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PRESS RELEASE. British Virgin Islands — 6th August, 2021 — EQIFI, a decentralized protocol for pooled lending, borrowing and investing Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and select fiat currencies, has today launched its DeFi platform, including newly introduced fixed- and variable-rate ledning products, as well as the advanced yield aggregator and interest rate swaps. Brad Yasar, CEO of EQIFI, said: “We are incredibly excited to bring our new range of DeFi products to our community and clients. By harnessing the power of DeFi technology, EQIFI is positioned to become an industry world leader. Through blockchain technology, EQIFI democratizes financial products previously only available to a select few, and we are confident that EQIFI is best positioned to bring these products to clients who want to embrace the evolution of digital banking, in an accessible and regulated manner.” Outlined in full below, EQIFI’s new products simplify DeFi by consolidating a range of sophisticated services on a single user-friendly platform. The products are designed to address the shortcomings of the traditional banking sector, such as high fees, outdated technology, obsolete pricing models, and expensive cash handling. EQIFI Fixed-Rate Products are pooled loans at a fixed interest rate that settle on a specified future date. The user provides collateral in the form of ETH, wBTC, Stablecoins, or select fiat currencies (converted into stablecoins) in pools, with fixed rates attached. EQIFI Variable-Rate Products feature algorithmic borrow rates, making the marketplace automatically responsive to changes across the network based on user activity and demand, increasing levels of borrowing from the token pool. EQIFI Interest Rate Swaps are a DeFi forward contract in which one stream of future interest payments is exchanged for another based on a specified principal amount. Interest rate swaps usually involve the exchange of a fixed interest rate for a variable rate, or vice versa. The EQIFI Yield Aggregator is an automated aggregator of all leading external yield farming products, making yield farming simple and automatic. The platform automatically assigns capital between different liquidity pools, seeking the optimum profit and margin. Governed by holders of the platform’s native EQX token, EQIFI operates under a community-focused, decentralized ethos, allowing community members to make important decisions about the future of the project, such as listing and delisting assets and tokens, adjusting interest rates according to the market, modifying collateral limits, and pausing any loans or deposits for a certain time. EQIFI is powered by EQIBank. Launched in 2015, EQIBank is one of the world’s leading digital banks and offers tax-neutral personal and corporate banking services in multiple currencies to clients in over 180 countries. EQIBank offers competitive rates, 24/7 service, trusted security, and an innovative, simple online global banking experience across all devices. EQIBank provides bank accounts, loans, custody, debit and credit cards, OTC, and wealth management to EQIFI and all its qualified clients. Jason Blick, CEO of EQIBank and Chairman of EQIFI, said: “EQIFI’s new range of products are an essential milestone on the road to decentralised finance adoption. This is a product range like no other, and EQIBank is proud of its role as the regulated bank powering EQIFI. We support and trust both EQIFI and this new range of products to bring DeFi enabled products and solutions to mainstream audiences in an accessible way.” For more information, visit www.eqifi.com. ### About EQIFI EQIFI, the first DeFi project powered by a licensed and regulated digital bank, is setting new standards, establishing trustless transactions, and driving real-world adoption. EQIFI’s infrastructure is optimized for real-time digital interactions. We are at the forefront of embracing today’s ever-demanding culture that wishes to embrace the evolution of digital technologies. For Media Enquiries David Cullinan Chief Marketing officer EQIFI david@eqifi.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 White House has endorsed an amendment to the $1 trillion Infrastructure bill that supports proof-of-work over all other consensus mechanisms. However, the crypto community is supporting a different amendment. White House Takes Stance on Infrastructure Bill’s Crypto Tax Amendment The White House has endorsed an amendment to the Infrastructure bill sponsored by Senators Mark Warner, Rob Portman, and Kyrsten Sinema who drafted the original tax provision. This amendment competes with another introduced a day prior that has gained much support from the crypto community. It was sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden, Cynthia Lummis, and Pat Toomey. White House economics reporter for The Washington Post Jeff Stein tweeted late Thursday night: White House is coming out formally in support of Warner-Portman-Sinema crypto amendment, implicitly against the Toomey-Wyden-Lummis plan. Andrew Bates, the White House’s deputy press secretary, also issued a statement Thursday night: “The Administration is pleased with the progress that has yielded a compromise sponsored by Senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema to advance the bipartisan infrastructure package and clarify the measure to reduce tax evasion in the cryptocurrency market.” The statement continues: “The Administration believes this provision will strengthen tax compliance in this emerging area of finance and ensure that high income taxpayers are contributing what they owe under the law … we believe that the alternative amendment put forward by Senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema strikes the right balance and makes an important step forward in promoting tax compliance.” Many people in the crypto community immediately voiced concerns about the amendment endorsed by the White House. Jerry Brito, CEO of Coin Center, called the amendment backed by the White House “ridiculous.” Noting that “Sen. Warner and Portman are proposing a last-minute amendment competing with the Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment,” he opined: The White House is endorsing proof-of-work over all other consensus mechanisms to be enshrined in law … It is disastrous. It only excludes proof-of-work mining. And it does nothing for software devs. Senator Toomey agreed with Brito, tweeting, “He’s right.” Coin Center’s director of communications, Neeraj K. Agrawal, concurred, tweeting: “The White House is choosing to support proof-of-work over proof-of-stake, in law, in an unrelated infrastructure bill. This is will have huge consequences for how cryptocurrency develops in America.” Several lawmakers have announced their support for the bipartisan Wyden-Lummis-Toomey amendment, including Rep. Ted Budd, Rep. Tom Emmer, and Rep. Darren Soto. A section from the two amendments to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Source: Joe Carlasare on Twitter Senator Wyden tweeted in response to the endorsement by the White House: “The Warner-Portman-Sinema amendment provides a government-sanctioned safe harbor for the most climate-damaging form of crypto tech, called proof-of-work. It would be a mistake for the climate and for innovation to advance this amendment.” He added: “My bipartisan amendment with Sen. Lummis and Sen. Toomey will ensure Americans pay the taxes they owe on cryptocurrency while also fostering innovation here at home. Our amendment offers a real, commonsense solution to this very real problem.” MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin reported that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “has filed a motion tonight to end debate and move toward a final vote on the bipartisan bill. The final vote is likely on Saturday.” What do you think about the White House supporting the amendment by Senators Warner, Portman, and Sinema? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Authorities in Abkhazia have closed down two crypto mining farms that have been illegally connected to the power grid. The facilities were minting digital coins in violation of a mining ban imposed by the government to mitigate electricity shortages. Over 80 Mining Rigs Confiscated From Crypto Farms in Abkhazia Dozens of mining rigs have been running on stolen electricity in two cryptocurrency farms located in the rural areas of Ochamchira District, Abkhazia. Officials from the local power utility, Chernomorenergo, have confiscated 82 mining units, the distribution company announced on its Facebook page. Over the past few years, crypto mining has become a popular income source in the partially recognized, breakaway republic in northwestern Georgia. However, the government in Sokhumi has blamed the growing electricity deficit in the territory on the energy-intensive activity of crypto mining. In 2018, Abkhazia introduced a “temporary” ban on mining and hardware imports, but despite the restrictions officials alleged that miners were responsible for last year’s energy crisis. This spring, authorities extended the measure until March 2022, introducing fines and criminalizing the illegal use of electrical power. A number of mining operations were shut down. The latest seizures of equipment come after residents of Ochamchira District engaged in cryptocurrency mining, gathered to protest the actions of Abkhaz law enforcement last month. Their anger was provoked by several police raids targeting illegal mining facilities in the villages of Aradu and Pakuash, Forklog and Sputnik reported. To resolve the conflict, local authorities called a meeting with lawmakers and the country’s deputy minister of interior. Since then, the government of Abkhazia has started negotiations with Russia for additional power supplies to satisfy its growing needs, including those of cryptocurrency miners. The autonomous republic, which is recognized and backed by the Russian Federation, also plans to legalize and regulate the expanding crypto mining industry. Do you expect Abkhazia to really change its policies towards cryptocurrency miners? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The crypto financial services company Huobi and the firm’s stablecoin issuer Stable Universal have published monthly HUSD attestation reports. The audits indicate the funds that back Huobi’s stablecoin are kept in cash in U.S. money market accounts in order to ensure the 1:1 ratio with USD. HUSD Monthly Attestations On Thursday, more than $117 billion is held in stablecoin protocols and the ninth-largest stablecoin in terms of market valuation, Huobi’s HUSD, represents over $498 million. Out of today’s $68 billion in global stablecoin trade volume, Coingecko’s stablecoin by market cap stats show HUSD has seen around $61 million in 24-hour trades. Following the trend of stablecoin producers publishing their latest stablecoin attestation reports, Huobi and the token issuer Stable Universal have also provided monthly audits. HUSD attestation reports stem from the months of January 2021 to May 2021, and the latest report discloses that reserves for HUSD are secured in money market accounts located in the United States. Furthermore, monthly audits from every month in 2019 and 2020 are also provided. “To ensure each HUSD is backed by U.S. dollars at a 1:1 ratio, a monthly audit of HUSD is conducted by an independent US accounting firm to verify that the HUSD tokens in circulation are consistent with the amount of USD held in reserve accounts at U.S. banks,” the web portal stcoins.com emphasizes. The web page also says: Every attestation report has been published since the launch of HUSD Token. Stablecoin Providers Hope to Gather More Trust With Reserve Audits The HUSD attestation reports come at a time where stablecoin providers have been providing transparent audits to the public. In July, Circle and the Centre Consortium’s accountant Grant Thornton published a USDC attestation report. Circle’s USDC report revealed that the backing of USDC was kept in segregated accounts held in USD-denominated assets. Following Circle, Paxos Standard presented its attestation report and Dan Burstein, the chief compliance officer of Paxos, criticized stablecoin providers that are far less transparent. In April, Tether Holdings Limited stated that tether (USDT) tokens have “always been fully backed.” The stablecoin provider’s assurance report was signed by Moore Cayman on March 26, 2021, and compiled on February 28, 2021 “at 11:59 PM UTC.” Today, tether (USDT) still commands the largest market cap with $61 billion. For comparison, Huobi’s HUSD stablecoin represents only 0.816% of USDT’s market valuation on August 5. What do you think about Huobi and Stable Universal’s HUSD attestation reports? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The crypto analytics and market intelligence company Messari revealed on Thursday the firm has raised $21 million in a Series A financing round. The funds will be used to expand Messari’s product suites and it aims to “triple the size of its engineering and research teams.” Crypto Market Intelligence Firm Messari Secures $21 Million Digital currency analytics and intelligence data have seen massive demand this year. A number of crypto analytics providers have been able to raise millions from investors as institutions and the general public has been hungry for crypto coin statistics. On Thursday, the firm Messari announced the company has raised $21 million from strategic investors. The Series A financing saw participation from Point72 Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Uncork Capital, and Underscore VC. Alongside these investors, Messari disclosed that former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer, Kraken Ventures, Alameda Capital, Blockchain Ventures, and CMS Holdings joined the funding round. Messari started three years ago and was co-founded by former Digital Currency Group executive Ryan Selkis. The Messari co-founder said in a statement that the company was pleased to get financing from “an exceptional syndicate of new and existing investors.” “Thousands of investors, crypto enterprises, and token projects already rely on our products and services to conduct industry diligence and participate in the emerging crypto economy,” Selkis remarked during the funding announcement. “This new funding reinforces the value we have created for our early crypto-native customers and highlights the opportunity we have to solve some of crypto’s most challenging information and compliance problems for new institutional entrants as well.” Messari’s Series a Follows Investments in Analytics Firms Like Skew, Coin Metrics This year a few analytics firms have seen significant demand and at the end of April Skew analytics was acquired by Coinbase. The following week, the Boston-based Coin Metrics revealed the company raised $15 million in a Series B financing round that was led by the American multinational investment bank and financial services company, Goldman Sachs. As far as the Messari funding is concerned, the Messari investment is Point72 Ventures’ first investment in the crypto space, according to the announcement. Furthermore, Adam Carson, a partner at Point72 has joined Messari’s board of directors. What do you think about Messari raising $21 million in a Series A funding round? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A new draft law introduced to the Senate in Uruguay could regulate cryptocurrency transactions, and also legalize cryptocurrency as an accepted payment method in the country. If approved, the draft proposed by Senator Juan Sartori would also introduce licenses for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) that would be issued by the government, classifying them into three different groups. Draft Law in Uruguay Seeks to Legalize Crypto Payments A new draft law introduced to the senate of Uruguay on August 3 proposes the legalization of cryptocurrencies as a valid means of payment for goods and services in the country. Proposed by Uruguayan senator Juan Sartori, the draft law establishes permits and licenses for institutions and Virtual Asset Service Providers, and puts cryptocurrency business under the oversight of Senaclaft, the national money-laundering watchdog. In its fifth article, the “Cryptoasset Law” (as it has been called) announces the legality of cryptocurrency for payments, but the proposal falls short of declaring Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as legal tender like El Salvador did on June 9. The article states cryptocurrencies will be: …recognized and accepted by the Law and applicable in any legal business. They will be considered a valid means of payment, in addition to those included in the Financial Inclusion Law, provided that they comply with the norms that the Law and the regulatory norm provide. VASPs Will Have to Get Licenses Another interesting part of the draft is a system of licenses for VASPS, that foresees three types of permits for these institutions. One type of license will be issued exclusively to cryptocurrency exchanges. The second type of license will regulate cryptocurrency custody providers, and the third one will deal with crypto assets or utility tokens with financial characteristics. While mining companies will not require a special license to operate, they will however have to obtain a permit issued by the Industries Ministry of the country. Mining would also be considered an industrial activity within the Industrial Registry of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, to promote standards and rules on that ecosystem. If approved, Senaclaft would be responsible for maintaining a level of vigilance over cryptocurrency exchanges. The institution will maintain a list of VASPs, who will have to comply with AML and KYC regulations already in effect. The institution will have to audit and regulate the activities of such companies. What do you think about the newly proposed Uruguayan cryptocurrency draft law? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

On Thursday, the non-fungible token (NFT) platform and digital art gallery backed by Mark Cuban announced the project has integrated with Polygon. The platform allows anyone to showcase NFTs by leveraging a unique lazy URL to social media profiles, and the integration announcement highlights the protocol is now live on Polygon mainnet. Lazy.com Joins Polygon The non-fungible token digital art gallery Lazy.com has announced on Thursday that the protocol is now integrated with the Polygon platform, formally called Matic. The Lazy.com web portal says that the gallery is the “lazy way to show off your NFTs.” The Lazy project is also backed by the Shark Tank co-host and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban. The integration with Polygon coincides with the launch of Polygon Studios. The newly crafted Polygon Studios is basically an NFT-focused gaming realm and metaverse designed to be a “hotbed of digital culture.” Mark Cuban who is also a believer in Polygon, explained during the integration announcement that the Lazy.com project aims to bolster the NFT industry by making it more “approachable and accessible.” “Lazy.com does exactly as its name suggests — it’s the effortless way to show off your NFTs — designed to showcase NFTs in the same way galleries display art. Simple, easy, lazy,” Mark Cuban, the founder of Lazy.com, said. Polygon Benefits and Complaints, Polygon Studios’ $100 Million Fund The India-based cryptocurrency Polygon (MATIC) was specifically crafted to make Ethereum-based transactions cheaper. A number of NFT creators, blockchain games, and NFT marketplaces leverage the Polygon protocol. Well known platforms utilizing Polygon include projects like Opensea, Rarible, Beeple’s NFT platform, and more. Although, Polygon has seen technical issues, network difficulties, problems with Decentraland integration, and people have complained about staking issues. However, data from Coin98 Analytics shared four different photographs of all the applications that leverage Polygon and the list is quite large. “Can you name an alternative Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem that is bigger than Polygon?” the analytics provider Coin98 Analytics asks. Can you name an alternative Ethereum #Layer2 ecosystem that is bigger than #Polygon? pic.twitter.com/jjqZ9bGdyl — Coin98 Analytics (@Coin98Analytics) August 1, 2021 While announcing the Lazy.com integration, Polygon detailed that Polygon Studios launched a $100 million fund focused on promoting gaming-related NFT projects. “The studio aims to help web 2.0 game developers integrate web 3.0 elements and NFTs into their platforms,” the company’s announcement notes. Meanwhile, Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban understands that the NFT ecosystem still has a ways to go but he looks forward to seeing what it produces. “NFTs still have their adoption hurdles, but none are as consequential as transaction fees and efficiency — Polygon’s structured, and easy-to-use scaling solution obliterates these barriers. I’m excited to see how the NFT space develops from here,” Cuban concluded in the Lazy.com integration announcement. What do you think about Lazy.com integrating with Polygon? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Torum announces strategic investment by Huobi Ventures, the $100 million venture arm of Huobi Group to foster blockchain adoption and ecosystem expansion. 5th August 2021, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — On the eve of the project’s 1st year launch anniversary, social media platform Torum has released its H2 strategic ecosystem expansion plan, prioritizing the construction of a one-stop crypto ecosystem. The plan includes core features that aim to solve the industry’s information asymmetry problems and improve the connection between projects and communities through a social-based ecosystem. Torum H2 Strategic Ecosystem Expansion Plan The Torum H2 Strategic Ecosystem Extension plan will include numerous core features, including: Torum NFT Launchpad: The INO platform for projects to issue a set of limited-edition NFTs to the community Torum NFT Marketplace: The first social-infused NFT marketplace with the ability to market NFTs to the users of Torum. Torum Airdrop: A premium section for projects to conduct airdrop to the Torum community Torum News: A one-stop news and information aggregator for projects Torumgram: A bridge that connects Telegram groups and channels into Torum Torum Lounge: An audio-only board to conduct AMA and close-engaging events. The expansion plan has caught the attention of the Huobi Ventures HECO Fund, which led to the strategic investment of the VC firm on Torum. With Huobi Ventures coming into the fold, Torum will assist in the expansion of the Huobi ecosystem from marketing and community building aspects, particularly in connecting Huobi and HECO-based projects with the Western market. Yi Feng Go, CEO & Founder of Torum said that: “Community consensus has always been the largest asset of Torum. However, the vast potential of a social media ecosystem like Torum is yet explored completely at such an early phase. With the support of Huobi Ventures, we are confident that Torum can grow exponentially by bringing onboard HECO-based projects and their communities for the next 6 to 12 months. We are super excited to be working closely with ecosystem partners like Huobi Ventures.” As part of the strategic investment, Huobi Ventures will provide resource access to exclusive media partners, community building, and project connections for Torum. The resource integration from Huobi will further expand the ecosystem outreach of Torum, which has already accumulated over 64,000 cryptocurrency enthusiasts from over 10 countries, including the U.S, Canada, Latvia, Spain, Germany, France, Poland, Malaysia, etc. Huobi Ventures and HECO One of the key focuses of Torum for H2 2021 is to bring onboard quality HECO-based projects to its social media ecosystem. With the support of Huobi Ventures, Torum can provide premium benefits to HECO-based projects including access to the Western market, community building tools, brand exposure, community integration, and more. Loki, Investment Manager of Huobi Ventures commented that: “Huobi Ventures HECO Fund strives to expand the Huobi ecosystem and welcome high-quality HECO-based projects like Torum. With the addition of a crypto-centric social media platform to our portfolio, we can utilize the core features of Torum like NFT Launchpad to provide community and resources outreach for the projects on the HECO ecosystem.” Visit the Torum website to have a glimpse into the future of social media, or keep up to date with all Torum developments through the company’s official Twitter account. About Huobi Ventures HECO Fund Huobi Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Huobi Group is focused on boosting the firm’s investment portfolio and providing long-term support for innovative blockchain projects. Huobi Ventures HECO Fund mainly invests in upstream and downstream initiatives in the global blockchain industry. In addition to its exchange business, its investments also cover the primary market, secondary market quantitative funds, investment banking, incubators, asset management, wallets, mining, market data vendors, the global community, media, cybersecurity, public chains, DAPP, and platforms, regulation, talent recruiting, training, and research. About Torum Torum is the world’s first DeFi + NFT integrated social media platform that is specially designed for cryptocurrency users. Backed by AU21, Consensus Lab, DFG, M6, Waterdrip Capital, and 15 other prominent crypto VCs, Torum is now one of the fastest-growing crypto social media platforms with an impressive 20 – 30% monthly user growth rate. Torum Socials Twitter | Telegram | Medium | Facebook Media Contact Details Contact Name: Jayson Tan Contact Email: hello@torum.com Torum 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 August 4, the precious metals firm Kitco Gold announced the launch of a gold-backed stablecoin which will leverage an audit process via Cohen & Company with monthly attestation reports. Kitco has partnered with Tradewind Markets, First Digital Trust, and Stably, an asset tokenization provider. The gold-backed ERC20 tokens called “kitco gold (KGLD)” “represent one true, troy ounce of fine gold,” according to Kitco. Kitco Launches KGLD Token Backed by a Troy Ounce of .999 Gold In the seventies, Bart Kitner started trading gold with funds he got from a loan and managed to expand his business into a massive precious metals company from a mere $700 investment. The global precious metals (PMs) market, Kitco, is considered an authority when it comes to PMs like gold, platinum, palladium, and silver. The Montreal-based PM company also runs a popular PM-focused website that offers financial news and PM market data. Now the company is getting into cryptocurrency solutions as Kitco revealed it has partnered with the custodian First Digital Trust, the blockchain provider Tradewind Markets, and tokenization firm Stably. Kitco will launch a token called kitco gold (KGLD) which will translate into a single troy ounce of .9999 fine gold. The Kitco ERC20 tokens will be backed by gold reserves held in Directreserve vaults. The well-known CPA verification firm Cohen & Company will bolster the coin’s attestation process. Because Kitco’s token is an ERC20, the firm believes the coin can be easily added to exchanges, wallet platforms, and defi ecosystems. The token’s value is recorded in real-time using the same market value of the spot gold price. John Dourekas, the chief business development officer of Kitco Digital Metals Group, explained on Wednesday that Kitco has been anticipating the release of KGLD. “We’ve been looking forward to unveiling Kitco Gold, representing a digital receipt of physical gold ownership, which is digitally spendable,” Dourekas said in a statement. “Buyers will be able to access a secure and reliable gold token, the most robust asset class to date. Institutional investors will have a competitive alternative to traditional gold products such as gold ETFs, with the additional benefits of real-time trading and settlement enabled by blockchain technology.” Gold Tokens Jump 30-Fold Since 2020, Kitco’s Gold Coin Will Face Competition Kitco’s announcement follows the recent report published by Arcane Research which details that gold-pegged tokens have jumped in value 30x since the start of 2020. The PM dealer’s move also follows the largest increase in inflationary pressure since the 2008 financial crisis. Kitco has further indicated there’s been a trend of traditional financial institutions looking for stable hedges like PMs and crypto-assets. “Trust and verification are hallmarks of a well-functioning market,” Tradewind Markets CEO Michael Albanese said during Kitco’s gold-backed token launch announcement. “We are pleased to be applying best practices from other asset markets to make gold as an investment asset more secure, accessible, and cost-efficient.” Kitco’s KGLD creation will face gold token competitors as there are tokenized versions of both troy ounce measurements of gold and grams as well. KGLD will face projects like Tether Gold (XAUT), Digixglobal (DGX), PAX Gold (PAXG), Perth Mint Gold Token (PMGT), Gold Coin (GLC), and many more. In 2020, on a few occasions reports had shown gold-backed tokens were fetching premiums. What do you think about Kitco’s gold-backed ERC20 token launch announcement? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russia is going to start tracking cryptocurrency transactions. The agency has already selected a contractor to develop the platform. The entity is affiliated with one of Russia’s largest financial institutions, Sberbank. Rosfinmonitoring to Keep Record of Cryptocurrency Wallets Used for Illicit Purposes Russia’s financial watchdog, Rosfinmonitoring, has selected a contractor for the building of a platform that will be used to track cryptocurrency transactions in the country. The company that won the tender, RCO, is managed by Rambler Internet Holding which is affiliated with the banking giant Sberbank, Russian crypto media reported. The Unified Information System in the Field of Procurement portal shows that the project has a price tag of an estimated 14.7 million rubles (over $200,000). The money will be spent to enable the regulator to closely monitor illegal transactions involving cryptocurrencies. According to Rosfinmonitoring, the initiative aims to ensure compliance with the law and increase transparency in the crypto industry. The platform will be expected to perform multiple tasks such as tracking flows of digital financial assets as well as identifying and profiling participants in the crypto market to assess their economic roles and behavior. RCO will have to create and maintain a database of cryptocurrency wallets associated with illicit activities and financing of terrorism. Russia to Identify Crypto Users Suspected of Criminal Activities Unlike other tools that analyze crypto transactions, the new platform should also reveal the identities of crypto users suspected of involvement in illegal activities, said Moscow Digital School associate Efim Kazantsev, quoted by Bits.media. However, he noted that with closed blockchains, the disclosure of user data will depend on the networks. Regulators and law enforcement agencies will probably be able to access this information only as part of ongoing investigations, Kazantsev elaborated. The processing of cryptocurrency transactions also involves recording data outside the blockchain. For example, with internet providers, explained Maria Stankevich, director of development at crypto exchange Exmo. Using this type of information, an IP address can be established and a sender identified. It is possible to de-anonymize transaction participants even on confidential blockchains such as Monero and Zcash, added Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at the Russian exchange aggregator Bestchange.ru. He is convinced the latest big data analytics tools would be able to handle that. Bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and monero (XMR) are the most popular cryptocurrencies among criminals, according to Rosfinmonitoring. Earlier this year, it was announced that the agency had developed a crypto tracking system called ‘Transparent Blockchain.’ The motives for building a new one now remain unclear. Do you think Russia will be able to track and identify crypto transactions and users? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Book of Aztec dishes out a massive round win worth a little under 2 BTC, leaving the player ecstatic! A small bet results in one of the biggest wins for the player One lucky player has just bagged a massive win worth $75,000 in a popular slot game from Amatic called ‘Book of Aztec’ at Bitcoin.com Games. The big win comes promptly after the player decided to deposit some bitcoin in his casino wallet and started playing his favorite slot. What’s more interesting to note is that the player had only made a small bet of $31 or 0.008 BTC that throttled his luck into a massive victory. Math wizards would quickly point out that a 2,418x multiplier was applied to the player’s bet, sending his fortunes into an enormous spiral, resulting in a win of 1.93 BTC. At Bitcoin.com Games, you can choose from numerous exciting slot games that are designed to reward each bet placed with insane multipliers, some even going up to x100,000 – based on a random chance of winning. Many slots also carry tiered jackpots, each with a specific criteria that, if once met, can unlock a massive amount of money for players to take home. Bitcoin.com Games is a premium gaming portal that has been growing in popularity ever since its inception. With big jackpots and money multipliers being rewarded every week, the casino has seemingly become a thriving place for players to test their luck, and possibly, win life-changing money. Play Book of Aztec now or check out other games with big jackpots and bonuses that you can play on Bitcoin.com Games. View the full article

Marathon Digital Holdings has published the company’s bitcoin production and mining operation updates for the month of July and bitcoin production increased 66% month-over-month. Furthermore, the financial services giant Fidelity Investments purchased a 7.4% stake in Marathon in July, spending around $20 million for the shares. Fidelity Investments Scoops Up Shares of Marathon for $20 Million Boston-based Fidelity Investments is one of the largest asset managers in the world, handling $4.9 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Fidelity has been involved with cryptocurrencies and blockchain for years now and on July 22, Fidelity invested $20 million to purchase a 7.4% stake in Marathon Digital Holdings (Nasdaq:MARA). Fidelity added the shares to four index-based funds including the Fidelity Series Total Market Index Fund (FCFMX), Fidelity Extended Market Index Fund (FSMAX), Fidelity Total Market Index Fund (FSKAX), and the Fidelity Nasdaq Composite Index Fund (FNCFX). Fidelity’s choice to spread the crypto investment vehicles across the index-based funds with a $170 billion valuation is part of a growing trend of asset managers handling digital currency products. Fidelity Joins Marathon Investors Like Vanguard, Blackrock, Susquehanna Marathon also revealed this week that it had signed an agreement to purchase 30,000 Antminer bitcoin mining rigs from Bitmain. Following the announcement, Marathon published statistics for its July performance. The company noted that it had seen a significant month-over-month increase in bitcoin production to 422.2 BTC worth over $16 million. The company’s audit explains that the firm’s BTC holdings today is approximately 6,225.6 BTC worth $236 million at the time of writing. In addition to Fidelity, a number of other large financial institutions have purchased Marathon shares. As of today, Blackrock holds 1.59% of Marathon, Susquehanna has a 2.7% stake in the mining company, and Vanguard Group holds around 7.58% of MARA shares. Marathon’s July audit also says the company received approximately 19,401 S19 Pro ASIC miners from Bitmain during the last year. To date, Marathon’s fleet is approximately 19,395 active miners which produce around 2 exahash per second (EH/s) of hashrate. What do you think about Fidelity Investments purchasing a 7.4% stake in the bitcoin mining firm Marathon? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The U.S. government has seized cryptocurrencies worth $1.2 billion so far this year, according to an Internal Revenue Service director. This is a significant increase from $137 million in crypto seized the previous year. $1.2 Billion in Cryptocurrencies Seized Jarod Koopman, director of cybercrime at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), shared some information on cryptocurrencies seized by the government with CNBC Wednesday. His division typically handles crypto tracing and open source intelligence, which includes investigating tax evasion, filing false returns, and money laundering. He noted that the seizure of cryptocurrencies is usually a group effort involving agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Securities Investigations, the Secret Service, and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). “We all come together when it’s time to execute any type of enforcement action, whether that’s an arrest, a seizure, or a search warrant. And that could be nationally or globally,” Koopman explained. The director then revealed how much cryptocurrency has been seized this year compared to the previous two fiscal years, which run through Sept. 30. He detailed: In fiscal year 2019, we had about $700,000 worth of crypto seizures. In 2020, it was up to $137 million. And so far in 2021, we’re at $1.2 billion. Multiple agents are involved during the actual seizure to ensure proper oversight, Koopman detailed. “We maintain private keys only in headquarters so that it can’t be tampered with.” Once a case is closed, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) auctions off the seized cryptocurrencies. To date, the USMS has auctioned more than 185,000 BTC. Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) hired crypto custodian firm Anchorage Digital to be its custodian for the cryptocurrency seized or forfeited in criminal cases. Koopman explained that the auctioning process — in blocks, at fair market value — is unlikely to change. Noting that the government is not trying to time the market to get the best prices, he said: You basically get in line to auction it off. We don’t ever want to flood the market with a tremendous amount, which then could have an effect on the pricing component. What do you think about the U.S. government seizing $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

OVR is collaborating with BlackPool to add augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to its ERC-721 NFTs at OVRLands. According to reports, the popular digital world of Non-Fungible Token OVRLands, would now have the ability to offer new experiences that give room for every kind of imagination. Thanks to the entry of BlackPool, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) built exclusively for NFT gaming and trading, now augmented and virtual reality will add experiences to the NFT world. OVRLands are ERC-721 NFTs representing one of the 1.6 trillion unique hexagons in this digital world played by OVR. Owners can create their own virtual worlds on these virtual lands, adding content like on web pages, which can be viewed on the OVR app (available on both Android and iOS). With BlackPool entering the OVR metaverse, it is also revealed that the DAO would have also acquired OVRLands’ NFT Eiffel Tower. On May 3, the 60-OVRLands package defined as NFT Eiffel Tower from AKA Cambebert was sold on OpenSea for 38.6 ETH (the equivalent of $106,960). Here’s how BlackPool comments on its participation: “We at BlackPool, must and will stand by such a visionary project with a true degen soul and unwavering ambition. We shall now join them in their quest and build the most exciting experiences at the Eiffel Tower, showcasing BlackPool’s ambitions and vision and generating value to The Troop. […] Be there on the day when you will be able to skydive off the top of the tower, slackline over Paris or attend the most degen party at the Champs de Mars… and much more as we can create infinite types of interaction logic within the OVR metaverse”. OVR and BlackPool: NFTs and the DAO structure Another association resulting from this OVR and BlackPool collaboration is the entry of a DAO structure that collaborates with the digital layer of the OVRLands NFTs. As defined by BlackPool itself, its DAO structure seems to be compared to a quantitative NFT hedge fund, governed by smart contracts and controlled by humans. In essence, BlackPool’s DAO allows people to contribute in ETH and use these to invest in NFT assets across many vertical sectors, with the aim of generating value for xBPT holders. BPT would be BlackPool’s ERC-20 governance token that provides decentralization over decisions regarding the platform. On the other hand, xBPT would be the staked value of BPT, i.e. the counter value of what is obtained by staking BPT. So, while BlackPool will be raising the bar for NFT OVRLands, OVR is proceeding to expand into the world of augmented and virtual reality on its own. In fact, early last July, OVR revealed that it had updated its augmented reality chat app. The new face-to-face AR chats allow users to talk to friends within the OVR app using avatars to interact. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Current regulations do not prohibit the swapping of digital currencies, according to the Iranian Vice Presidency for Legal Affairs. The department has stated its position in correspondence with an ICT industry association which wanted to know what rules apply to cryptocurrency exchange, local media reported. Converting a Cryptocurrency Into Another Is Not Against Iranian Law Regulations approved by the Tehran government in 2019 do not ban the swapping of cryptocurrencies, the Vice Presidency for Legal Affairs said in response to an inquiry by the Iranian Information and Communication Technology Guild. According to a report by the English-language business daily Financial Tribune, the association has asked for clarification on the applicable crypto rules. In a letter to the ICT Guild, the legal department under the office of the Iranian president noted that the law states that cryptocurrency cannot be used for payments inside the country. It pointed out that the current rules are in accord with the country’s monetary and banking legislation and concluded: Converting one cryptocurrency into another digital currency is not illegal. The legal experts also emphasized that banks and moneychangers in the Islamic republic are allowed to use cryptocurrency minted by licensed miners inside Iran to pay for imports. Although Iranian authorities have tried to curb crypto-fiat trading, domestic banks and exchangers were authorized by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to work with locally mined cryptocurrency. The move can help Iranian businesses in their efforts to circumvent U.S.-led sanctions. Two years ago, Iran recognized cryptocurrency mining as a legal industrial activity and authorized dozens of entities to extract digital currencies using the country’s cheap energy. However, the extraordinarily hot summer this year raised power demand and mining was partially blamed for electricity shortages and blackouts across the country. The government went after illegal miners and said it would shut down even licensed enterprises during hours of peak consumption. Calls to properly regulate the crypto industry amid rising popularity of digital currencies have been mounting and in early July, lawmakers proposed legislation designed to put the sector in order. While the draft law effectively bans cryptocurrency payments in the Islamic Republic, it aims to support mining and regulate the crypto exchange market. In June, then-president Hassan Rouhani insisted the government should implement the “necessary laws and instructions” as soon as possible. On June 18, Iranians elected Ebrahim Raisi as their new president and he assumed office on Aug. 3. In the Islamic Republic, the president serves as the head of government and the incumbent can appoint vice presidents to head departments and organizations involved in the exercise of presidential powers. Under Rouhani, Iran had a dozen vice presidents, including one responsible for legal affairs, Laya Joneydi. Do you think the Iranian government will eventually permit crypto-fiat exchange in the country? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article

In what is seen as a boost for Mirror Trading International (MTI) investors, United States investigators are said to have joined the probe into the collapsed bitcoin scheme. According to a report, the U.S. investigators’ goal for joining this probe is to help “recover the assets of out-of-pocket investors.” FBI Interest Confirmation of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s involvement in the MTI case comes just a few days after reports emerged that the scheme’s masterminds had filed an application seeking to stall the liquidation process. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, the application also opposes attempts to declare MTI — which has been labeled the biggest bitcoin scam — an illegal business. Despite this attempt and other attempts to halt proceedings against MTI, the Bloomberg report suggests the U.S. law enforcement agency is already engaging MTI liquidators. The report explains: [Liquidators] had meetings with international law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], after being approached by them. The FBI is joining forces with the liquidators of Mirror Trading International in the interest of several US and local investors. While a majority of MTI investors are believed to be based in South Africa, a significant number of the company’s 260,000 investors are also thought to be based outside the country. In fact, as past actions by American regulators already indicate, some of these investors are based in the U.S and this helps to explain the FBI’s interest in the case. Liquidators Dismiss Claims by the Markses In the meantime, the Bloomberg report also quotes MTI liquidators responding to claims by Cheri and Cylnton Marks that declaring MTI an illegal business will be detrimental to the interests of investors. The liquidators explained: It is not correct that having the business model of MTI declared a fraudulent and illegal scheme would allow the liquidators to seize all of the money that flowed into the scheme. Liquidators will only be entitled to recover payments made to investors which were not legally owed to them. According to liquidators, funds recovered will only be “spent reimbursing MTI’s true victims.” Do you think the involvement of the FBI will increase the chances of funds being recovered? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

On Wednesday, the non-fungible token (NFT) market platform Makersplace secured $30 million in a Series A financing round. The team behind the NFT marketplace says it plans to leverage the funds to “acquire additional talent and scale the business.” While the Series A was co-led by Pantera Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners, the world-famous hip hop star Eminem also invested in Makersplace. Makersplace Raises $30 Million to Scale the NFT Business The company that developed the non-fungible token (NFT) market platform Makersplace has revealed the firm has raised $30 million from a number of investors. Bessemer Venture Partners and Pantera Capital co-led the financing round with participation from Sony Music Entertainment, Coinbase Ventures, 9Yards Capital, Uncork Capital, and Draper Dragon Digital Assets. Moreover, Makersplace revealed the investment round saw notable angel investors like Paul Rosenberg and 3LAU in music, Eminem, Acquavella Galleries, Sabrina Hahn and Bill Ruprecht in the arts, alongside Julia and Kevin Hartz. Makersplace is well known for the world-famous Beeple NFT sale which sold for a whopping $69 million. The Makersplace market was founded in 2018 by ecommerce veteran Ryoma Ito and two Pinterest co-workers Dannie Chu and Yash Nelapati. Dannie Chu, the Makersplace co-founder and CEO said the company views the work it does as “an investment in the future of creativity.” The NFT marketplace Chu co-founded three years ago, has seen over $100 million in sales and 10x the increase in unique collectors during the last 12 months. “Makersplace played a central role in sparking a global conversation about NFTs and the future of the creator economy this spring,” Chu said in a statement. “With this Series A we will further our commitment to uniting the best digital artists with the most passionate collectors and continue to bring this new medium for creativity and collecting to a mainstream audience.” A Great Number of NFT Marketplaces Are Raising Capital This Year, Makersplace Boasts the World Famous Beeple NFT Sale Makersplace will be dealing with a lot of competition as there are numerous NFT markets these days. A great number of the top NFT marketplaces have been raising millions of dollars in capital during seed rounds hosted in 2021. For instance, the NFT marketplace Mintable, backed by the billionaire Mark Cuban, raised $13 million in a Series A on July 1. At the end of July, Opensea announced it raised a whopping $100 million in a Series B round. The NFT marketplace Rarible raised over $14 Million in capital and revealed plans to launch on the Flow blockchain. The company will also face the two major exchanges Crypto.com and FTX as well. While Crypto.com already launched its NFT market with help from celebrities like Snoop Dogg, FTX recently revealed it partnered with the film, media, marketing, and television giant Dolphin Entertainment. In the recent announcement, Makersplace thanked specific NFT artists and said the company’s sales results were driven by creators like Beeple, Bosslogic, Trevor Jones, Pak, DeadMau5, Urs Fischer, Patrick Mahomes, 3LAU, Jose Delbo, and Lushsux. The $30 million in a Series A financing round announcement also mentioned one of the largest NFT sales that ever took place. Makersplace is well known for working with Christie’s when Beeple auctioned his “Everdays: The First 5000 Days” NFT collectible, which fetched a massive $69 million. “We firmly believe that NFTs will power the next generation of digital art, collectibles, media, experiences, and much more,” said Paul Veradittakit, a partner at Pantera Capital while speaking about the Makerplace Series A capital raise. What do you think about Makersplace raising $30 million in a Series A financing round? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have claimed jurisdiction over the crypto industry. A CFTC commissioner clarified that pure commodities, including crypto assets, or their trading venues are not regulated by the SEC. Regulation of Crypto Assets by SEC and CFTC A commissioner with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Brian Quintenz, clarified Wednesday that pure commodities, including crypto assets, fall under the jurisdiction of his agency. He tweeted: “Just so we’re all clear here, the SEC has no authority over pure commodities or their trading venues, whether those commodities are wheat, gold, oil …. or crypto assets.” Quintenz’s clarification followed the statements by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on Tuesday and Wednesday regarding the regulation of the crypto industry whenever investment products are considered securities. Gensler stressed that there is not enough investor protection when it comes to crypto assets and their trading platforms. He called for additional authority and resources to protect investors. The CFTC declared several years ago that cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, are commodities. The derivatives watchdog’s website explains: Virtual currencies, such as bitcoin, have been determined to be commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). In addition, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled in October 2018 that virtual currencies are commodities and the CFTC has the power to prosecute crypto-related fraud. Over the years, the CFTC has been working closely with the SEC on consumer protection relating to crypto assets. They have jointly issued several Investor Alerts on topics such as funds trading in bitcoin futures and websites promoting fraudulent crypto trading. The Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act introduced last week by U.S. Representative Don Beyer provides the SEC with authority over “digital asset securities” and the CFTC with “authority over digital assets.” What do you think about the clarification by the CFTC commissioner about the SEC’s jurisdiction over crypto assets? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has outlined how the SEC plans to regulate the crypto industry. Focusing on investor protection, Gensler discussed concerns the SEC has about crypto trading, exchanges, lending, defi platforms, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Gary Gensler Outlines SEC’s Crypto Priorities SEC Chairman Gary Gensler outlined the agency’s plans regarding the regulation of cryptocurrencies at the Aspen Security Forum Tuesday. He described: Right now, we just don’t have enough investor protection in crypto. Frankly, at this time, it’s more like the Wild West. This asset class is rife with fraud, scams, and abuse in certain applications … If we don’t address these issues, I worry a lot of people will be hurt. He elaborated: “There’s a great deal of hype and spin about how crypto assets work. In many cases, investors aren’t able to get rigorous, balanced, and complete information.” Regulating Crypto Platforms: Gensler Says Many Are Offering Unregistered Securities The SEC chairman proceeded to explain that many tokens are offered and sold as securities. “I’ve urged staff to continue to protect investors in the case of unregistered sales of securities,” he said. Next, the chairman said he believes that crypto trading platforms, lending platforms, and decentralized finance (defi) platforms “can implicate the securities laws,” and in some cases the commodities laws and the banking laws as well. He also stressed that cryptocurrency trading platforms do not have the same investor protection as traditional exchanges, like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In addition, he said that many overseas platforms allow U.S. investors to trade cryptocurrencies using virtual private networks (VPNs), thus bypassing regulations. Gensler emphasized: Make no mistake: To the extent that there are securities on these trading platforms, under our laws they have to register with the Commission unless they meet an exemption … If a lending platform is offering securities, it also falls into SEC jurisdiction. Regulating Investment Vehicles With Crypto Exposure, Bitcoin ETFs The chairman also addressed investment vehicles that provide exposure to crypto assets, including mutual funds that invest in bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). “I anticipate that there will be filings with regard to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the Investment Company Act (’40 Act). When combined with the other federal securities laws, the ’40 Act provides significant investor protections,” Gensler opined, adding: Given these important protections, I look forward to the staff’s review of such filings, particularly if those are limited to these CME-traded bitcoin futures. Gensler also addressed the custody of crypto assets, stating: “Custody protections are key to preventing theft of investor assets, and we will be looking to maximize regulatory protections in this area.” SEC Needs More Resources to Protect Investors Gensler stressed that the SEC has taken and will continue to take its “authorities as far as they go.” He also claimed, “The test to determine whether a crypto asset is a security is clear.” Nonetheless, he admitted that “There are some gaps” in regulating the crypto space, elaborating: We need additional Congressional authorities to prevent transactions, products, and platforms from falling between regulatory cracks. We also need more resources to protect investors in this growing and volatile sector. The former MIT blockchain professor proceeded to emphasize that the SEC is ready to work closely with Congress, the administration, and other regulators worldwide to oversee the crypto space. He opined: In my view, the legislative priority should center on crypto trading, lending, and defi platforms. Regulators would benefit from additional plenary authority to write rules for and attach guardrails to crypto trading and lending. What do you think about Gensler’s comments on regulating the crypto industry? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

China’s cryptocurrency transactions related to criminal activities have decreased significantly over the past couple of years, a new report suggests. At the same time, its special administrative region of Hong Kong is seeing a spike in crypto-related crime this year, with authorities attributing the rise to the popularity of crypto investments. Chinese Crime-Related Crypto Transactions Drop, According to Chainalysis China has been a leader in the global crypto space, not only because of its control over a large portion of bitcoin’s hashrate but also in terms of activity of its crypto businesses and users. With the current government offensive on decentralized money, however, including a crackdown on cryptocurrency mining and trading, the role of the People’s Republic is likely to diminish. That has already happened with China’s share in crypto-based crime, according to a report by Chainalysis. Between April 2019 and June 2021, Chinese crypto addresses sent over $2.2 billion worth of digital currency to addresses linked to illicit activities such as scams and darknet markets, and received over $2.0 billion, the blockchain forensics firm revealed on Tuesday. But the country’s transaction volume with such addresses has significantly decreased over the two-year period. That trend is valid both in regards to value and in comparison with other nations, the research indicates. Chainalysis commented: While China remains one of the top-ranked countries for illicit transaction volume, it used to beat all others by a wide margin, suggesting that cryptocurrency-related crime in the country has fallen. Most of China’s illicit cryptocurrency flows have been associated with scams, the report notes. According to its authors, the drop is largely due to the absence of large-scale Ponzi schemes like the 2019 Plustoken scam, the proceeds from which were often laundered through Chinese platforms. Quoted by Reuters, Global Public Sector Chief Technology Officer at Chainalysis Gurvais Grigg explained: This is most likely because of both the awareness raised by PlusToken, as well as the crackdowns in the area. Other fund movements related to crypto crime have had to do with money laundering, often involving the OTC desks of mainstream digital asset exchanges, as well as with fentanyl trafficking — with China being a hub for the global trade of the pain medication, in many cases facilitated by cryptocurrency transactions. Hong Kong Registers Spike in Crypto-Related Criminal Cases Meanwhile, authorities in Hong Kong have identified an opposite trend. As the mainland puts more pressure on the crypto space, criminal activity involving cryptocurrency in the city has reached record levels this year, according to a report by the crypto news outlet Forkast. Close to 500 crime cases have been registered in the first half of 2021, the publication announced. This year’s losses are amounting to 214 million Hong Kong dollars ($27.5 million), which is almost double the total from last year. Law enforcement officials have attributed the surge to the growing popularity of crypto investing in China’s special administrative region. People spending more time online during the Covid-19 pandemic is considered another major factor as this has given scammers more opportunities to lure individuals into fraudulent schemes. Money laundering, investment scams, robberies, and face-to-face transactions are the most common sources of crypto crime in Hong Kong. The report also notes that the city is not the only jurisdiction affected by rising crypto crime, pointing to an average annual increase of 300% in similar cases registered in the U.S. between 2017 and 2020. What are your thoughts on the findings of the two reports? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Since May 30, the BTC mining difficulty has lowered for 4 times in a row. The mining rig migration is continuing, leading to a surge of incomes in mining farms outside China. With early layout of mining farms outside China, BitFuFu takes the lead to restart running plan and restock new mining plans. As the first cloud mining platform that restarts running plan in the industry, BitFuFu provides users with a mining feast from a drop of difficulty. Early move makes BitFuFu the industry-first platform to restart running plan Thanks to its forward-looking layout in the mining farms outside China, BitFuFu outpaces other platforms to restart running plan. As early as the beginning of this year, BitFuFu has started its expansion to mining farms outside China. On April 16, affected by outage in some areas, the BTC network hashrate suffered a plummet. With fast response, BitFuFu transferred affected hashrates to other mining farms within 12 hours and its users were barely affected. From this, BitFuFu becomes more aware of the importance of mining farms outside China and accelerates its layout efforts. From the end of May, the shutdown of numerous mining rigs has resulted in 4 consecutive declination of mining difficulty since May 30. The cloud mining industry has not been spared and several platforms refunded affected mining plans. Related loses were borne by users, and some platforms even directly took related businesses off the shelves. At this point, BitFuFu has signed a ten-year strategic cooperation agreement with Bitmain and pre-booked loads from several mining farms outside China to quickly switch mining plans purchased by users to these mining farms for operation and safeguard their interests. BitFuFu speeds up its mining rig migration and strives to restart running plan. One aircraft can transport about 4,000 sets of mining rigs. To migrate mining rigs at the fastest speed, BitFuFu takes comprehensive actions and charters planes to deliver mining rigs to Kazakhstan, North America and other places for several times. In addition, this platform assigns special persons to maintain 24h communication with logistics, airports, customs and mining farms for timely negotiation and handling of problems in any link. All these efforts ensure seamless, efficient and smooth connection between transportation, customs clearance, and installation of mining rigs. It takes only around one week for the first batch of BitFuFu mining rigs sent to North America from takeoff to power-on. BitFuFu has successfully migrated tens of thousands of mining rigs in less than one month to restart all running plans with little impact on sold operating orders. All delivered mining rigs are latest Antminers S19i, including 20,000 sets and 80,000 sets to mining farms in North America and Kazakhstan respectively. Thus, BitFuFu becomes the first cloud mining platform that restarts all running plans in the industry. Let users experience the amazing mining service from difficulty drop The hashrate output per unit has risen substantially as mining difficulty declines. According to BTC.com, before the plunge on May 30, the income of per T (PPS) was 0.00000502 BTC, which soared to 0.00000920 BTC on July 20 by 83.27%. The currency-based incomes of mining rigs operating in mining farms outside China are rocketing. Currently, loads in mining farms outside China are basically saturated, and newly-built or expanded mining farms won’t be put into operation until the end of this year. BitFuFu’s existing mining farms are available for immediate mining, and users can share the dividends from increasing output within the window period with lower mining difficulty. The new mining plan restocked by BitFuFu are sought after among users. In addition to hashrate plans, this giant platform also unveils the combined service of spot and mining, which is sold out within 1 hour after pre-sale. Users can deliver a series of operations to BitFuFu, such as selection of mining rig, transportation, putting on shelf, operation and maintenance and accessing to pools. BitFuFu not only makes mining simpler but also offers users with advantageous prices and low electric charges through platform batch purchase. Bitmain strategy Benefiting from full support of the mining behemoth Bitmain, BitFuFu can ensure mining rig supply with a beforehand layout of mining farms outside China and become the first platform to restart running plan in the industry. In February 2021, BitFuFu announced a strategic partnership with Bitmain to receive premium mining rigs and pools from Bitmain. In April of the same year, BitFuFu gets Bitmain’s strategic investments and gains further fund and resource supports. In the future, BitFuFu and Bitmain will joint hands to debut and supply new generation of knock-out products across the world. Official website: https://www.bitfufu.com/ Official group: https://t.me/bitfufu https://twitter.com/BitFuFu1 Media Contact contact@bitfufu.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 Ethereum community has been gearing up for the highly anticipated London Network Upgrade which should take place on August 5 around 2:00 p.m. (EDT). Node operators have been asked to upgrade their nodes as soon as possible, as the upgrade is scheduled to take place at block height 12,965,000. Ethereum Set to Fork on Thursday, Blockchain Will See 5 Improvements According to the countdown clock hosted on etherscan.io, the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain will be upgraded in the near future, on or around Thursday afternoon. Previously, Bitcoin.com News reported on the London upgrade on July 9, 2021, and at the time it was estimated block 12,965,000 would fall on or around August 4. According to Ethernodes data, as of 16:20 Beijing time, 65.6% of the nodes are ready for the Ethereum London hard fork, and the remaining 34.3% will be upgraded within 2-3 days. pic.twitter.com/BXIl67LIeh — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 3, 2021 The “London Mainnet Announcement” was revealed by Tim Beiko when the developer wrote a summary about the upgrade via the official Ethereum blog. Man, I’m so ready for Ethereum 2.0. I was literally talking about it since before Eth even launched. I don’t believe most people truly understand how game-changing Serenity will be— Dapps like @AugurProject will be 100x more efficient and usable. So excited. — Jeremy Gardner (@Disruptepreneur) August 4, 2021 With the countdown clock ticking down, the Ethereum fork should take place on Thursday on or around 2:00 p.m. (EDT), depending on how long it takes to process more than 5,000 ETH blocks. The London hard fork includes a total of five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). The EIPs included in tomorrow upgrade include: EIP-1559: Fee market change for ETH 1.0 chain EIP-3198: BASEFEE opcode EIP-3529: Reduction in refunds EIP-3541: Reject new contracts starting with the 0xEF byte EIP-3554: Difficulty Bomb Delay to December 1st 2021 Ethereum Markets See a Streak of Daily Gains Prior to the upgrade, ETH has managed to jump over 8% in value on August 4, and weekly statistics show ETH is up over 15% on Wednesday. 30-day statistics show ethereum (ETH) has gained 21% but the crypto asset is only up 10% during the trailing 90 days. Ethereum prices have managed to gather well over a week of daily gains prior to the fork. Probability that Ethereum's London upgrade (including EIP 1559) goes off flawlessly? — John W. 🇮🇪🇺🇸🇪🇸🇪🇺 (@_JohnWhelan) August 2, 2021 When the community discusses the London hard fork, usually it is said that the most significant changes added to the blockchain will include EIP-1559 and EIP-3554. EIP-1559 will change Ethereum’s fee rate to a new scheme that makes the crypto asset ether deflationary. While EIP-3554 adjusts the Ethereum miner difficulty bomb to ease the transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). On Thursday there will be an Ethereum London Upgrade community call and an Ethstaker live watch call as well. What do you think about the upcoming Ethereum London Upgrade? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Cryptocurrency is gaining mainstream traction among consumers who want to use it for purchases, according to a new report. Out of more than 8,000 U.S. consumers surveyed, 93% of crypto users would make purchases with cryptocurrency in the future. Growing Number of People Want to Pay With Cryptocurrencies A new report titled “The Cryptocurrency Payments Playbook: Cryptocurrencies Gain Momentum As A Payment Option” published by Pymnts and Bitpay shows that consumers are increasingly interested in using cryptocurrencies for payments. “The report analyzes a census-balanced survey of 8,008 U.S. consumers who were current and former cryptocurrency owners and cryptocurrency nonowners between Feb. 8 and Feb. 23, 2021,” it details, adding: Interest in cryptocurrency is gaining mainstream traction among consumers who would like to use it for purchases. The study found that 93% of crypto users would consider making purchases with cryptocurrency in the future while 59% of those who have never held crypto are interested in using it to make purchases in the future. In addition, two-thirds of users who have held cryptocurrencies purchased them to make transactions as an alternative payment method to cash or cards. “Holders and nonholders are interested in cryptocurrency payments because of the possible enhanced privacy and security features over traditional credit card- or bank account-based payments,” the report notes, elaborating: Reasons for interest vary depending on the transactions. Its potential to eliminate middlemen can explain the interest in using cryptocurrency for real estate purchases, for example, while the possibility of more secure and private transactions motivates purchases in the financial services or e-commerce sectors. Furthermore, 59% of current or former crypto holders would be “very” or “extremely” interested in using cryptocurrency as a payment method if it meant they could obtain discounts. Would you use cryptocurrency to make purchases? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Reports show that the Bitcoinsv blockchain suffered from a 51% attack on Tuesday, August 3, 2021, as the founder of Blockchair, Nikita Zhavoronkov explained the network endured a 100 block reorg “wiping out 570k transactions.” Onchain Observers Witness a Deep Bitcoinsv Reorg The Bitcoinsv (BSV) network has been having issues lately following problems the protocol saw in mid-July. At that time, 78% of the network was mined by a single entity called Taal and a number of exchange providers halted services. On August 3, the founder of Blockchair, Nikita Zhavoronkov, and numerous onchain observers discovered the BSV chain suffered from a deep blockchain reorganization, otherwise known as a reorg. Screenshot Blockchair’s Nikita Zhavoronkov shared on August 3, 2021. Zhavoronkov tweeted about the issue on Tuesday and then clarified that the chain lost 100 blocks. “The reorg was 100 (!) blocks deep wiping out 570k transactions,” the Blockchair founder said. The onchain analysts at Coin Metrics caught the reorg as well alongside Lucas Nuzzi who also tweeted about the problems BSV had on Tuesday. “BSV is going through a massive 51% attack,” Nuzzi said. “After an attempted attack yesterday, some serious hashing power was unleashed today at 11:46AM and attackers are succeeding. Over a dozen blocks are being reorgd & up to 3 versions of the chain being mined simultaneously across pools.” Bitcoinsv Group Addresses Situation, Claims It’s Marking ‘Illegal Chains’ A member of the Bitcoin Association (a BSV-related org.), Alex Speirs, published the BSV side of the story on August 4. The announcement is called a “Statement on August 2021 block re-organisation attack on the Bitcoin SV network.” “The Bitcoin SV network is currently enduring an ongoing series of block re-organisation attacks by a malicious actor attempting to illegally double-spend BSV coins,” Speirs wrote on Wednesday. “Bitcoin Association believes that this is the same attacker that previously initiated block re-organisation attacks against the BSV network on June 24 and July 1, 6 & 9, 2021.” According to Speirs, the Bitcoin Association (BSV) and the Bitcoin SV Infrastructure Team recommend that node operators “mark illegal chains initiated by the attacker as invalid.” Moreover, Speirs emphasized that the BSV association will collect evidence on such matters. Speirs said: [The] Bitcoin Association continues to collect evidence of the illegal activity and its representatives are actively working with law enforcement authorities in affected jurisdictions. 2 Illegal Chains, Ecash Reorgs Remembered At the time of writing, data from Coin Dance shows the miner Taal has 47.6% of the BSV hashrate and 27% belongs to unknown stealth miners. Taal is considered an honest and protective mining operator within the BSV community. The mining operator Taal has been able to capture 15 blocks in a row while this article was written. According to the blog post written by Speirs which also contains developing updates: “In the last 12 hours, two illegal chains created by the attacker have been successfully repelled.” At the end of November 2020, the Bitcoin ABC pro-IFP chain, which was nameless at the time, saw a great number of reorgs making the chain almost unusable. A mystery mining entity at the time that called itself “Voluntarism.dev” mined a great number of consecutive empty blocks and made it so no one could transact with the coin which is now called “ecash.” What do you think about the problems Bitcoinsv has been facing lately? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Following the hype surrounding dogecoin, shiba inu, and then baby doge, another token called daddy doge (DADDYDOGE) has been gathering steam. The coin saw some interest after Elon Musk said the words “daddy doge” in a video of Tesla’s CEO being escorted to a car. Furthermore, the developers of the Daddy Doge project claim the coin will be the first of the Doge family of cryptocurrencies to be sent to space. During the last seven days of trading, daddy doge has gathered 57.6% in gains. Another Doge-Like Token Claims To Be ‘the Head of the Family,’ Becomes the 30th Shiba Inu Knockoff Coin Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be another dogecoin-related crypto asset, another token called daddy doge (DADDYDOGE) has entered the pack of competing canine assets. In fact, daddy doge joins the puppy mill of coins or the 30 meme crypto assets that leverage either the name “doge” or the “shiba inu” breed. The Daddy Doge project has become the 30th Doge or Shiba-inu-like token created. Seven-day statistics show a number of doge-related meme tokens have seen double-digit gains. Daddy doge is another Binance Smart Chain (BSC) token and the contract address shows there’s approximately 1 quadrillion DADDYDOGE. The amount of unique addresses that hold daddy doge today has risen exponentially and commands 37,643 addresses on August 4. A better look at our billboard in Times Square on the @Nasdaq tower! Those colours!! #DaddyDoge pic.twitter.com/1irNGvzJ2W — DaddyDOGE (@DaddyDOGEtoken) August 3, 2021 The coin has a website that explains that the Daddy Doge project is “the head of the family.” Similar to baby doge (BABYDOGE), the so-called head of the family is also a deflationary crypto asset. DADDYDOGE also has a white paper that details how the project “takes a 9% tax from each buy and sell.” “This tax acts to benefit the project as a whole by putting 3% in the liquidity pool for a stable price floor,” the white paper says. “3% [is] proportionally reflected back to all holders of a daddy doge token and 3% added to a marketing/dev wallet to make sure that the project is able to succeed in the long term.” Elon Musk Says ‘Daddy Doge’ in a Video, BSC Token Surges The reason the Daddy Doge project has gained attention over the last two weeks is due to a video that went viral on Twitter. The video is a short clip of Elon Musk leaving a court case involving the acquisition of Solarcity. A number of fans can be heard yelling at Musk asking him to say “Daddy Doge.” When someone asked Musk a question, he simply said “Daddy Doge” before entering his Tesla vehicle. Daddy doge (DADDYDOGE) chart on August 4, 2021. Since then, the coin has seen some market traction, just like baby doge (BABYDOGE) did when Musk said the coin’s name in a tweet a few weeks ago on July 1. Market data shows during the past 24 hours DADDYDOGE is up over 13%, 57.6% for the week, and 72.3% during the last two weeks. Just like some of the other dogecoin (DOGE) knockoffs, the daddy doge token trades for way less than a U.S. penny at $0.000000030619 per unit. At the time of writing, 24-hour stats show DADDYDOGE trade volume is around $4.3 million. At the current price and with one quadrillion tokens in circulation, the market capitalization of daddy doge is around $30 million on Wednesday morning. The project’s Twitter account has 25.5K followers while the project’s Telegram channel has around 28.7K subscribers. Allegedly Daddy Doge Is Headed to Space The project’s Reddit page is extremely lackluster with only seven subscribers. Similar to the Baby Doge project, the team behind the Daddy Doge protocol has made a lot of promises. A recent Youtube video of future plans for the Daddy Doge project claims the developers are in the midst of “numerous partnerships, influencers, and marketing initiatives.” It's official, Daddy Doge is going to space! #DaddyDoge — DaddyDOGE (@DaddyDOGEtoken) August 2, 2021 There’s also a claim that the team plans to send a daddy doge (DADDYDOGE) token to space. The video and a number of people in the Telegram channel and the project’s Twitter account have been alluding to this purported event. “We are sending daddy doge into space with a 360-degree camera,” Tyler, an admin of the team’s Telegram channel said in the chat. The Youtube video also makes this assertion and claims the team is working with a famous company. “They will be creating a custom RIG and high-end DADDY DOGE Mascot to be shot up in Space,” the video says. “This rig will include a viewscreen as well as a 360-degree camera to capture the entire process. Daddy Doge will be IN SPACE. We are getting live footage of Daddy Doge in space with EARTH in the background.” Reportedly the token team plans to have an ask-me-anything (AMA) while streaming the event. It’s hard to say what the event will specifically entail besides the extremely vague details in the video, the Telegram channel comments, and tweets about the subject. The Baby Doge team engaged in similar marketing tactics when the project linked up with a NASCAR driver and a few pet charities. Baby doge (BABYDOGE), on the other hand, hasn’t had a spectacular week like daddy doge, as the token is down 12.5% during the last week. Despite being down 2-3% over the last seven days, dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) are still the top doge-related meme tokens in existence. What do you think about the Daddy Doge project and the claims a token will be shot into space? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article