accounts that are identified as having suspicious activity occurring in line with our security policies and commitment to ensuring that users are protected while using our platform. Syedur Rahman, a partner at Rahman Ravelli, which is representing Fetch.ai, told Reuters that Binance notified his client of unusual activity in its account and had already frozen a sum. Noting that he believes Binance would comply with the court orders, Rahman opined: We need to dispel the myth that cryptoassets are anonymous. The reality is that with the right rules and applications they can be tracked, traced and recovered. A growing list of regulators worldwide have issued warnings against Binance, including the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British regulator issued a consumer warning in June stating that no entities in the Binance Group hold “any form of UK authorisation, registration or licence to conduct regulated activity in the UK.” Binance said it is committed to complying with local rules wherever it operates and has expanded its international compliance team and advisory board. The exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), recently said his company wants “to be licensed everywhere” and become a financial institution. He also revealed that Binance had been looking for a CEO with a strong compliance background. Last week, former U.S. regulator Brian Brooks resigned as the chief executive officer of Binance US. What do you think about the British court ordering Binance to identify hackers and freeze their accounts? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

2021 has been an incredible year for bitcoin, ethereum, and a great number of the world’s most popular digital assets. While bitcoin has gained around 300% during the last 12 months and ethereum has risen by 630%, a large swathe of crypto assets saw much larger gains. 12-Month Stats Show a Slew of Relatively Unknown Tokens Outperformed the Top Ten Crypto Assets by Market Cap After the March 12, 2020 market crash that wreaked havoc on nearly every commodity in the world, otherwise known as ‘Black Thursday,’ the crypto economy ballooned in value. Three months ago, most crypto assets tapped fresh new all-time highs, but quite a bit of these coins have since retreated between 30-55% in value. The lion’s share of crypto supporters dedicate their focus to crypto-assets like bitcoin, ethereum, or assets in the top 20 crypto assets by market valuation. The Game Stars network is an e-sports “blockchain platform that helps to monetize cyber athletes’ professional advancement,” according to the project description. The project’s native token GST has gained 41,882% in 12 months to date. However, even though BTC and ETH have seen 12-month gains between 300% and 630%, many other coins outshined these assets by a long shot over the last year. The biggest gainer during the last 12 months is a coin called game stars (GST) which is trading for $0.40 per unit. Game stars tokens have increased in value by a whopping 41,882% over the trailing 12-month period. Another crypto-asset that has done almost as well as GST, is mir coin (MIR), which is swapping for $3.73 per coin and gained a massive 41,462% in a year’s time. Mir coin (MIR) is a payments platform that wants to spread global adoption and the project has created a concept called MIR Land. So far, during the last 12 months, MIR has spiked by 41,462% and is trading today for $3.73 per unit. GST and MIR are followed by two more relatively unknown crypto assets which include content value network (CVNT) and stox (STOX) tokens. CVNT is up 20,101% in 12 months while STOX is up 13,957%. The next crypto asset on the list with massive 12-month gains is dogecoin (DOGE), which is one of the top ten most valuable crypto markets in terms of market capitalization. DOGE has increased in value by 7,730% over the last 12 months as each meme-based token trades for $0.283 today. Biggest Top-Ten Gainers: Dogecoin, Binance Coin, Cardano As far as the top ten is concerned, binance coin (BNB) and cardano (ADA) have been the leaders after dogecoin’s 7,730% gains. BNB has risen 1,649% while ADA’s gains have been a touch lower at 1,450% during the year. 12-month statistics show that ethereum’s 630% would make ether the fourth largest gainer over 12 months out of the top ten positions today. Of course, it wouldn’t be right to forget about the past year’s biggest losers and the token hyperion (HYN) was the worst performer out of all 10,000+ crypto-assets. Monero classic (XMC) is basically a fork of the privacy-centric coin monero (XMR). The forked monero coin has lost 92.32% of its value during the last 12 months. HYN lost 99.5% of its value and is followed by shipchain (SHIP) token which lost 99.21% over the year. Tendies (TEND) lost 94.34%, hycon (HYC) shaved 93.02%, and monero classic (XMC) lost around 92.32% over the course of the last 12 months. At the time of writing, the entire crypto-economy is worth $1.96 trillion and out of the top ten crypto market positions on Saturday, August 13, XRP is the biggest 24-hour gainer jumping 11% in value. What do you think about the largest gainers during the last 12 months? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Computer chip manufacturer Intel Corp. has revealed it holds a stake in the leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase. The tech giant purchased the shares worth almost $800,000 after the digital asset trading platform went public earlier this year. Intel Acquires Shares of Crypto Exchange Coinbase Intel has disclosed it owns Coinbase stock in a quarterly report submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) on Friday. The Santa Clara, California-based technology company bought the stake following the listing of the cryptocurrency exchange this spring. According to the filed Form 13F, Intel had 3,014 shares of the platform’s operator, Coinbase Global Inc., as of June 30, valued at over $760,000 at the time. On that date, Coinbase’s stock closed at $253.30 per share, Market Watch details. The price at the end of June was 22.8% lower than the $328.28 closing rate registered on the first day of trading of the COIN shares, April 14. The stocks have since recovered some of the lost value, recently exceeding $280. Source: Yahoo Finance On the last day before the weekend, Coinbase’s shares rose by 1.85% with a closing price of $261.25, Fox Business noted in its report on the regulatory filing. The shares of Intel remained almost unchanged on Friday, at around $53.50. Earlier this week, Coinbase published earnings and growth data which showed the crypto trading company made over $2 billion in net revenue during Q2, 2021. The exchange also revealed it had around 68 million verified users while its retail monthly transacting users rose to 8.8 million, a 44% increase over this year’s first quarter. The COIN shares acquisition isn’t Intel’s first foray into the crypto space. In April, the corporation joined forces with software giant Microsoft to deploy a threat detection tool designed to combat cryptojacking. And in 2018, Intel was granted a patent for a processing system capable of mining bitcoin in an energy efficient way. What do you think about Intel’s investment in Coinbase shares? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

The global charity organization, CARE, has created crypto-based vouchers that will be distributed to women and select groups in Africa and Latin America. According to CARE, these vouchers will be redeemable for goods, services or cash and linked to the needs of recipients. However, in its statement announcing the launch of the pilot phase, the NGO reveals only groups in Kenya and Ecuador are set to participate. In Kenya, the vouchers will go to the “village savings and loans associations that are coping with the economic impact of COVID-19.” In Ecuador, the crypto vouchers will be distributed “to survivors or women at risk of gender-based violence.” Project Launched in Partnership With Crypto Organizations Commenting on the voucher launch, Christian Pennotti, the senior director for market-based approaches at CARE, said: We are excited to be working alongside Celo and Emerging Impact in Ecuador and Binance’s Blockchain Charity Foundation in Kenya to test new ways that these technologies can support people to navigate crises. In addition to working with established crypto organizations, CARE says a separate partnership arrangement with Lab for Inclusive Fintech (LIFT) will “inform the design of a rigorous experimental evaluation of blockchain technology as a viable and effective option to deliver aid in developing countries.” The NGO also reveals that the Kenya and Ecuador pilots “will carry out focus groups to better understand trust, information barriers, and use of and opportunities for stablecoins.” While CARE says it is mindful of the risks that may be associated with cryptocurrencies, the NGO however insists its interest will be limited to the potential of this technology. What are your views on CARE’s launch of crypto-based vouchers? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

A Venezuelan merchant was kidnapped and killed after his family failed to gather a ransom that kidnappers explicitly asked to be paid in bitcoin. The perpetrators asked for a sum of 1.5 bitcoin to release the hostage, later lowering the ransom to 0.5 bitcoin. The family of the victim finally was unable to gather the ransom money. Venezuelan Citizen Abducted, Bitcoin Ransom Demanded A Venezuelan citizen identified as Gustavo Torres González was murdered yesterday when his family failed to gather ransom money that kidnappers requested be paid in bitcoin. Torres was abducted on August 10 when he was presumably heading home in the Zulia state, according to police. The kidnappers quickly communicated with Torres’ family and asked to be paid 1.5 bitcoin to release him, according to local media. However, his family was not able to gather the funds, and in communications with the kidnappers, managed to lower the ransom to 0.5 bitcoin. Still, this was tragically a sum too hefty for his family to acquire, who only managed to gather 0.062 bitcoin ($2,750). Torres’ corpse was later discovered with six gunshot wounds on a local highway on August 11. No Apparent Relation With Crypto While the kidnappers explicitly stated they would only take the ransom money in bitcoin, Torres had no apparent relation with cryptocurrencies. He was the owner of a local ISP internet company in the area, called Tutonet Investments. However, it is unclear if the Venezuelan citizen had any relationship with cryptocurrency mining operations, or if he accepted payments in cryptocurrency for his services. The popularity of cryptocurrency in the country has caused an increase in scams and crime using these new assets. Cryptocurrencies, due to their innovative design, can sometimes be more difficult to track than money moved via traditional fiat avenues. Still, statistics show that the overwhelming majority of crimes are still conducted by way of fiat money, and not cryptocurrencies. This is not the first time that a crime like this has happened. William Creighton, founder of an online gambling site called 5Dimes, was also kidnapped in Costa Rica in September 2018. Kidnappers asked for a ransom of $5 million dollars paid in bitcoin, but his family could only pay $1 million. His body was found in a nearby cemetery one year later, buried beneath a nameless tombstone. What are your thoughts on this tragic story? Should bitcoin be blamed for violent crimes such as this one? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

Lionel Messi, the Argentinian soccer superstar, has opted to receive cryptocurrency as part of his new contract signed with the French club Paris Saint-Germain. The club revealed that the player will receive crypto as part of his $30 million payment, as a “welcome package” given to the player. The proportion of the crypto stash in his payment was not disclosed, but the club stated it was a “significant” portion. Lionel Messi Gets Part of His Contract Paid in Cryptocurrency Lionel Messi, the Argentinian soccer player, will receive part of his contract payment in cryptocurrency, according to reports from his new French club, Paris Saint-Germain. Messi, arriving at the club after spending many years playing for the Spanish Barcelona soccer team, will receive a part of an estimated $30 million in the fan token of the new club as part of a welcome package offered as an incentive to the player. While the total amount of this welcome bonus that will be paid in cryptocurrency has not been announced officially, the club told Reuters that it was a “significant” amount of the total bonus. Also, as a result of the buzz surrounding the arrival of Messi to the new club, the token experienced a big increase in its trading volumes. PSG Trading Volumes and Price Rises The official fan token of the club has seen increased trading volume and a rise in price as a result of the news and rumors of Messi coming to the team. According to reports, the token’s trading volumes exceeded $1.2 billion in the days leading up to his arrival. Also, the price skyrocketed 130% in five amidst reports that indicated Messi could be coming to the club. The PSG fan token was launched in January 2020, as a part of the Socios.com token platform, and had an initial price of 2 euros. The token has a price of $41.23 at the time of writing, rising significantly since its issuance. These tokens give holders some kind of decision power in some of the matters regarding the club. Fan tokens are a new source of revenue that some clubs have adopted in the last years with big success. Other clubs, like AC Milan, and the Barcelona FC, have already issued their fan tokens to capitalize on the relationship with its fan base. This was confirmed by Marc Armstrong, PSG’s Director of Partnerships, who stated: We have been able to engage with a new global audience, creating a significant digital revenue stream. What do you think about the cryptocurrency payment that Lionel Messi is receiving in its new contract? Tell us in the comment section below. View the full article

On Friday, the price of the token cardano spiked over the $2 handle nearing the crypto asset’s all-time high that took place three months ago. Cardano’s price jump derived from a video announcement stemming from Cardano’s Nigel Hemsley when he explained the Cardano network would upgrade on September 12, 2021. The highly anticipated “Alonzo Purple” upgrade aims to boost the Cardano project with fully functional, advanced smart contract solutions. Alonzo Upgrade Scheduled for September 12 Cardano is looking to upgrade the network in the near future, as IOHK’s Nigel Hemsley revealed the project plans to launch the upgrade on September 12. In a tweet, Input Output (IOHK) also explained the upgrade will happen on the same date mentioned in the video. The name “Alonzo” derives from the mathematician and computer scientist Alonzo Church. The Alonzo implementation has been slowly upgraded by colored-coded stages with the final being purple. “It’s happening,” IOHK said. “We’re targeting 12 September 2021 for the ‘Alonzo’ upgrade, bringing smart contracts to Cardano via a hard fork combinator (HFC) event. Find out more about the journey to a new era of smart contracts, defi, and more for Cardano (ADA).” Essentially, the Cardano community believes Alonzo will usher in advanced smart contract solutions and decentralized finance (defi) protocols. While the biggest features stemming from Alonzo will be smart contracts and defi, the upgrade aims to bolster concepts like tokenization and non-fungible token ideas. Additionally, it has been said that ERC20 tokens deriving from Ethereum will be able to be leveraged on the Cardano chain. Cardano has been criticized for quite some time, as the community was promised fully functional, advanced smart contracts and other features. Skeptics have even bet on whether or not the Cardano network will support smart contracts by October 1, 2021. The Poly Market bet used to show the odds were against the project, but now 87% say Cardano will succeed and only 13% say it won’t. Cardano Spike 45% This Week, 1,365% Against the Dollar in 12 Months Rumors of something special on August 13 have been buzzing about in the Cardano community all last week. While cardano (ADA) jumped more than 16% on Friday, the crypto asset is up over 45% during the last seven days. One month stats show ADA is up 61% and year-to-date, ADA has gained a whopping 1,365%. Cardano (ADA) on August 13, 2021. At the time of writing, ADA’s largest trading pair is with tether (USDT) as the stablecoin captures 57% of cardano trades on Friday. Bitcoin (BTC) commands around 11.4% of ADA swaps, followed by USD (8.48%), BUSD (5.27%), KRW (4.86%), and EUR (3.91%). Ethereum (ETH) has around 3.48% of the swaps traded with ADA today as well. Cardano’s market cap is around $65.7 billion which is around 3.31% dominance among all 10,000+ crypto assets worth $1.9 trillion. What do you think about the Alonzo Purple announcement on Friday and the recent price reaction? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The price of bitcoin jumped over the $47K handle on Friday afternoon and at 4:15 p.m. (EDT) the price tapped $47,929 per unit. Bitcoin has jumped over 8% today and is more than 45% up over the course of the last month. Bitcoin’s Value Jumped 45% Last Month The crypto economy grew to around $1.99 trillion on August 13, increasing more than 7.4% during the course of the day. The price of bitcoin (BTC) jumped over 8% and reached a new high for the month of August reaching $47,929 per unit. Seven-day statistics show BTC has climbed more than 11% and during the month more than 45% against the U.S. dollar. While a touch lower than the high this afternoon, BTC is still up 304% during the course of the year. Bitcoin (BTC) on Friday, August 13, 2021. Out of the $1.99 trillion, however, bitcoin only holds a 45% dominance among the 10,000+ digital assets in existence. Ethereum (ETH) commands 19.4% of the crypto economy dominance, while BNB and ADA hold more than 3% per market. During the last 24 hours, BTC has seen $31 billion in global trade volume and its market cap is around $894 billion on Friday evening (EDT). Bitcoin (BTC) on Friday, August 13, 2021. Tether (USDT) captures 54% of today’s BTC trades while the U.S. dollar commands around 15.1%. This is followed by BUSD (5.42%), JPY (4.79%), KRW (3.61%), EUR (3.43%), and USDC (2.02%). The creator of the stock-to-flow (S2F) bitcoin model, Plan B, retweeted an old tweet on Friday that he shared on June 20, which predicted similar price movements for June, July, and then the rise in August. It was the same tweet Bitcoin.com News reported on the following day which showcased Plan B’s worst-case scenario prediction of $135K for December. David Russell, VP of market intelligence at Tradestation Group has a less optimistic outlook than Plan B. “Bitcoin has surged more than 50% from its July 20 low, but now the rally may see a pause,” Russell told Bitcoin.com News on Friday. Russell added: The recent peak near $47,000 almost exactly matches the low from April 25. It’s also near the same level below which sellers got aggressive May 16-18. This is the most significant resistance area Bitcoin has yet faced in the current rebound. Meanwhile, as BTC has managed to hold above the $47K handle, the leading crypto asset faces heavy resistance ahead at the psychological $50K zone. What do you think about the recent bitcoin price jump on Friday? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The United States is facing severe inflation despite the Federal Reserve and mainstream media doubling down on saying the loss of purchasing power is just “transitory.” This week consumer and producer metrics from July have been published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and inflation is growing stronger. July CPI Stats Show a Jump to 5.4%, Producer Prices Skyrocket by 7.8% President Joe Biden has been compared to Jimmy Carter as Americans are witnessing the rebirth of stagflation. The term “stagflation” was very relevant during the Carter administration because America saw slow economic growth and vast unemployment numbers. Economic growth and unemployment numbers in 2021, look a bit more gruesome because of the aftermath 2020’s Covid-19 lockdowns and government mandates caused. Looks like consumers are no longer buying the Fed's transitory BS. https://t.co/WiGReLiUBa — Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) August 13, 2021 This week’s data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped to 5.4% last month. This is a CPI record not seen since 2008 and to make matters worse the U.S. has reached a record-breaking 7.8% increase in producer prices. Consumer prices have been a worry for quite some time now after the U.S. Federal Reserve ballooned the monetary supply more so in a single year than any other time in history. The Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said in April that the central bank believes the issue with inflation will be resolved quickly. Powell stressed the “nature of a bottleneck is that it will be resolved.” In many statements, Powell and his central bank colleagues have called the current inflation “transitory” and it won’t last. Powell also didn’t believe manufacturers would increase prices on Mainstreet consumers. “We believe producers are reluctant on passing on these prices to consumers,” Powell emphasized. Export prices rose 1.3% in July. YOY they're up 17.2%. The 2021 gain is 13.5%, which annualizes to a shocking is 23%. It's likely that prices of goods we don't export rose by a similar percentage. 23% is a more honest measure of #inflation than the CPI. It's worse than the 1970s! — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) August 13, 2021 The August 2021 CPI report shows that inflation is rising on nearly everything. Real estate and rent prices have bubbled significantly, the index for hotels and motels jumped 6.8% in July, and gasoline spiked by 2.4%. The cost of groceries is through the roof even though the USDA believes inflation on food may slow in 2022. Airline fares are up 19%, the cost of appliances jumped 12.3%, and the price for used automobiles skyrocketed by 41%. Paul Krugman Dismisses Inflation, Biden Administration Blames OPEC, Americans Sense Another Round of Lockdowns Of course, Paul Krugman via the New York Times is telling people not to have “inflation anxiety.” Furthermore, the Biden administration says that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is the cause of the rising inflation. Instead of federal spending, the Biden administration is blaming the gloomy economy on oil prices and Biden says he gave OPEC a message. “We also made clear to OPEC… that the production cuts made during the pandemic should be reversed as…the global economy recovers, in order to lower the prices for consumers.” Meanwhile, as Biden blames the price of oil, Americans have been dealing with a blitzkrieg of headlines concerning Covid-19 and the various variants. The initial stages of government-mandated lockdowns are beginning to resurface over the concern about these new variants. Aug. consumer sentiment unexpectedly plunged to 70.2 from 81.2 in July. A rise to 81.4 was expected. The financial media blames the #DeltaVariant. It's far more likely it's the persistent and significant rise in actual consumer prices that caused the fall. It's #inflation stupid. — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) August 13, 2021 At the end of July, the Biden administration revealed the White House is prepared to return to lockdowns, despite the data that shows lockdown tactics have been harmful. Another round of lockdowns could push the American economy even further into a hole. As far as OPEC is concerned, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, told the media that the administration wants to produce a “long-term engagement” with OPEC. What do you think about the Consumer Price Index jumping considerably in July and the rise in producer prices? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Charitable company MUNCH will lead a philanthropic effort called Charity Circle, which will donate to charitable global causes using ETH. 13th August 2021, London, UK — Leading DeFi charity platform MUNCH has announced ‘Charity Circle’ – a philanthropic effort led by Munch to encourage DeFi projects to donate to charitable causes through sending Ethereum to Munch’s smart contract, Charity Circle will trustlessly and automatically donate to the current charity selected by the Munch community. MUNCH and Partnerships MUNCH is a DeFi cryptocurrency that uses blockchain technology to build in giving back as an inherent part of every interaction. Through automated, trustless donations from transaction fees. MUNCH has already donated more than $3M to various community-chosen charitable causes. The project are official partners with TheGivingBlock and recently became the first crypto partner with charity: water, joining major corporations such as Google and Amazon. Charity Circle Munch is now introducing ‘Charity Circle’ – a philanthropic effort led by Munch to encourage DeFi projects to donate to charitable causes through sending Ethereum to Munch’s smart contract, which will trustlessly and automatically donate to the current charity selected by the Munch community. All charity proceeds are tracked on the immutable blockchain and confirmed by charity partners (e.g. Givewell and Charity Water). Since launching the Charity Circle, Munch has managed to sign up 7+ established crypto DeFi projects to join the philanthropic movement with more projects in the pipeline. The first announced partner is the BankEth token, which just made a $10,000 donation to charity: water through the MUNCH Charity Circle. Crypto projects will be featured in a leaderboard, showing how much they contributed to the community-chosen causes with top contributors being invited to an AMA with MUNCH and charity partners. Munch COO, Mike Si said of the announcement: “We’re starting a new movement that encourages established and emerging players in the crypto space to give back and help others in a very simple way; it can be one-off donations, or a % automated from project fees and operations. Funds will be processed in a trustless manner through our on-chain contracts to support great causes, making MUNCH a hub for all crypto giving. These initial partnerships are the start of a major step forward for the adoption of cryptocurrencies into more mainstream use.” This initiative enables crypto projects to donate automatically and trustlessly to accredited and vetted charitable causes. By leveraging the technology and status of MUNCH, giving back can become part of any project. Donations will be routed to MUNCH charity partners at the time, chosen by its community from an approved short list. Currently, Munch is supporting charity: water, with over $150,000 in donations already received to fund 15 water projects. Munch Socials Telegram | Twitter Media Contact Details Contact Name: Jon Fletcher Contact Email: team@munchproject.io MUNCH is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. 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

On Friday, a few days after the initial hack for $611 million, the Poly Network project detailed that the company has obtained all the assets stolen minus the frozen tether that was blacklisted by Tether Limited. The Poly Network team said they are in control of the funds along with “Mr. White Hat,” but the repayment process is not complete. Poly Network Hacker Returns Most of the Stolen Crypto Assets According to a message from the Poly Network team, a large majority of the stolen funds from the August 10 hack have been returned. The stash of tether (USDT) are the only funds that remain in limbo according to a recent letter from the Poly Network team. The Poly Network hacker stole ​​$611 million worth of ETH, WETH, WBTC, UNI, RENBTC, USDT, USDC, DAI, SHIB, FEI, BNB, and various BEP-20 tokens. All have been returned except the frozen the USDT which equals roughly $33 million in tethers. The Poly Network protocol is a cross-chain service that stems from the NEO blockchain project. Poly Network leverages a few different blockchains including Polygon, Ethereum, and the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The hacker and Mr. White Hat communicated with the team for three days, and there’s actually a confession stemming from a Q&A session with Mr. White Hat and the hacker. A lot of people assumed the hacker was exposed by leaving a fingerprint on the relatively unknown crypto exchange Hoo.com. The hacker’s confession details that the individual does not believe they were exposed. When asked if they were exposed, the hacker replied: “No. never. I understood the risk of exposing myself even if I don’t do evil. So I used temporary email, IP or so-called fingerprint, which were untraceable. I prefer to stay in the dark and save the world.” The hacker said again that it could have been worse and that the individual chose to ignore the “sh**coins.” “Believe it or not, I was forced to play the game,” the hacker confessed. “However, I didn’t want to cause real panic [in the] crypto world. so I chose to ignore sh**coins, so people didn’t have to worry about them going to zero. I took important tokens (except for SHIB) and didn’t sell any of them.” Whatever the case may be, the hacker was able to accomplish the largest attack on a decentralized finance (defi) project since the inception of defi. It’s hard to say when Poly Network will get everyone reimbursed but receiving a great majority of the stolen funds likely saved the project. “I would like to give them tips on how to secure their networks, so that they can be eligible to manage [a billion-dollar] project in the future,” the hacker’s confession added. What do you think about the Poly Network hacker’s confession and how they returned most of the stolen crypto coins? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase says that it wants to be “the Amazon of assets” and list every legal crypto asset out there. The company has outlined two major long-term trends affecting its business. Coinbase Wants to List All Legal Cryptocurrencies Coinbase revealed its plan during the Q2 2021 earnings call Tuesday. CEO Brian Armstrong explained: “We at Coinbase always think about longer-term cycles of crypto … We’re always looking at the long-term trends.” He described two key trends affecting Coinbase. “The first one is that we’re continuing to see this trend of people using crypto for more and more things beyond trading,” Armstrong detailed. He added that “For example, we now have 1.7 million users doing staking in crypto, which is a way to earn a yield on your assets.” The CEO continued, “The second big trend we’re seeing is this idea of Coinbase embracing decentralization,” elaborating: We want to be the Amazon of assets, list every asset out there in crypto that’s legal. There are thousands of them today. There are eventually going to be millions of them. This is all under the theme of embracing decentralization. Armstrong emphasized: “We have a very rigorous process we’ve created on the compliance and the legal and cybersecurity evaluation of these assets to make sure they comply with those standards, but once we get comfortable with that, we want to list various assets that meet those listing criteria.” He further noted: “Bitcoin and ethereum still make up about 50% of our trading volume and the other 50% is the long tail of all the other assets that we support. No single one of those long-tail assets accounts for more than 10% of our trading volume so it’s really starting to become quite a diverse set of assets out there.” The Coinbase executive mentioned that in the second quarter, his platform listed 22 new coins, including dogecoin (DOGE). He opined: Our overall approach is we’re agnostic about which assets are going to win, we really just want to support every asset that’s legal for our customers. In Q2, the company raked in $2 billion and formed partnerships with notable people and companies including Elon Musk, Spacex, and PNC Bank. At the end of June, the company said it wanted to launch an Apple-like app store for cryptocurrencies. What do you think about Coinbase’s plan to become the Amazon of crypto? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, has announced a series of milestones for its crypto business. Its brokerage arm has obtained preliminary approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank, and its crypto exchange will start operating 24-7 to meet the growing demand for cryptocurrency. DBS Sees ‘Keen Interest Among Asset Managers and Corporates’ for Cryptocurrencies Southeast Asia’s largest bank, DBS, made several announcements Thursday. Firstly, the bank’s brokerage arm, DBS Vickers (DBSV), “has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Payment Services Act (PS Act) to provide digital payment token services as a major payment institution.” Noting that as one of the first few financial institutions to obtain such approval, DBS is now working to comply with the central bank’s requirements for a full license, the company elaborated: Once licensed, DBSV, as a member of DBS Digital Exchange (Ddex), will be able to directly support asset managers and companies to trade in digital payment tokens through Ddex. Secondly, DBS Bank announced that from Aug. 16, its crypto exchange “will operate round-the-clock.” The exchange is currently operating only during Asian trading hours to allow for processes and protocols to be fine-tuned. The bank also noted that its crypto exchange, which is a members-only exchange for institutional and accredited investors, “has gained good traction since its launch” late last year. In May, the bank said its exchange’s crypto trading volumes increased 10 times. It also launched a trust service for cryptocurrencies during the same month. DBS Digital Exchange currently offers trading services between four fiat currencies (SGD, USD, HKD, and JPY), and four cryptocurrencies: bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ether (ETH), and XRP. The bank revealed: Around 400 investors have been onboarded to trade on Ddex as at end-June 2021. Ddex recorded close to SGD 180 million [$132.49 million] in total trading value in Q2 2021, more than five times the value traded in the previous quarter. DBS has over SGD 130 million in digital assets in its custodial services. The bank added that it is “building up its pipeline of potential security token offerings (STOs),” noting that the exchange “listed its inaugural STO in June in the form of an SGD 15 million digital bond.” Eng-Kwok Seat Moey, group head of Capital Markets at DBS, said: We have seen keen interest among asset managers and corporates for access to digital payment token services, and with DBSV receiving in-principle approval under the PS Act, we are well-placed to meet this growing demand … We are confident of doubling our investor base by the end of the year. “This could add to Ddex’s volumes in the coming months, and, coupled with Ddex going operational round-the-clock, help accelerate growth for Ddex,” he opined. What do you think about DBS Bank expanding its crypto business to meet growing client demand? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

On August 13, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance revealed it is ending a great number of services in South Korea. The company noted in the announcement that it evaluated local regulations and “will discontinue the following offerings in Korea, effective immediately.” Binance Ends Korean Crypto Services Last week, former CEO of Binance US and former acting Comptroller of the Currency, Brian Brooks, announced that he was leaving his position at the exchange. Prior to that HSBC suspended payments tied to Binance and the company also discontinued derivatives products in Hong Kong. On Friday, Binance announced that it will not be offering products and services in South Korea. “As Binance constantly evaluates its product and service offerings to proactively comply with local regulations,” Binance said, “we will discontinue the following offerings in Korea, effective immediately.” The products and services that Binance has suspended in South Korea include: KRW trading pairs KRW payment options P2P merchant applications Korean language website support Binance also disclosed that the crypto exchange would be discontinuing services that stem from the peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange it operates. “Binance P2P will remove KRW trading pairs on Friday, 2021-08-13 at 11:00 UTC (20:00 UTC+9). Users are advised to complete all related P2P trades and remove related trade advertisements,” the trading platform noted. Additionally, Binance said that it is not offering any products and services in the Korean language and it does not offer any Korean communication channels. “Please also note that we are not operating any official Telegram or other online communication channels in Korean,” Binance concluded. What do you think about Binance suspending services in South Korea? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Have you ever wanted to harness the capabilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning to trade in the cryptocurrency markets? Soldex will not only offer you a way to do this easily, it will also allow you to share the trading algorithms you developed with the community and be rewarded for it. Create Your Own AI-Powered Trading Bots With Soldex Soldex is an upcoming third-generation cryptocurrency exchange built on the Solana blockchain. It’s designed to resolve common issues experienced on typical decentralized exchanges. The major advantage over other platforms that the system will offer is the possibility for automated trading using unique trading algorithms developed by the users. This new tool will allow users to trade in all market conditions, 24/7, and without the possibility of human error. Soldex AI will employ machine-learning and neural network algorithms and traders can choose the bots they want to use according to their risk tolerance, budget, time frame, margin, crypto pairs, volatility, and custom criteria. Moreover, Soldex will offer educational tools to teach anyone how to create AI-powered trading bots. This means that this powerful tool reserved for experts will now be available to the average crypto trader for the first time. Users would also be able to share the unique trading bots they developed for others to follow and receive commissions for this, thus opening a new stream of revenues for them. Soldex Offers Many More Advantages Over Other DEXs Beyond its innovative AI trading capabilities, Soldex offers many more advantages over other DEXs. As it is natively built on the Solana blockchain, it will have none of the infrastructure issues plaguing older systems and be extremely fast and cheap to use compared to anything built on Ethereum. The system is designed to be very user-friendly and easy to navigate, the opposite of most DEXs. On Soldex you can experience real-time transactions, conveniently deposit using your exchange wallets and make light-speed swaps. It also allows investors to participate in community governance and incentivized liquidity. The latter means that users can lock their funds to a certain period of time and earn interest on the investment. And most importantly for many around the world – Soldex is completely permissionless, so absolutely anyone, anywhere can engage in trading, providing liquidity, and staking. There is also no KYC requirement – so you don’t need to send ID or bank details to start trading. As the company explains: “With Soldex built on the Solana Blockchain, you will never have to worry about giving your personal details to someone. Your privacy is protected while your money is kept safe.” Soldex AI will be maintained using its own native coin – SOLX. The token can be used for governance rights, paying transaction fees, and staking for profits. The company is currently conducting a private sale, offering 25% of the total supply of SOLX to retail investors. The private sale will only be available until August 31st, so hurry up to invest before it is all sold out. To learn more about Soldex AI visit the project’s website and follow the latest developments on Medium, Twitter, LinkedIn and Telegram. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The Bank of Ghana (BOG) says it has signed an agreement with Giesecke Devrient (GD) to implement a pilot central bank digital currency (CBDC) project. This pilot CBDC, which is a precursor to the e-cedi digital currency, is set to be tested with banks, payment service providers, merchants, consumers and other relevant stakeholders. Learning From the Trial Phase In a press release, the Ghanaian central bank says GD will provide the technology and a solution that suits Ghana’s requirements. The press statement adds that during the trial phase, a study seeking to look at “the acceptance of the e-Cedi from the end users’ perspective” will also be undertaken. The pilot CBDC’s impact on monetary policy and payment systems as well as the legal implications will be evaluated. In turn, the BOG says it will use valuable lessons gained from pilot user experiences when it finally rolls out the e-cedi. Ghana’s CBDC Mission The press statement quotes the BOG governor, Ernest Addision, talking up the potential impact of the e-cedi on Ghana’s economy and speaking about how his country is determined to take advantage of this. He said: [The] CBDC presents a great opportunity to build a robust, inclusive, competitive and sustainable financial sector, led by the Central Bank. From all indications, the concept has a significant role to play in the future of financial service delivery globally. This project is a significant step towards positioning Ghana to take full advantage of this emerging concept. Meanwhile, the BOG says in its press release that the pilot CBDC project is a part of the “Digital Ghana Agenda,” an initiative that involves “the digitization of the country of 30 million people and its government services.” The e-cedi on the other hand is intended to complement and serve as a digital alternative to physical cash. It also aims to facilitate payments without a bank account, contract, or smartphone, and by so doing boost the use of digital services and financial inclusion amongst all demographics. What are your thoughts on the BOG’s statement? You can share your views in the comments section below. View the full article

A South African tax expert, Thomas Lobban, has warned non-tax paying crypto traders that they now face possible jail time if the South African Revenue Services (SARS) decides to lay tax offense charges against them. He adds that this threat of jail time similarly applies to South African crypto traders that use offshore exchange platforms to trade or store their crypto assets. Lack of Guidance Blamed Lobban’s warning follows reports earlier in the year which suggested that changes to South African tax laws may have made it “easier for SARS to secure criminal convictions for tax offences.” The warnings also follow reports in June which suggested that SARS had asked “independent South African crypto platforms to provide it with information pertaining to its client base.” However, despite this dire warning, Lobban — a legal manager at a local tax consultancy firm, Tax Consulting South Africa — admits that many crypto traders are not aware of the extent of their tax liabilities. The expert partly places the blame on SARS which he says has not done enough to guide crypto holders. He explained: The lack of any meaningful guidance from SARS has not helped the situation either, leaving crypto investors with nothing more than their own best guesses about the correct tax treatment to be applied in each case. Lobban also blamed what he calls “very strange beliefs about tax and crypto-assets” as the other main reason why many crypto holders are not paying taxes fully. He said due to these beliefs, many crypto traders still think a tax liability only arises “upon withdrawal.” South Africans Trading on Foreign Crypto Exchanges Also Targeted The tax expert also notes that while SARS is seemingly “hesitant to provide guidance on the correct tax treatment,” it has nonetheless been working to improve its information-gathering mechanisms. It is such mechanisms that the revenue collector hopes to use when pursuing South African crypto holders that trade on offshore exchanges. Lobban said: SARS can request the collection and provision of information in relation to a taxpayer from other revenue authorities globally, as well as request assistance in the collection of tax, in terms of the many tax treaties it has in place. In the meantime, Lobban urged South African cryptocurrency holders and traders who are not sure of their tax obligations “to approach SARS first and declare crypto profits and losses in their returns.” By doing this, they stay in SARS’ good books and avoid sanctions. For those with an outstanding historic tax liability, Lobban says there are avenues for correction without the threat of criminal liability. However, once SARS notifies them of an impending or potential audit, options available to taxpayers become severely limited. What are your thoughts on this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

A group of Venezuelan Bitcoin miners that were disconnected from the power grid by regional authorities in the state of Carabobo might resume operations in the next 48 hours, according to the national cryptocurrency watchdog, Sunacrip. The institution met with affected miners on Wednesday and assured them it will make the necessary adjustments with regional authorities to allow them to operate and avoid further interruptions to the service. Venezuelan Miners in Carabobo Meet With Sunacrip A group of miners disconnected from the national power grid in the Carabobo state in Venezuela met Wednesday with the national cryptocurrency watchdog, Sunacrip, to discuss the cause of this measure and find a possible solution to the problem. Asonacrip, the National Cryptocurrency Association, reported that Joselit Ramirez, the National Superintendent of Crypto Assets of Venezuela was present in the meeting and promised them a reconnection of the farms in the next 48 hour period. Asonacrip also stated the disconnected miners were operating in: …industrial parks suitable for the activity without damaging energy consumption, and additionally, with their income, they contribute to the recovery of the national electricity system. There was no mention of the real reason behind the power suspension of the miners in the meeting. Power Contingency Some people with knowledge of the matter stated that these miners were disconnected from the power grid due to a power contingency of the state. At the time of writing, there have been no official statements explaining the reason behind these actions. While there are no official numbers about miners in Venezuela, it is estimated that much of the hashrate operating in the country does so without a license from Sunacrip. That’s why the institution is always promoting miner registration and pushing the benefits of having a permit issued to mine cryptocurrencies. However, all of the miners that were affected by this measure were operating legally, according to Asonacrip. People weighed in on social media stating that the responsible state parties should reimburse miners for the losses caused by this kind of action, stressing this could make these occurrences less common in the future. Due to other occurrences, Sunacrip also stated that miners couldn’t be visited by police or military operatives without a Sunacrip official being present. What do you think about the meeting between Venezuelan miners and Sunacrip? Tell us in the comment section below. View the full article

Broxus, a leading developer of the FreeTON project, has unveiled the second version of their FreeTON DEX, TON Swap. The update consists of a reworking of existing features, an expansion of functionality and available information and the addition of key new features. The FreeTON project has been busy this summer, expanding the offerings it has for users, working to bring in and support promising, fledgling projects, and making inroads throughout the DeFi industry. The latest update, consisting of an overall of the Broxus-powered TON Swap DEX, is perhaps the most significant due to the enhancements that have been made to the exchange’s user experience and the groundwork that has been laid for the platform to grow into a launchpad for other projects in DeFi. FreeTON started just over a year and a half ago when work on the Telegram Open Network was halted by a court order. A community of people that had studied the technology developed by the Durov brothers decided that, rather than letting the blueprint remain unfulfilled, they would work on it and further develop it together, taking a grassroots approach to funding and implementing a decentralized form of governance. The result is what the FreeTON project has grown into, one of the most technologically impressive platforms, still in its early days of maturity, but already offering glimpses of the potential it has to shake up the DeFi space. With unparalleled scalability, remarkably cheap transaction fees (they are typically less than .001% of the transaction), stalwart security and a merit-based token distribution system, it is little wonder that a robust community has already flourished around the project. This summer has been crucial for FreeTON as developers have unveiled a bevy of new products and refined a number of existing features. Broxus, one of the leading development teams working on the project and a member of the FreeTON DeFi alliance, launched the first of a planned series of FreeTON bridges, linking TON to Ethereum. The bridge highlights just how useful FreeTON can be as it allows users to make transactions with ETH without having to deal with ridiculously high gas fees. In addition to the bridge, Broxus has also developed a TON Crystal wallet, started the Crystal Handshake Program which identifies and supports promising startups in the DeFi space, and launched a FreeTON DEX called TON Swap. Now the team has completed an overhaul of the TON Swap DEX, making it much easier to use while also beefing it up with great new features. In addition to a frontend rewrite, TON Swap users will now be able to take advantage of a revamped token tab that provides real-time and historical data on all the tokens supported by the exchange, including: Names Prices Price changes 24-hour trading volume Liquidity Commissions There is also a trading pairs tab with real-time and historical data on trading pairs, including: A list of all pairs 24-hour and 7-day trading volumes for all pairs Total value locked metrics Liquidity Commissions The second version of TON Swap also features the beta version of the FreeTON Token Constructor. This is a groundbreaking new feature that will allow FreeTON to serve as a launchpad for projects looking to create and launch their own tokens. The tokens will be tip-3 tokens powered by TON Swap and will give creators the opportunity to easily create their own DAOs and independent protocols. With community cooperation and transparency as central tenets of the FreeTON philosophy, the developers from Broxus have continued the project’s tradition of involving everyone in the development process by making the frontend of TON Swap open source. Interested parties can check out the project specs here. About FreeTON: FreeTON is a fast, secure and scalable network with near-zero fees, which can process up to a million transactions per second thanks to its unique dynamic sharding technology. As a development built off of the Durov brothers’ original TON concept, the FreeTON blockchain is designed to facilitate the widespread adoption of decentralized solutions by millions of users through an unprecedented combination of reliable security, industry-leading scalability and decentralization. The ecosystem features a number of products, including a DEX and bridges with other blockchains. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The team behind the platform that allows users to track data on the Ethereum blockchain, Dune Analytics, announced the firm has raised $8 million from strategic investors like Union Square Ventures. Dune Analytics detailed the firm plans to leverage the new financing in order to hire more help and monitor other blockchains. Crypto Metrics Provider Dune Analytics Raises $8 Million Crypto data services and analytics has seen massive demand in 2021 as everyone wants to gather factoids on their favorite crypto assets. Bitcoin.com News recently reported on the crypto firm Messari raising $21 million in a financing round. Furthermore, the crypto analytics company Skew was acquired by Coinbase this year and Coin Metrics recently raised $15 million with Goldman Sachs leading the round. Dune Analytics is a set of data tools that users can leverage for free in order to gather insight on Ethereum and decentralized finance (defi) analytics. Last September, Dune Analytics raised $2 million in seed funding and on Thursday the company revealed raising $8 million in a Series A. The Series A round was led by Fred Wilson’s Union Square Ventures. Additionally, venture firms like Multicoin Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and Dragonfly joined the Dune Analytics Series A round. We are on a mission to make crypto data accessible💫 Meaning every single metric from every single data source easily available to the community for free👌🤯📊 The data must flow and therefore we've raised a: 🚨 $8M SERIES A LEAD BY @usv🎉🧙‍♀️ 🧵👇https://t.co/MgHEKYGhKG pic.twitter.com/3PRMNCfTLr — Dune Analytics (@DuneAnalytics) August 12, 2021 Dune Analytics’ tools offer a great number of charts and graphs but users can also create their own data charts. The web portal offers insights to data concerning the recent EIP1559 implementation so ETH users can observe metrics like fees burned. Dune Analytics offers decentralized exchange (dex) volumes, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace data and analytics showing the number of defi users over time. “At Dune Analytics we’re on a mission to make crypto data accessible. This is a mission that is getting harder by the day,” the company’s capital raise announcement noted. “Every new product, chain, and scaling solution increases data amount and fragmentation as they grow in adoption and throughput. Nevertheless, we are determined to realize this mission by making every single interesting metric across every single crypto data source easily accessible for free to the community.” Dune Analytics: ‘The Data Must Flow’ In addition to Dune Analytics, Skew, Coin Metrics, and Messari, the company Dappradar raised $5 million last May. At the end of June, the crypto data firm Nansen raised $10 million from investors. “At Dune Analytics we’re a small team with an outsized impact on the future of finance and financial data,” the Dune Founders Fredrik and Mats concluded. “Throughout this year we’ve grown the Dune team to eight people spread throughout Europe. To further enable convenient access to crypto data across more use cases, data sources and at a bigger scale we’re now hiring for a range of roles. The data must flow.” What do you think about Dune Analytics raising $8 million in a Series A financing round? Let us know what you think about all these crypto analytics firms raising millions in 2021 in the comments section below. View the full article

The Nasdaq-listed auto insurance company Metromile has purchased $1 million in bitcoin. The company plans to “become the first insurance company to allow policyholders the option to pay for insurance and receive payment for eligible claims in either bitcoin or dollars.” Auto Insurance Platform Adds Bitcoin to Balance Sheet The Nasdaq-listed insurance company Metromile Inc. disclosed its bitcoin purchase in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dated Aug. 10. Metromile is a digital insurance platform and pay-per-mile auto insurer. The filing states: In June 2021, the company purchased and received $1.0 million of bitcoin. During the three months and six months ended June 30, 2021, the company recorded $0.1 million of impairment losses on bitcoin. “There were no realized gains or losses recognized during the three months and six months ended June 30, 2021,” the filing details. “As of June 30, 2021, the carrying value of the company’s bitcoin digital assets held was $0.9 million, which reflects cumulative impairments of $0.1 million. The fair market value of bitcoin held as of June 30, 2021 was $0.9 million.” Metromile announced in May that “it will soon allow policyholders the option to pay for insurance and receive payment for eligible and approved insured claims in bitcoin or dollars.” Metromile aims be the first insurance company to both accept premiums and pay claims in cryptocurrency. In its Q1 2021 letter to shareholders, the company said: As the adoption of cryptocurrency grows rapidly worldwide, it is becoming clear that the decentralization of finance has the potential to shift consumer behavior and financial infrastructure … We believe that allowing cryptocurrency payment is fully aligned with our commitment to innovation, equitability, and promoting financial resilience. The auto insurer joins a growing list of companies that have purchased bitcoin for their corporate treasuries, including Michael Saylor’s Microstrategy, Elon Musk’s Tesla, and Jack Dorsey’s Square. What do you think about Metromile buying bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article