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Dutch professional football club AZ has formed an exclusive partnership with a regulated cryptocurrency exchange platform, Bitcoin Meester. Part of the sponsorship amount is paid in bitcoin and AZ will leave the cryptocurrency on its balance sheet during the collaboration. The club says it is the first Dutch club to do so. Professional football club AZ Alkmaar (also known as just AZ) and Bitcoin Meester independently announced Thursday their official and “exclusive partnership.” The two companies have entered into a three-year agreement and will be linked at least until 2024. Bitcoin Meester explained that “Central to the partnership is the further marketing of crypto in the football world.” Bitcoin Meester is a crypto exchange service provider registered with the Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank. The platform allows users to buy, sell, and store over 200 different cryptocurrencies, its website details. AZ’s Commercial Director, Michael Koster, commented: “The cryptocurrency market is booming, with an exponential growth of users in recent years. That is appealing, but it is precisely in a new market that some direction is important.” The announcement details: Both AZ and Bitcoin Meester are confident in the future of bitcoin. That is why part of the sponsorship amount is paid in the digital currency. AZ will leave this on the balance sheet during the collaboration and is the first Dutch club to do so. What do you think about this Dutch football club keeping bitcoin on its balance sheet? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Enjin successfully auctioned all tokens available for sale for the new Efinity NFT marketplace it has developed for the Polkadot ecosystem. Latest Sale Brings Total Marketplace Funding to $38.9 Million Given the concerns about Ethereum’s high costs and sluggish transaction throughput, competition amongst NFT marketplaces is heating up fast. More platforms are launching daily to keep up with demand and new use cases for NFTs. As more blockchains compete for the torrent of demand for non-fungible tokens, Enjin has become the latest to launch another marketplace. Enjin, the team behind the ERC-1155 standard, has concluded a $20 million public sale of EFI tokens on CoinList for its next-generation Efinity blockchain. The oversubscribed sale ran for just 2.5 hours, and added to the already garnered $18.9 million from an earlier sale. Efinity aims to tackle Ethereum’s many pain points, namely high gas fees and low throughput by constructing a blockchain marketplace capable of handling 1,000 transactions per second with six-second transaction confirmation. Built on Substrate, Efinity plans to leverage Polkadot’s interoperability for handling transactions in fungible and non-fungible tokens from Polkadot, Kusama, Ethereum, JumpNet, and nearly any other chain. The multifunctional EFI token will play multiple roles within the ecosystem, including governance, staking, rewards, and paying transaction fees. It can also be applied to Enjin’s JumpNet, a gas-free blockchain, to increase transaction limits. It echoes other developments that Enjin has pioneered, like the ERC-1155 standard. Unlike the standard ERC-721 non-fungible token (NFT) used to represent the original version of a piece of art, music, or video, the ERC-1155 standard can be both a fungible and non-fungible token simultaneously and is applied to more commoditized products, like popular in-game items that are collected, won, or traded. A Race to Marketplace Efinity is far from the only new blockchain marketplace to make its debut as other competing platforms enter the race to become NFTs’ winner-takes-all destination. Binance recently unveiled its own Binance NFT Marketplace late in June, Stellar blockchain hosts StellarNFT, and Solana features Sollectify. Tezos is now home to Hit Et Nunc and even Rarible has expanded to the Flow Blockchain after raising fresh capital. These are in addition to the dozens of existing marketplaces that cater to different niches within the NFT space and the others that will arise as new use cases for NFTs emerge over time. However, given the vast incentives within the marketplace model, a fight for market share could unfold as new, more scalable, low-cost frameworks enter the ecosystem. What do you think of the new Efinity NFT marketplace? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) recently opened a consultation for establishing methods and best practices for regulating crypto assets. The consultation paper seeks guidance on which crypto-assets should qualify as underlying assets, and how to make this determination. The proposal could signal the emergence of new crypto-based products in the Australian market. Australian Regulator Seeks Advice The Australian Securities regulator issued a public consultation paper to decide how to regulate cryptocurrency-based products. The paper, titled “ASIC consults on crypto-asset-based ETPs and other investment products,” seeks advice on several key subjects that could affect the issuance of cryptocurrency-based derivatives, such as ETPs. To ASIC, cryptocurrencies are special assets whose impact needs to be regulated with tighter standards. In the paper, ASIC states they are: Aware of interest in, and demand for, domestic cryptoasset ETPs. However, we are also aware of the real risk of harm to consumers and markets if these products are not developed and operated properly. The paper recognizes several kinds of crypto assets, stressing not all cryptocurrencies qualify as underlying assets. However, the ASIC proposes a series of conditions a crypto asset must fulfill to be an underlying asset: a high level of institutional support, the availability of service providers to support ETPs providing exposure to the crypto-asset, a mature spot market, a regulated futures market, and the availability of robust and transparent pricing mechanisms. Australia Could Follow Canada and Brazil’s Lead With this consultation, the Australian government signals its openness to provide regulations adjusted to the reality of the market. Many think this is a very different proposition, compared to what governments like China are doing. China is orchestrating a total cryptocurrency crackdown by ousting exchanges and mining operations from its territory. However, Australia seems more neutral when it comes to crypto. Financial Services Minister Jane Hume declared in May that Australians were free to invest in these assets while complying with existing regulations. She stated: We take no issue with consumers investing in cryptocurrencies. But like investment in any asset class, they are subject to Australian law, including our market conduct, know-your-client, and tax laws. It is not a free pass. In conclusion, the goal is for investors to finally have a cryptocurrency-based ETF available in the country. As a result, the task of retail and institutional investors wanting to get exposure to cryptocurrencies would be simplified. Australia could follow countries like Brazil and Canada, that already have crypto ETF products by way of issuing crypto-friendly regulatory frameworks. What do you think about the latest consultation paper issued by the ASIC? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

As Unicly advances NFT combination, fractionalization, and trading, an integration with Sushiswap’s auction platform is designed to promote better pricing conditions for utoken creators and buyers. Collaboration Designed to Improve NFT Price Discovery Process Despite the cooling hype surrounding NFTs, there has been no shortage of innovation in the space as non-fungible token projects explore other use cases. Echoing the fractionalization that blockchain technology champions in other areas, up-and-coming projects are embracing similar methodologies in the NFT arena. Fractionalization of NFTs effectively means splitting a single NFT, or a collection of NFTs, into smaller, fractional pieces that can be bought and sold in primary and secondary market transactions. Instead of users having to spend enormous sums on a single NFT, this solution gives investors a practical way to gain exposure and fractional ownership of the work or collection of works. Unicly, a permissionless protocol, is designed to assist NFT holders with combining NFT collections, fractionalizing collections through the minting of utokens, and facilitating token offerings through its automated market maker platform (a type of decentralized exchange or dex). At present, the protocol features more than $65 million worth of NFTs from different collections. One of the challenges the project has run into is that the holder of the NFT(s) minting utokens must go ahead and provide all the capital in the form of liquidity to market the tokens, thereby taking on all the risk directly. The decision to embrace Sushi’s MISO auction methodology is designed to alleviate some of these pressures on sellers. Miso, a tool in the Sushiswap stack, can be considered a launchpad, which effectively follows a model similar to an IPO in traditional financial markets or an initial dex offering (IDO) in crypto markets. Besides giving Unicly users a path to monetize their holdings by raising the capital needed to provide liquidity for secondary trading in fractionalized NFTs, this methodology can also allow better price discovery. Illiquidity in tokens can pose a significant problem. Without enough liquidity, market function can create pricing pressures that hurt end-buyers by raising costs and preventing more widespread participation in offerings or secondary market transactions. With Sushi’s technology combined with Unicly’s methodology, fractional NFT sellers and buyers can in theory each practically benefit from the added liquidity of the solution. In the future, the partnership might also benefit Sushi’s forthcoming NFT platform titled Shoyu. In the meantime, the tie-up can power dual-listings of fractionalized NFTs while improving incentives for liquidity providers and elevating price discovery in traditionally thin markets. Fractionalization Hurdles Still Remain While fractionalization can help individuals diversify their funds into areas like fine art, which were traditionally off-limits for retail traders and investors, this process is not without its drawbacks. One of the key points critics have jumped on is the rights issue. When a buyer purchases a fractional piece of an NFT, the question of what rights they are entitled to as owners remains. Because this is still a young and relatively undefined area, fractionalization can be very opaque given the limited public information available from each token. These efforts have also raised legal considerations, especially from the SEC, which might characterize them as a security or investable product, thereby requiring more documentation and legwork related to offerings. The other question relates to the safety and technical soundness of splitting these NFTs, and the ability to recombine them later. Unfortunately, problems in both these areas have unfolded in the past, making it especially important for companies in the fractionalization space to address the issues and explain how their technologies overcome these pitfalls. Will fractionalization of NFTs push you to purchase your first NFT? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

xDAO is an innovative DeFi platform which allows anyone to easily create Decentralized Autonomous Organizations – DAOs – for the joint management of crypto assets. The platform is powered by BSC, ensuring low transaction costs, high reliability and sufficient speed. An Easy Way to Create Your Own Decentralized Autonomous Organization Launched in April 2021, xDAO is the first and the only DAO-builder on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The protocol allows users to combine crypto assets from multiple partners and manage them in more efficient and secure way by using auto-generated smart contracts. A clear voting system also allows users to make collective decisions and be confident in their exact execution. xDAO offers a perfect solution to anyone who wants to easily pool resources to mange crypto assets as a DAO. The need for the service is virtually endless and includes potential users such as venture capital funds, public funds and foundations, new tech startups and freelance groups. The holders of governance tokens of a DAO created on the platform will be able to jointly manage the organization’s finances; store various coins and tokens (including NFTs); determine the procedure for onboarding new members; establish rules for the minting and burning of tokens and interact directly with other DeFi protocols. By utilizing the BSC blockchain, xDAO offers several major advantages to potential DAO creators such as avoiding affordability and performance issues. Demonstrating the community support for such a service, xDAO has won a Binance Smart Chain Hackathon in April for the development of the project. In May, xDAO passed a security audit by Pessimistic. Now the development team is working constantly on upgrading the user experience on the platform. Next they are preparing for the announcement of the native token ($XDAO) and get started with the development of the second version on multi-chain (including Ethereum, BSC, Polygon and Solana). V2 is planned to be be ready by Q4 2021 and will also see the launch of the Open Source Web 3.0 extension (like MetaMask) to interact with all DeFi protocols. xDAO is already fully integrated with top DeFi protocols on BSC such as 1inch: New partnership!🤟 🔥xDAO App has plugged the industry leading DEX aggregator @1inchNetwork 🔥 🔸Now your company/fund can interact with #1inch protocols via #xDAO on Binance Smart Chain🔸#BSC #BinanceSmartChain #DeFi #1inchnetwork #BUIDL #Binance #BNB #Crypto #xdaoapp pic.twitter.com/4Hdtv1x4PF — xDAO (@xdaoapp) May 25, 2021 To learn more about the platform visit app.xdao.app, follow developments and join the community on Twitter, Instagram, Medium, YouTube, Discord and Telegram. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Tokyo, Softbank operates a Latin America Fund that invests in startups focused on identification technology, e-commerce, education, fintech and now cryptocurrency solutions. The Softbank Latin America Fund revealed on Thursday that it invested $200 million in the crypto-asset exchange Mercado Bitcoin. Mercado Bitcoin’s $200M Capital Raise: Softbank Funds One of the largest Series B funding rounds in LATM The Softbank Latin America Fund has invested in Mercado Bitcoin’s parent company 2TM Group. The announcement highlights that it is one of the largest Series B funding rounds in Latin America and Softbank’s largest crypto investment in the Latin American continent. The investment brings 2TM Group’s unicorn status to $2.1 billion and the eighth-most valuable fintech firm in Latin America. Mercado Bitcoin aims to leverage the financing to continue scaling operations and invest in more infrastructure. The company’s announcement emphasizes that over the last 12 months, Mercado Bitcoin has gathered 2.8 million clients. “Between January and May 2021, approximately 700,000 new customers signed up to use Mercado Bitcoin’s services,” the company’s announcement detailed. Additionally, Mercado Bitcoin’s trade volume in 2021 has seen massive growth as well “surpassing the total for its first seven years combined.” “Mercado Bitcoin has become a global leader in the cryptocurrency space. We’ve been impressed by 2TM Group’s understanding of the Brazilian ecosystem, as well as their contribution to the evolving regulatory framework in Brazil,” Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International and COO of Softbank Group said in a statement. The Softbank executive further added: Cryptocurrencies have incredible potential in Latin America. We believe winning in Brazil is critical for 2TM Group and are excited to take part in this incredible journey. Softbank Group and the Conglomerate’s Portfolio Companies Have Vested Interest in Fintech and Blockchain Fintech companies and crypto solutions have gathered mainstream attention in Latin America and the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Latin America made its debut on the Brazil Stock Exchange last week. Softbank Group and the firm’s Latin America Fund have been growing portfolio companies based on these trends. The Softbank Latin America Fund also backs fintech firms such as Creditas, Cortex, Inter, Loggi, Konfio, and Ualá. The multinational conglomerate Softbank has been into crypto and blockchain technology for quite some time. In October of 2019, Softbank announced it was working with Tbcasoft, and IBM on a cross-carrier blockchain technology project. Softbank also worked with Tbcasoft when the firms created a blockchain-based “Identification & Authentication” Working Group the same year. One of the Tokyo-based company’s portfolio firms is also leveraging crypto-asset solutions. Just recently, in mid-April 2021, the Softbank-backed global space provider Wework recently revealed it was accepting cryptos and keeping digital assets on its balance sheet. Mercado Bitcoin’s financing from Softbank follows the company’s Series A round in January 2021, which was co-led by Parallax Ventures and G2D/GP Investments. Mercado Bitcoin aims to use the funding to “accelerate growth across 2TM Group’s portfolio.” 2TM Group’s portfolio also includes the crypto wallet provider Meubank and it hopes to launch a fund called the “Bitrust” in the near future. What do you think about Softbank funding 2TM Group and its subsidiary Mercado Bitcoin with $200 million in financing? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

According to an announcement revealed on Thursday, Spencer Dinwiddie’s token application called Calaxy has raised $7.5 million in funding. The American professional basketball player for the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets has been a fan of blockchain technology for quite some time, as the point guard raised $1.3 million tokenizing his contract on the Ethereum blockchain. Hedera Hashgraph-Powered Calaxy Raises $7.5 Million The NBA star Spencer Dinwiddie’s token application Calaxy raised $7.5 million in funding according to statements sent to Bitcoin.com News. The capital raise announced this week stemmed from a deal that involved the acquisition of future CLXY tokens. Spencer Dinwiddie’s Calaxy App aims to be the “first social media super app designed for creators, by creators.” The financier Solo Ceesay is Calaxy’s COO and cofounder who said he saw an opportunity in creating a platform that helps monetize an online community. Calaxy leverages the enterprise-grade blockchain network Hedera Hashgraph, a project backed by firms like IBM and Google. The Calaxy platform will leverage a native token called “CLXY.” Calaxy aims to offer interactive polls, messaging, video calls, and the ability for fans to engage with influencers like sports stars and musicians. The name Calaxy is a play on the words “creator” and “galaxy.” At the time of writing, Calaxy is in private beta and the first public version of the application will be ready in the near future. The app will be available on Google Play and Apple’s App Store and people can sign up to request early access to the public beta to get a key. Spencer Dinwiddie had a token sale of his contract hosted on the Ethereum blockchain last year. The sale of Dinwiddie’s tokenized contract raised $1.3 million which was only a tenth of what the project hoped to sell ($13.5 million). Dinwiddie’s NBA contract was tokenized by leveraging Dream Fan Shares (DFS), however, the NBA star is leveraging Hedera Hashgraph over Ethereum because it boasts a higher transaction throughput. The point guard for the Brooklyn Nets initially told the press he would tokenize his contract in 2019 but the NBA threatened to end his contract. Despite this, Dinwiddie continued his mission and has been a proponent of blockchain technology ever since. What do you think about Spencer Dinwiddie’s and Solo Ceesay’s Calaxy social media application raising $7.5 million in funding? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The Mark Cuban-backed non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Mintable has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round, according to an announcement on Thursday. The Singapore-headquartered Mintable, plans to use the funds to expand its offerings, as the application already features 700,000 NFTs minted on the Mintable platform. NFT Marketplace Mintable Raises $13 Million On July 1, 2021, the NFT marketplace Mintable announced that it had raised $13 million in a Series A financing round. Investment stemmed from well known investors like Metapurse, Ripple Labs, Animoca Brands, Metakovan, Doug Band the former advisor to Bill Clinton, and the founder of Shutterstock, Jon Oringer as well. In recent times, Mintable collaborated with the National Football League (NFL) quarterback Trevor Lawrence in an NFT collection series. Lawrence’s NFTs sold for over $400K and Mintable has also collaborated with the popular Japanese fashion brand Bathing Ape. “With the new injection of funds, Mintable will be focusing on scaling its operations and boosting its growth and user acquisition initiatives,” a statement from Mintable sent to Bitcoin.com News explained. Furthermore, the founder and CEO of Mintable, Zach Burks, explained during the announcement that non-fungible tokens have gathered widespread attention, and Mintable aims to mature alongside the growing NFT industry. “Throughout 2021, NFTs have reached mass appeal, having touched almost every sector spanning entertainment, fine arts, sports, and many more,” Burks said. Mintable’s founder added: As the technology continues to mature and the space rapidly evolves, this is a critical company milestone for Mintable and we are thankful for the support from our investors who hold the same shared belief of the many opportunities that NFTs can bring among mainstream users. Mintable Faces Stiff Competition From a Variety of NFT Marketplaces Mintable is not the only NFT marketplace gathering investment money, as many other NFT ventures and marketplaces are making moves in the industry. The very same day Mintable announced the Series A capital raise, Animoca Brands revealed it completed a $138.88 million capital raise on Thursday as well. The funding brings the Animoca Brands company to unicorn status as the firm now has a valuation of $1 billion. At the end of June, Bitcoin.com News also reported on the NFT marketplace Rarible raising $14.2 million in Series A funding round. As far as Mintable’s investment, Michael Kam, a partner at Double Peak Group said that his firm believes mainstream adoption is important and Mintable will further that goal. “We believe it is important for NFT platforms to attract non-crypto users, be user-friendly and be decentralised in the long run,” Kam commented. Since launching in 2018, besides being backed by the investor and television personality Mark Cuban, Mintable has also seen backing from Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures, and Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures. What do you think about Mintable raising $13 million? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

If you ever wondered why crypto projects rise and fall so quickly, you are not alone. In fact, barely 7 months after the 2017 bull run ended, over 800 projects have ceased to exist like a puff of smoke. To understand the reason why 90% of crypto startups are going to fail, there are a couple of factors that need to be considered, including shortage of funds, over-reliance on hype, and immature business model. Nevertheless, without projects paving the path towards innovations, there would be no DeFi, IDOs, or even NFTs. The entire cryptocurrency community would not even exist, simply because there are no projects around to support it. However, the growth is going to be challenging to achieve every time the crypto winter happens. Investors are flushed out from the market, whereas projects are left on their own to sustain themselves for the coming few years, until the next bull run. This presents a question of survival to every crypto project in the industry, which begs the question: How does a project navigate through the bear run with all the capital and community leaving the industry? Torum, the world’s first DeFi + NFT social media platform that is specially designed for the crypto space, intends to solve this long-time dilemma. Community Consensus Equal Survival To survive in a bear market, securing community support is essential. Without an active community behind a project, the project simply starts its own countdown to death. However, the industry is always short of a cost-effective channel for projects to build their exposure. To get connected with the cryptocurrency communities, most projects are forced to use PR, airdrops, and offline events which only produce short-term results, yet remain costly as ever. As a social media platform with over 59,000 unique cryptocurrency users, this is where Torum comes into place. In the coming July 2021, Torum is going to unveil an ecosystem development strategy that aims to connect, and enrich all the industry leaders, communities and projects in the present crypto industry. A One-Stop Marketing Suite for Projects In the coming H2 of 2021, Torum will be shifting the focus of ecosystem development into integrating a set of project-specific features that enables project owners to build and manage their community, while helping projects attain the desired marketing exposure cost-effectively, including: – Torum NFT Launchpad: Project owners can 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 existing user base of Torum – Torum Airdrop: An exclusive feature for only the best quality projects to conduct airdrop, which helps to create interest and awareness among the Torum community – Torum News: A one-stop section that gathers the news and information of a project for the maximum industry credibility and community exposure – Torum x Telegram Bridge: A section for project owners to streamline their latest Telegram announcement onto Torum for the best community interest and exposure effect – Torum Audio Meeting: An audio-only board for project owners to conduct AMA and close-engaging events. Through these feature integrations, Torum can provide project owners with the following premium benefits: Onboard and manage their community onto Torum in a frictionless process Stay active and engaged with the community Synchronize the project news into an information center hub Access to the existing 59,000 Torum community base Utility Innovation and Value When it comes to the social media space, it is not surprising that most crypto social media projects seek to become the next crypto Facebook or Twitter. However, Torum decided to go for a different approach. Instead of trying to connect everyone together, Torum is only focusing on building features and integrations that add value to the Bitcoin OGs, Ether enthusiasts and altcoin degens. The idea paves the way for the birth of the first social media platform that is reinforced with crypto cultures and memes such as HODL, Bitconnect, Lambo, etc. Without a doubt, the strategic minds of Torum have proven to be working as the platform has accumulated over 59,000 users in a highly saturated industry, while other social media peers are struggling to acquire and retain users from a red ocean market. The Next Leading Crypto Social Media Backed by AU21, Consensus Lab, DFG, M6, Waterdrip Capital, and 15 other prominent crypto VCs, Torum is the first project to ever combine social media, NFT, and DeFi innovations. The project has also completed an exclusive INO event back in May 2021, selling off $243,000 worth of NFTs in under 20 minutes. In addition, Torum has established partnerships with strong and reputable industry players, including MantraDAO, Poly Network, Kylin Network, Darkpool Liquidity, and Jinse Finance. With over 59,000 registered users, Torum has proven to be one of the fastest-growing social media platforms, growing steadily between 10 – 30% every month for the past 12 months, connecting cryptocurrency users from over 40 different countries, including the US, Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, China, Singapore, etc. Upcoming Token Generation Event In the upcoming H2 of 2021, Torum will be making its token launch debut, featuring its native tokens – XTM to subscribe. The latest announcement on token sale shall be updated via Torum’s official Telegram Group and Channel. After the successful launch, Torum will head straight into its exchange listing process and work aggressively towards the vision of building the largest ecosystem in the crypto industry. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, the English computer scientist who is well known for inventing the world wide web has sold a non-fungible token (NFT) in an online auction hosted by the auction house Sotheby’s. The NFT is basically a video of the World Wide Web’s source code created in Python and the collectible sold for $5.4 million. Tim Berners-Lee and Sotheby’s Auction NFT for $5.4 Million This week, Sotheby’s revealed that Tim Berners-Lee sold an NFT of the original source code for the world wide web for a whopping $5.4 million. Before the NFT auction, Berners-Lee told the publication the Guardian: “I’m not selling the web – you won’t have to start paying money to follow links. I’m not even selling the source code. I’m selling a picture that I made, with a Python program that I wrote myself, of what the source code would look like if it was stuck on the wall and signed by me.” Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, the English computer scientist who invented the world wide web. Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989 and before the NFT sale he said “The core codes and protocols on the web are royalty-free, just as they always have been.” A representative from Sotheby’s said the non-fungible token collectible art auction was historical and the fact that Berners-Lee verified the NFT makes it even more valuable. “The symbolism, the history, the fact that they’re coming from the creator is what makes them valuable, and there are lots of people who collect things for exactly those reasons,” Cassandra Hatton, the global head of science and popular culture at Sotheby’s explained in a statement. “We have placed it in a public forum, we have sold it at basically no reserve and we let the market decide what the value is going to be. There have been multiple bidders who have all agreed that it’s valuable.” Berners-Lee is well respected for his contribution to today’s online advances and in 2018 he announced a project aimed at decentralizing the web. “For all the good we’ve achieved,” Berners-Lee said at the time. “The web has evolved into an engine of inequity and division; swayed by powerful forces who use it for their own agendas,” he added. The inventor of the web had also reported on bitcoin on various occasions during the crypto asset’s earliest years. Coding Error Spotted – Researcher Says There Have Already Been Discussions of a Misprint Error Following the Berners-Lee NFT sale, a coding error was spotted in the NFT video that sold for £3.9 million ($5.4 million). The researcher that spotted the error in the video told BBC News it looked like “a simple mistake.” Mikko Hypponen explains that certain symbols were translated into HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and he believes it was an error. The error spotted by the researcher – screenshot taken by BBC News, an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation. “There have already been discussions about whether this would make the NFT more valuable – like a postage stamp with a misprint error,” Hypponen said. Moreover, website creator Mark O’Neill told the BBC that “whoever made the video for the website ran the original text file through something that converted it into HTML. It’s embarrassing for Sotheby’s but I trust that nobody has done the same to the original code,” O’Neill added. The BBC’s report notes that the newsdesk had reached out to Sotheby’s and Tim Berners-Lee for comment. What do you think about Tim Berners-Lee selling an NFT for $5.4 million with an error? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A recent survey of financial advisors and their investing strategies shows “a significant shift to embracing cryptocurrencies.” More than 26% indicated that they plan to increase their recommendation of cryptocurrencies over the next 12 months. Furthermore, 49% of advisers said that clients have asked them about investing in cryptocurrencies in the last six months. Financial Advisors Show Significant Shift to Embracing Cryptocurrencies The 2021 Trends in Investing Survey, conducted by the Journal of Financial Planning and the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and supported by Onramp Invest, was released earlier this month. The Financial Planning Association is the principal membership organization for certified financial planners, professionals, educators, and financial services professionals. Onramp Invest is a technology company providing access to crypto assets for registered investment advisors. The survey received 529 responses from financial advisers of various backgrounds and business models. It found: Advisers show a significant shift to embracing cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies were first added to the survey in 2018 when 1.4% of advisers indicated they were currently using or recommending them to clients. That percentage dropped to below 1% in both 2019 and 2020 but increased to 14% in 2021. According to the survey results: More than a quarter (26%) of advisers indicated in the 2021 survey that they plan to increase their use/recommendation of cryptocurrencies over the next 12 months. And 49% of advisers indicated that, in the last six months, clients have asked them about investing in cryptocurrencies, up from 17% in 2020. Onramp Invest CEO Tyrone Ross commented: “It is clear from these results that we’ve reached an inflection point in the wealth management space. Advisers are now faced with a client base that demands knowledge, access, and advice from their adviser on cryptoassets.” What do you think about this survey? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Zürich, Switzerland, 1 July 2021 – Anyone with a green conscience can now join the crypto movement. The next generation and world’s first truly sustainable blockchain Signum is now live. As a fully integrated smart platform featuring multiple innovations, Signum is a one-stop solution to transfer, trade, and mine its native cryptocurrency Signa (ticker: SIGNA). Signum combines world-class features such as smart contracts, peer-to-peer messaging, and token creation with fast and secure digital payments – all of them on a sustainable blockchain. Smart, secure, and sustainable Signum uses less than 0.002% of the energy Bitcoin needs to drive its blockchain and its native digital coin Signa (SIGNA). Signum produces basically no e-waste, making it the first blockchain that deserves to be called ‘sustainable’. Signum is much more than a cryptocurrency. As a customizable platform, it has the power to feature fair, unstoppable and unlimited censorship-resistant decentralized applications. Why Signa is the future cryptocurrency Signa is not just another cryptocoin – it is the foundation of a sustainable future. Signa is mined, traded, and stored just like any other cryptocurrency on a decentralized ledger system, but it is also used in all Signum features – such as Token creation, smart contracts and messaging. All this while not having to deal with the environmental and negative consequences of today’s other cryptocurrencies. “With the recent chaos caused on the bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets, following Elon Musk’s criticism of Bitcoin’s exorbitant energy use, Signum’s launch comes at the perfect time,” says Benjamin Schroeter, serial tech entrepreneur and Chairman of the Signum Network Association (SNA). What makes Signum truly sustainable? The idea of a sustainable blockchain is not entirely new, many have claimed to be so. But Signum is truly at the forefront of the sustainability movement. Since 2019, the core development team with its large and engaging tech-community has been working tirelessly on Signum’s foundation. Signum evolved from the former blockchain Burstcoin which had its genesis block in 2014. Signum introduced the world to the Proof of Commitment (PoC+) decentralized consensus as the evolution of the Proof of Capacity (PoC) consensus. Unlike the well-known Proof of Work (PoW) consensus used by Bitcoin and many other coins (which require special power-hungry equipment), PoC+ simply uses available disk space. This innovative consensus offers a new way for miners to increase their effective storage capacity – committing a Signa balance (stake) in their account. This helps secure the network and improve their chances of earning mining rewards. PoC+ is a greener option since effective capacity can be increased without purchasing more equipment. According to Benjamin Schroeter, “as there are no energy concerns and no e-waste, Signum can be the solution for many everyday applications that currently run on energy-hungry blockchains. We can help businesses and people to launch new ideas in a sustainable and fair way on Signum. There are basically no limitations to Signum.” Signum’s core values Signum’s philosophy was built on a set of core values that continue to be the basis of everything that is developed on the platform. Fairness, sustainability, and innovation are at the core of Signum: sustainable mining, empowering small miners to achieve real decentralization, building a secure network, low fees, providing a feature-rich platform, and global accessibility. JJos, Signum’s main developer, believes “the core philosophy of Signum is what makes this blockchain and its community so powerful. With the latest Signum hard-fork we are finally moving into the spotlight and aim to be among the top-50 players in the crypto space.” Discover Signum Signum is the world’s first truly sustainable blockchain, featuring world-class applications on a sustainable leading-edge blockchain architecture. Signum powers its native cryptocurrency Signa (SIGNA) at a minor fraction of energy and no additional e-waste, compared to other cryptocurrencies. Signum empowers users and developers around the world with innovative blockchain solutions for everyday life. SNA is a Swiss Not-for-Profit Organization (founded in 2021) to provide a solid foundation for Signum to grow and fulfil its vision of a sustainable and innovative blockchain. Find out more at (https://signum.network/), Telegram (@signumnetwork), Twitter (@signum_official) and Discord (Signum). Watch what Signum stands for: (https://youtu.be/9oMD2AO7aeE ) This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has reportedly told investors that the country’s currency is overvalued by 10%. The governor’s remarks, which have been confirmed by two unnamed sources, suggest that the central bank is planning to devalue the naira again. Another Naira Devaluation Loading As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, in May 2021, authorities in Nigeria allowed the naira’s exchange rate against the US dollar to drop from a fixed rate of 381 per dollar to the current official rate of 410. This devaluation, which was the third one in less than 18 months, briefly narrowed the gap between the official and the parallel market rate. However, at the time of writing, this gap had widened again. Nevertheless, as a Reuters report explains, the CBN chief is now expecting to see this gap shrink. According to the report, the governor said: “The spot naira rate of 410-412 per dollar would eventually weaken by 5% to 10%.” Weakening the naira by between 5% to 10% means the CBN is expecting the spot rate of the naira to fluctuate between 430 and 450. Still, this new CBN target remains below the current parallel market exchange rate of 500 for every dollar. World Bank Calls for Exchange Rate Unification The report also touches on why Emefiele, who has previously defended the naira’s overvalued exchange rate, is now warming up to the idea of devaluing the local currency. According to the report, another devaluation of the naira may be linked to the World Bank’s call for the unification of Nigeria’s multiple exchange rates. The global lending institution reportedly wants to see “closer parity before the release of a much-needed $1.5 billion budget support loan.” In addition to the World Bank’s demands, the CBN has faced increased pressure to devalue the naira by businesses that are failing to access the resource via the official channels. This, in turn, leaves the parallel market as their only source for foreign currency. What do you think of Emefiele’s remarks about the naira’s overvaluation? You can tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

With South Africa receiving more than its fair share of cryptocurrency-related scams, a report suggests that regulators are responding to this challenge by fast-tracking the process of creating a new regulatory framework. As a result, regulators now expect this process, which was preceded “by the publication of proposals earlier in June,” to be complete “in three to six months.” Acknowledging Risks Associated With Crypto According to a report, under the requirements of the upcoming regulatory regime, players in South Africa’s financial sector are expected to be aware of the risks that are associated with cryptocurrencies. They are also expected to price in those risks properly. In the meantime, the report also quotes Kuben Naidoo, the CEO at Prudential Authority, a banking sector regulator, explaining how the drafting process is expected to unfold. The CEO said: We are trying to put in place the regulatory framework quickly. Defining this as a financial product and then developing the regulatory framework is important. Defeating Scams via Regulation Meanwhile, the South African regulators’ increased sense of urgency on the issue comes as the country grapples with the Africrypt debacle, the latest high profile cryptocurrency investment platform to collapse. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Africrypt collapsed soon after its directors Raees and Ameer Cajee fled with investors’ BTC initially believed to be worth billions. Since then, investors have been attempting to locate and recover the missing BTC with the assistance of one South Africa law firm. Afriypt’s spectacular collapse had been preceded by the demise of Mirror Trading International (MTI) less than six months earlier. Just like Africrypt, MTI collapsed after its CEO Johann Steynberg disappeared with investor funds. Since then, MTI investors have similarly been attempting to recover their funds. Naidoo, who is also the deputy governor of the South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB), reveals some of the initial steps that regulators plan to take as they seek to avoid a repeat of the MTI and Africrypt type of bitcoin investment scam. One of these steps, according to the report, will include the establishment of know-your-customer rules for crypto exchanges. Additionally, exchanges will be expected to “create systems for the surveillance of the asset class in order to prevent money from being laundered out of the country.” After this, investor protection guidelines and rules for managing capital risk in the banking sector should come into effect, according to Naidoo. Do you believe the creation of a regulatory framework will succeed in ending the proliferation of bitcoin scams in South Africa? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Beijing subway has officially launched a new program that allows passengers to pay for rides with the central bank digital currency (CBDC) also known as the digital yuan. The news follows the subway system in East China’s Jiangsu province in the city of Suzhou which also allows digital yuan payments for subway fares. Digital Yuan Can Now Be Used to Pay for Fares on China’s Major Public Transport Railways China’s capital of Beijing and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has been moving fast in regard to pushing CBDC adoption in the country. There’s been a bunch of red envelope lotteries giving the digital yuan away to citizens, 3,000 automated teller machines (ATMs) now allow digital yuan withdrawals in Beijing, subcontractors are being paid in the CBDC in China’s Xiong’an New Area, and Hong Kong is connecting with the CBDC. On top of all that JD.com employees have been paid in the digital yuan and firms like Mastercard, Ant, Tencent, and Alibaba have been engaging with the CBDC as well. Rumor has it that China’s digital yuan smart card will be very advanced by featuring biometrics and fingerprint scanning. Now the central bank’s digital currency is invading China’s subways as customers in Suzhou’s and Beijing’s subway rails can pay for fares with the CBDC. Official announcement for the Beijing subway system. The official announcement stemming from Beijing explains that the city’s subway operator aims to make the CBDC fuel the “new digital travel experience.” A regional report from the Global Times says the digital yuan is accepted at 24 subway railway lines and four suburban railway lines in Beijing. The report discussed the new service with a Beijing Municipal Commission of Public Transport customer service representative. “You need to download a mobile app that is linked with your bank account to access to the service,” the representative stressed. The railway line 5 in Suzhou was the first subway system in China to start accepting the digital yuan. According to the Global Times, local reports say that Chengdu has finished integrating the CBDC system and aims to support the digital yuan in public transport soon. Despite all of the aforementioned digital yuan announcements made this year, it’s still hard to estimate how much adoption is really happening. A report published in mid-May had shown that the CBDC’s alleged hotspot in Shenzhen was not seeing widespread acceptance. The same could be said for Nicolas Maduro and Venezuela’s petro which saw a variety of government-produced adoption announcements. Widespread petro (PTR) acceptance in Venezuela is extremely lackluster to this day even though the Venezuelan government announced “thousands” of merchants would accept PTR and people would get government payments in petro as well. With China’s communist government and massive internet firewall, it’s really hard to say whether or not the digital yuan is really thriving. What do you think about Beijing’s and Suzhou’s railways accepting digital yuan for ride fares? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Cryptocurrency miners in Kazakhstan will pay more than other consumers for the electricity they use to mint digital coins. The country’s president has signed a law that imposes an additional fee for the power utilized by the energy intensive industry. Coin Miners in Kazakhstan to Pay Extra Fee per Kilowatt-hour of Electricity Crypto mining entities in Kazakhstan are going to pay a surcharge for the electrical energy they burn. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a new law this week amending the Central Asian republic’s legislation “on taxes and other obligatory payments to the budget.” The bill, which was voted by the Senate earlier in June, introduces a new fee of 1 Kazakhstani tenge (approx. $0.0023) per kilowatt-hour used by cryptocurrency miners. The new electricity rate will be imposed starting from Jan. 1, 2022, Forklog reported. Authorities in Nur-Sultan claim the additional charge will “bring out of the shadow” those cryptocurrency miners that currently operate in the gray economy. Albert Rau, the lawmaker named by local media as the author of the bill, said he couldn’t foresee any “critical consequences” from its adoption. Rau insists the parliament has approved a “government version” of the initially proposed amendments. Crypto Industry Fears New Electricity Rate Will Turn Chinese Miners Away Representatives of the crypto sector disagree with Rau’s position, warning that the move comes at a very inappropriate moment. Members of Kazakhstan’s National Association of Blockchain and Data Center Industry told the crypto news outlet that the decision “will have a very negative impact on the investment attractiveness of the industry.” The main concern is that the fee could turn away Chinese companies that have been looking around for other jurisdictions amid the ongoing crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in the People’s Republic. Kazakhstan has been considered among other potential mining destinations, as over the past few years the country has gradually warmed towards the crypto industry. In May, Shenzhen-based Bit Mining announced it’s planning to build a 100 MW mining data center in Kazakhstan in partnership with two local firms. In June, as Chinese authorities intensified the pressure on bitcoin mining operations, the company started shipping mining devices there. Earlier this month, the Hangzhou-headquartered mining hardware manufacturer Canaan established an after-sales service center in Kazakhstan as more Chinese miners are considering relocation to Central Asia. What effect do you think the new fee will have on the crypto mining industry in Kazakhstan? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Vent is excited to announce the launch of their IDO on the Ventup platform, nurtured by Vent Finance. This innovative community-driven platform promises to usher in a new era of decentralized funding for vetted projects and help empower entrepreneurs on their journey to success. Vent – Welcome to the All-in-One Ecosystem Vent has announced it is launching the Ventup IDO Launchpad on Polygon to provide startups that launch on the platform with scalability, modular security solutions and compatibility with Ethereum tools. Vent will also construct the first Polygon-Cardano bridge and plans to migrate Ventup to the Cardano blockchain upon the rollout of the Alonzo smart-contract mainnet. Ventup offers easier access to DeFi investment opportunities for everyone, with powerful features such as a social community, vetted investment opportunities and low transaction fees. The launchpad is also a critical part of the larger Vent ecosystem that provides new projects with an all-in-one solution, from token launch all the way to swapping. The ecosystem also includes VentSwap – a decentralized exchange enabling token holders to trade tokens in an easy, cheap and fast way – and VentCommerce – a marketplace where project can engage with top service providers through the simplicity of a token. What Makes Ventup Stand Out There are a number of factors that make Ventup stand out from the cowed of current launchpads, such as its focus on simplicity, security, transparency, and inclusiveness. Above all else, is its unique centralized – decentralized finance (CeDeFi) model – aiming to combine the best of both worlds, the security of a centralized platform and the great investment opportunities of a DeFi platform. To prevent the current situation going on other platforms – that are full of meaningless hype, scams and fraud – Ventup will only empower vetted and high quality projects. For example every new project launching on the launchpad will be security audited. And the majority of the vetting will be done by the community of investors. Users can upvote, comment and be active in forums and the community will decide if a project is eligible for IDO or not. Only when a project reaches a threshold of upvotes it will be able to apply for its token launch. The project will then be analyzed by the Vent team to recognize whether or not the project matches the Vent Quality standards before it can launch its tokens and users can transact. Providing additional safety, Bridge Mutual will provide insurance on smart contracts to protect investors from potential rug pulls. To be eligible to invest into a project, every user needs to pass KYC, but unlike current solutions, Ventup simply requires the process to be completed once. To learn more information on Ventup visit the platform’s website, and join the community on Twitter and Telegram. Vent Finance has announced that the registration for the Vent IDO on the VentUp Launchpad will open on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. See full details on how to apply for the whitelist here. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The market capitalization of all 10,722 cryptocurrencies in existence is around $1.42 trillion on Wednesday and during the last 24 hours, all of these crypto-assets combined lost 3.92%. Meanwhile, bitcoin captures 45.73% of the entire $1.42 trillion capitalization and ethereum commands 17.8%. As both of these leading assets have improved this week, seven-day changes against the U.S. dollar show a great number of other crypto-assets have seen much bigger double-digit gains. Steemit Coins, 51% Attacked Tokens, and Forgotten Crypto Assets An interesting assortment of crypto assets have seen double-digit gains as larger competitors like bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) have seen weaker improvements. For instance, BTC has gained 2.74% against the U.S. dollar during the last seven days. ETH has jumped close to 10%, but not quite, with an 8.89% rise over the last week. While they are at the very least weekly improvements against the dollar, a number of unconventional crypto assets have jumped much higher. STEEM/USD (left) and REP/USD (right) on June 30, 2021. Charts show a five-day span Steem (STEEM) has gained 54% this week and the crypto asset’s cousin steem dollars (SBD) spiked over 31% during the last seven days. The two digital currencies are leveraged for upvoting and tips on the Steemit blogging platform. Below, steem’s 54% rise, the prediction market crypto-asset augur (REP) jumped 51%. REP tokens are used in the Augur system to give users the ability to create a prediction market on any topic. Another unconventional rise this week was monero classic’s (XMC) 45% jump. XMC is a fork of the privacy coin monero (XMR). XMC/USD (left) and FTC/USD (right) on June 30, 2021. Charts show a five-day span. Then crypto assets that have seen 51% attacks, also saw double-digit gains this week. For example, below XMC’s rise, the digital currency vertcoin (VTC) rose 40% during the last seven days. And the coin below VTC, which has also been 51% attacked, is bitcoin gold (BTG) rising 38% this week. Seven-day changes against the U.S. dollar also show the 51% attacked ethereum classic (ETC) saw a 31% rise during the trailing seven-day week. Interestingly, a forgotten digital currency launched on April 16, 2013, feathercoin (FTC) has gained 29% this week. FTC is an ancient coin that used to be a top ten crypto market cap contender, but today feathercoin holds the 100th position. Market aggregators also show that Vinny Lingham’s civic (CVC) token has jumped 26% over seven days. The newer meme-based ERC20 token, that shares the concept of dogecoin (DOGE), shiba inu (SHIB) rose 22% during the course of the week. While seven-day gains have been higher for these crypto coins, 24-hour statistics have been different. For example, ETC is down -1.57% on Monday, VTC -4.12%, and FTC is down -8.29%. What do you think about the double-digit gains seen by this unique bunch of crypto assets? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The Federal Reserve’s vice chairman of supervision and the chair of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), Randal K. Quarles, doubts the benefits of the digital dollar but says it “could pose significant and concrete risks” to the U.S. banking system. Fed Vice Chair Speptical About Digital Dollar Federal Reserve Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles talked about bitcoin and the Fed’s work on a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital dollar, in a speech at the Utah Bankers Association Monday. Quarles is also the chairman of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). He said: The potential benefits of a Federal Reserve CBDC are unclear. Conversely, a Federal Reserve CBDC could pose significant and concrete risks. He then outlined the risks. “First, a Federal Reserve CBDC could create considerable challenges for the structure of our banking system … An arrangement where the Federal Reserve replaces commercial banks as the dominant provider of money to the general public could constrict the availability of credit, fundamentally alter the economy, and expose the public to a host of unanticipated, and undesirable, consequences.” Quarles further added that “a dominant CBDC could undermine the consumer and other economic benefits that accrue when commercial banks compete to attract customers” and “A Federal Reserve CBDC could also present an appealing target for cyberattacks and other security threats.” Quarles doesn’t believe there is any real threat against the U.S. dollar. Talking about threats, he said, “Gold will always glitter, but novelty, by definition, fades.” Noting that he sees little threat from cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman of supervision described: Bitcoin and its ilk will, accordingly, almost certainly remain a risky and speculative investment rather than a revolutionary means of payment, and they are therefore highly unlikely to affect the role of the U.S. dollar or require a response with a CBDC. In conclusion, Quarles said “the U.S. dollar payment system is very good, and it is getting better,” emphasizing that “the potential benefits of a Federal Reserve CBDC are unclear” and “developing a CBDC could, I believe, pose considerable risks.” What do you think about the comments by Quarles? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

A U.S. congressman has called for a law that allows the government to identify cryptocurrency users and reverse crypto transactions. “There’s a significant sentiment, increasing sentiment, in Congress that if you’re participating in an anonymous crypto transaction that you’re a de-facto participant in a criminal conspiracy,” he said. Rep. Bill Foster Stresses the Need for Law to Allow the Government to Reverse Crypto Transactions Democratic Rep. Bill Foster of Illinois, who is also co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, talked about cryptocurrency regulation during an Axios virtual event Tuesday. Addressing the problem of ransomware attacks and how criminals are asking for bitcoin and not cash, the congressman stressed that “there is a fundamental difference between crypto assets and real-world assets. That’s an important distinction that we must make ultimately in the law.” Emphasizing that laws must be passed to allow federal courts to identify crypto users and reverse transactions in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, he said: You have to be able to go to a court to unmask participants under some circumstances. He discussed “The condition under which we can reclaim” cryptocurrencies, such as ransoms paid to criminals, noting that it is one of the fundamental decisions which has to be made about crypto assets. The congressman pointed out that the law needs to address whether cryptocurrency is “truly anonymous or is there a court you can go to, to unmask the participants.” In addition, “is there a court, a third-party, that you can go to, to reverse fraudulent or mistaken transactions.” Foster gave an example. “If someone dragged you into an alley and put a gun to your head and say get out your cell phone and transfer all your bitcoin to my wallet. Are you just out of luck or can you go to court, have them unmask the participant.” Furthermore, “can the court — if they decide that the transaction was fraudulent, criminal, or mistaken … use its access to very heavily guarded key, cryptographic back door, in a sense, that allows them to cryptographically reverse transactions on a blockchain.” The lawmaker claims that such tools are necessary for the government to protect itself, the people and companies from ransomware attacks, like the one suffered by Colonial Pipeline. Rep. Foster opined: I’ve just said about three things there that will drive the crypto purists berserk, like the trusted third party and so on. He believes that “For most people, if they are going to have a big part of their net worth tied up in crypto assets, they are going to want to have that security blanket of a trusted third-party that can solve the problem when they get hacked, when they get stolen or even just a mistaken assumption.” Foster further said that cryptocurrencies must become compliant with federal regulations and laws for them to ever become mainstream instruments for conducting transactions. Replying to a question about how the U.S. would regulate cryptocurrencies given their global and borderless nature, he affirmed, “We’re going to have to establish a law between the legal and illegal regimes here,” elaborating: There’s a significant sentiment, increasing sentiment, in Congress that if you’re participating in an anonymous crypto transaction that you’re a de-facto participant in a criminal conspiracy. Many people took to social media to ridicule the congressman and his attempt to reverse bitcoin transactions, stating that he does not understand how bitcoin works. Some responded to Foster’s criminal allegation, stating that they are “not de-facto criminals.” What do you think about Rep. Foster calling for legislation to give the government power to reverse cryptocurrency transactions? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has unveiled its plan to build “the crypto app store,” inspired by how Apple Inc. built its app store. CEO Brian Armstrong said: “Apple didn’t attempt to build every app for the iPhone, it empowered developers and gave mobile users an easy way to access new innovative apps.” In a blog post published on Tuesday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong detailed several opportunities in the crypto space the Nasdaq-listed company is pursuing. One of them was to “Build the crypto app store.” The CEO detailed, “Like the internet, or the mobile app stores, we’re seeing developers rush into the space to use these new tools to develop innovative use cases that we couldn’t have imagined before,” adding: Apple didn’t attempt to build every app for the iPhone, it empowered developers and gave mobile users an easy way to access new innovative apps … We’ll work to give our users easy access to all of this from the main Coinbase product. Armstrong stressed: “We need to do the same [as Apple] in crypto. There is now 10s of billions of dollars of economic activity running on Dapps, and a new trend coming out every three months.” He further shared: Soon any app built on decentralized crypto rails will be accessible to users of the Coinbase app … In the future you will have the option to do self-custody of your crypto, right in the main Coinbase app. What do you think about Coinbase launching an Apple-like app store? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the global economy, leaving many industries re-evaluating the robustness of legacy models in times of crisis. Unsurprisingly, one of the most impacted industries has been the global healthcare industry, as governments raced to test for, treat and develop a vaccine for the fast-spreading virus. Whilst, on the whole, the testing regimes, treatments and vaccination programs have been somewhat successful in developed countries (especially the United Kingdom and Israel), existing pain points in pharmaceutical research and development have exacerbated delays according to a number of experts. Namely, the clinical trial industry, a sector responsible for testing the safety and efficacy of new vaccines and therapeutics before these enter the market, is currently hampered by various inefficiencies. The pandemic has exemplified the need for solutions to tackle these inefficiencies and thereby help ensure an efficient influx of new medicines. This is where Triall enters the scene. Triall is building a global digital ecosystem for clinical trials. Capitalizing on both the rapid digitalization of healthcare and the technological advances in the blockchain and crypto space, Triall is applying blockchain-based technologies to a sector that has become increasingly complex, data-heavy and fragmented over the past decade. Increasing Costs and Longer Development Timelines Clinical trials are integral to the healthcare industry’s response to new and existing diseases and viruses. They involve a number of industry stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, and hospitals, as well as external parties such as governments and regulators.The clinical trial industry plays a crucial role in ensuring that society’s unmet medical needs can be addressed, inside and outside of crisis situations like the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the clinical trial process is currently fraught with complexity and resource-inefficiency which artificially lengthens development timelines. There are several notable reasons for this, including: Fragmentation: Data is scattered across sites and systems. Oversight issues: Clinical trial professionals experience a lack of oversight over their clinical trial processes and activities. Inefficient record-keeping: There is no efficient and universal way to manage and store data, causing significant delays and safety risks, as well as increasing costs. Data integrity issues: There are a growing number of data integrity issues being uncovered during clinical trial inspections according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Low patient engagement: As much as 85% of trials fail to retain enough patients which also leads to costly delays. Indeed, the data show that these problems are only getting worse, with the cost of clinical trials increasing up to 9% per year on average. More shockingly, the sector suffers from a development success rate of just 11%. Upgrading Global Healthcare with Technology Triall’s innovative new platform is laser-focussed on resolving these critical issues and shortening the time to market of new medicines. The company is building a global ecosystem for clinical research professionals that crosses organizational boundaries and domains. Participants in the platform include: clinical research professionals, medical staff, patients and software developers, as well as other contributors and maintainers such as blockchain engineers and node operators. Fundamentally, the platform allows for the efficient exchange of clinical trial data leveraging blockchain-enabled technologies and open standards for identity and access management. Triall will implement Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) to integrate the severely fragmented landscape of industry stakeholders in the clinical trial sector. As a result, Triall’s platform will ensure clinical trials can be conducted smarter, safer and more-efficient due to more closely integrated workflows. Speaking about Triall’s driving philosophy, the company’s CEO, Hadil Es-Sbai had this to say: “We believe state-of-the-art Information Technology and scientific insights make a difference. Our passion lies in advancing clinical development, consolidating the unconnected, and fostering a global ecosystem that promotes trust and reliability throughout all phases of clinical development.” The Future of Clinical Trials Combining this driving philosophy with the rapid digitization trends resulting from the pandemic, Triall is positioned to take a leading role in revolutionizing the clinical trial space. In addition to its unique approach, Triall also leverages a breadth of experience in the field. The Triall team has managed over 100 clinical trials in more than 30 countries. Accordingly, the company has curated a strong and global network of stakeholders that will be instrumental to driving its platform’s development. Moreover, with 250+ peer reviewed papers published in various top-tier scientific journals, Triall also brings a wealth of academic knowledge, combining academic experts from several medical disciplines that support the shaping of its platform’s features. These include experts on topics such as immunology, infectious diseases, vaccinology, microbiology, eHealth technologies, drug and vaccine development. Finally, Triall is already more than just a proof of concept. Its first application Verial eTMF, a blockchain-integrated document solution, was piloted in the summer of 2019. According to the team, this was the world’s first implementation of blockchain in a live and running clinical trials. The commercial version of Verial eTMF is now being onboarded in 6 clinical trial projects around the world. Indeed, this serves as the ultimate mark of validation, from both the market and industry. For more info on how Triall is bridging the gap between the healthcare and crypto domains, visit their website here This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Formula 1, the international auto racing organization, has found a new sponsor from the crypto industry. The long-term deal will provide a digital asset trading platform with brand presence at F1 events while the car championship hopes that the partnership will allow it to “explore the world of cryptocurrency.” Crypto.com to Support Formula 1 as Part of Reported $100 Million Sponsorship Agreement The deal between Formula 1 and Crypto.com, which was announced on Tuesday, has been negotiated with the help of sports firm Creative Artists Agency. The terms were not immediately disclosed but according to CNBC, quoting sources familiar with the details, the five-year agreement has a price tag of over $100 million. Crypto.com, a platform with a claimed 10 million users, will become a global partner for Formula 1 races, including the new Sprint series. The qualifying format will be employed to determine the starting positions in some races, with the first such event to be held at Silverstone Circuit in July, ahead of the F1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021. Sprint Qualifying will debut at three Grands Prix this year. The crypto company will also unveil a new award at the Belgian Grand Prix in August and become its non-fungible token (NFT) partner. Crypto.com will have trackside slots at all F1 races for the rest of the season as part of the agreement with Formula 1, which takes effect on July 17. Commenting on the deal, F1 Director of Commercial Partnerships Ben Pincus stated that the racing entity is planning to use Crypto.com’s expertise “as we explore the world of cryptocurrency, an area we are very interested in.” Formula 1 is the world’s leading auto racing competition, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), or the International Automobile Federation. The ‘formula’ in its name refers to a set of rules to which all participating teams must conform. In 2016, F1 was bought by Liberty Media Corporation for $4.4 billion. In a press release published on its website, Crypto.com reminded this is not its first sponsorship in sports. The platform, which allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, also had a partnership deal with F1 team Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One which commemorated their return to Formula 1 with NFTs. It’s also a partner with NHL team Montreal Canadiens as well as the major Italian soccer league, Lega Serie A. What do you think about the sponsorship agreement between Formula 1 and Crypto.com? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

A major British bank, Natwest, has put a limit on fund transfers to cryptocurrency exchanges over concerns of fraud and scams related to cryptocurrencies. The bank is also blocking payments to a number of cryptocurrency asset firms. Natwest says the two moves are necessary to protect customers. Natwest Places Limit on Transfers to Crypto Exchanges National Westminster Bank, commonly known as Natwest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom. A spokesperson for the bank told Reuters Tuesday that the bank has capped the daily amount customers can send to cryptocurrency exchanges due to concerns over investment scams and fraud. “We have seen a high level of cryptocurrency investment scams targeting our customers across retail and business banking, particularly through social media sites,” the spokesperson said, elaborating: To protect our customers from the criminals exploiting these platforms, we’re temporarily reducing the maximum daily amount that a customer can send to cryptocurrency exchanges as well as blocking payments to a small number of cryptocurrency asset firms where we have seen particularly significant levels of fraud-related harm for our customers. The cap is temporary and was imposed on June 24 to target a number of cryptocurrency exchanges and digital asset firms, the spokesperson added, noting that the maximum amount is typically thousands of pounds but the exact amount depends on the platform. The exchanges targeted by Natwest include Binance, which the U.K.’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), issued a consumer notice about last week. The FCA said that Binance withdrew its application to register a crypto business in mid-May. Under the crypto regulation, companies wanting to provide crypto-related services must register with the FCA, which oversees compliance with laws designed to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. In May, Natwest alerted customers with tips to avoid cryptocurrency scams. “We have prevented millions of pounds from being sent to crypto-criminals who are exploiting the high levels of interest in the currency,” the bank said at the time. In April, there were reports that Natwest reportedly refused to service businesses that accept cryptocurrencies. Natwest is not the only bank scrutinizing cryptocurrency transactions. Earlier this month, another British bank, TSB, said it planned to ban crypto purchases due to increasing fraud cases. What do you think about Natwest’s crypto policy? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

As crypto markets saw some recovery on Tuesday, decentralized finance tokens and applications have once again started swelling in value. Decentralized exchange (dex) trade volumes have increased a great deal, as daily swap volumes stemming from Ethereum-based dex applications have doubled since Monday. Pancakes, Sushi, and Unicorns Decentralized finance continues to astonish, as billions of dollars have entered this new economy during the last two years. Years ago, there were a few decentralized exchange (dex) platforms but none of them compared to the liquidity that’s provided on dex platforms today. 24-hour and seven-day decentralized exchange statistics for Ethereum-based dex platforms, according to Dune Analytics on June 29, 2021. Moreover, the Ethereum blockchain hosts the most popular dex applications in existence today and many of these Ethereum-based dex platforms have outshined even centralized exchange (cex) platforms in terms of trade volume. Furthermore, the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) hosts a dex platform called Pancakeswap which has been steadily capturing large amounts of dex volume since its inception. For instance, on May 18, 2021, Pancakeswap processed $6.7 billion worth of swaps. Pancakeswap liquidity and daily trade volume on June 29, 2021, according to pancakeswap.info data. In June, Pancakeswap saw trade volumes between $336 million to $800 million depending on the day. On June 21, the BSC-based dex saw $1.21 billion in global trade volume. These metrics recorded by the web portal pancakeswap.info show Pancakeswap would be the second-most popular dex in terms of 24-hour volume. The second position, according to Dune Analytics, which only measures Ethereum-based dex platform volume, is Sushiswap. The dex Sushiswap is basically a clone of Uniswap, the largest dex application in terms of daily and weekly trade volume. Trailing seven-day dex trade volume and market share on June 29, 2021. Sushiswap’s volume is lower on June 27, than Pancakeswap’s $388 million in swaps as Sushiswap gathered $221,535,002 in 24-hour trades that day. Sushiswap still commands higher daily trade volumes than dex platforms like 0x Native, Curve, Dodo, Bancor Network, and Balancer. While Sushiswap obtained 9.9% of the seven-day cumulative dex trade volume last week, the top dex application Uniswap processed 67.5% of all global trades. Cumulative dex stats show over $2 billion was traded on 16 different dex platforms and $15 billion total over the last week. Of that $15 billion, Uniswap captured $10.3 billion of all that volume and outshines Sushiswap and Pancakeswap’s volumes combined. Cryptocurrency advocates expect dex applications to continue growing in popularity and overall trade volume. Reason being, most dex applications are noncustodial by design and don’t require submitting identity information in order to swap crypto coins. Daily dex volume and the number of traders (unique addresses) during the trailing last seven days. As mentioned above, earlier dex applications like Bisq suffered from liquidity issues and since the inception of financial tools like Ethereum-based automatic-market makers (AMMs) and dex smart contracts, that all changed. As dex trade volumes on networks like Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain continue to climb this summer, just like the heat outside, crypto liquidity is guaranteed to rise as well. In addition to dex apps on ETH and BSC, other blockchains with smart contract and AMM functionality are racing to catch up to these defi giants. What do you think about growing dex volumes and the major dex players in the space? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article