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Gucci Customers Can Now Buy Fashion Products Using ApeCoin (APE) in Selected U.S. Stores 

Mark Brennan
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Gucci Customers Can Now Buy Fashion Products Using ApeCoin (APE) in Selected U.S. Stores 

The Leading luxury brand has added ApeCoin (APE) to its supported payment option. 



Gucci, an Italian high-end luxury fashion house, has announced that its customers can now purchase fashion products from its boutiques using ApeCoin (APE). 

The company stated in a tweet today that APE can be used as a payment method across selected Gucci boutiques in the United States. Gucci disclosed that it partnered with popular cryptocurrency payment provider BitPay for the initiative. 

“Now accepting ApeCoin payments via BitPay across selected Gucci boutiques in the United States. Supporting APE further expands the range of cryptocurrencies available for Gucci in-store purchases. The move is yet another step in Gucci’s exploration of Web3 technologies,” Gucci noted. 

Gucci’s Foray Crypto World

Following the announcement, the leading luxury fashion brand has now expanded the number of cryptocurrencies it supports for in-store payments. 

Gucci first declared that it would be accepting cryptocurrency payments in May 2022. At the time, the Italian luxury brand stated that it would accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and five stablecoins.  

Despite recognizing the potential of cryptocurrencies, the Italian fashion house noted that the nascent asset class would be accepted in selected stores in the United States, including New York’s Wooster Street and Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles.

According to Gucci, making cryptocurrency payments will initially be supported in a few U.S. stores. However, the payment option will be rolled out in other Gucci stores in North America before the end of the year. 

Marco Bizzarri, Gucci’s president and CEO, said in May that the company is always looking to adopt innovative technologies that will give customers a satisfactory experience, adding: 

“Now that we are able to integrate cryptocurrencies within our payment system, it is a natural evolution for those customers who would like to have this option available to them.” 

Ripple Awards DEX Application Developers $100,000 in XRPL Grants 

Lele Jima
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Ripple Awards DEX Application Developers $100,000 in XRPL Grants 

The recipient is among the winners of the Wave 3 XRPL Grants program.

XRPL.to, a new decentralized exchange built on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), announced recently that it has won the sum of $100,000 via Ripple’s XRPL Grants program. 

About XRPL.to

XRPL.to was recently launched by two U.S. developers, Maksym Chaplinskyi and Yannier Lesende. The project is designed to give users access to real-time market data on the variety of tokens available and traded on XRPL-based decentralized exchanges.  

Per the announcement, XRPL.to is considered one of the most dominant on-chain analytics platforms on XRPL. 

Commenting on the development, the founders of XRPL.to issued a statement, saying: 

“We are thrilled to share with you all that we are one of the proud recipients of the esteemed XRPL Grants for our innovative open-source XRP Ledger project.” 

The founders added:  

“We have received a whopping amount of $100K in funding as well as technical mentorship from RippleX, and we are more than thankful. Both the grant and mentorship will support us to work on further advancements on XRPL.to.” 

Ripple’s Wave 3 XRPL Grants

According to the announcement, XRPL.to is among the Wave 3 recipients of the XRP Ledger Grants program. 

Last month, Ripple announced that it will award nearly $3 million in funding and technical support to winners of the Wave 3 XRPL Grants, which consists of 38 projects. 

Notably, the winners will be provided with the necessary support to build a variety of open source projects on the XRP Ledger. It is noteworthy that winners of the Wave 1 and 2 XRPL Grants program were mainly focused on non-fungible token (NFT) projects. 

However, the team behind the program chose to focus on open source developers for the third wave of the XRPL grants. 

As reported by TheCryptoBasic, Ripple awarded the sum of $100,000 in grants to popular entertainment marketplace Feetuure. 

Casey Swift, CEO of Feeturre, reacted to the development, saying: 

“The team is excited about our new journey on the XRP Ledger. Our vision is to create a ripple effect that will impact the entire entertainment industry.” 

 

DOGE Fans Discover A Ponzi After Suspicious Transactions On The Dogecoin Chain

Mark Brennan
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DOGE Fans Discover A Ponzi After Suspicious Transactions On The Dogecoin Chain

 

A potentialDogecoin scam has been exposed by crypto fans.


The crypto space is awash with scams, mostly because it’s hard to track stolen funds. Apparently, the latest scam involves Dogecoin. Reports indicate that the scam was discovered after the community noticed a large number of suspicious transactions on the Dogecoin chain.

Automated Accounts

A discovery made by one Dogecoin fan reveals that the said transactions were automated and very small. The said fan shared a list of the many addresses involved in the transactions.

“A large number of small transactions worth 0.0207 doge were executed on a daily basis supposedly to hide the true nature of the business and the movement of money.”

Crypto scams operate just like pyramid schemes where a few people are paid out with other people’s money before the scammers make away with the rest of the money. The few people paid out are meant to make the “business idea” appear legitimate and possibly cover up the many red flags that come with such scams.

Suspiciously High Returns

Interestingly, the reported scam was hatched and marketed as an investment opportunity for Dogecoin holders. However, the high interest offered as a return on investment caught the eyes of various hawk-eyed crypto fans that helped expose the scheme.

An entity going by the name of Huilo Invest is the culprit associated with the scam. Apparently, the company appears to claim that it’s based in London, UK, but trackers have connected the dots and found out that it’s actually based in China. A closer look at its operations reveals that at one time, Huilo Invest had funds amounting to around $600,000 – possibly looted from unsuspecting crypto holders with a false promise of offering between 7% and 10% return on investment within a day. Huilo Invest also received funds in BTC, Ethereum, Tron, BCH, BNB, USD, and LTC, among other cryptos.

Marked As Dangerous

Interestingly, various investment forums have already marked the scam company as dangerous, making it even more conspicuous. The scam scheme seems to have ended, although such scams often come back in other forms. It has also been marked as a scam by scamosafe.com. 

US-Based Bankline To Provide Round-The-Clock Access To Bitcoin ATM Funds

Albert Brown
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US-Based Bankline To Provide Round-The-Clock Access To Bitcoin ATM Funds

 

US-Based Bankline Expands Its Services To Provide Round-The-Clock Access To Funds For Bitcoin and Crypto ATM Users.


Crypto-friendly institution, BankLine is partnering with banks to facilitate overnight access to funds in Bitcoin and crypto ATMs within the US.

The crypto space is taking another huge step in terms of ease of access to funds. A few entities have invested in crypto ATMs, and one of them is BankLine. This crypto-friendly company has brought together various banking institutions to make it easier for crypto users to access funds overnight.

Facilitate Uninterrupted Services

With its latest movies, BankLine aims to solve the disturbing issues of interruption of services and delays that have plagued crypto ATM points in the US. It facilitates various crypto options – all under a single platform.

To optimize its services, BankLine has contracted more than 300 facilities operating cash vaults across the United States. BankLine’s services are available in Alaska, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the continental US. It operates around 29,000 BTM locations in the country.

Bankline Eliminates Lending Lines

By facilitating the overnight availability of funds, BankLine has effectively solved the issues related to lending lines that introduce charges and timing inconveniences. According to BankLine’s director of sales, Steve Bessen, the company sets itself apart from other banks due to its competitive services.

“Overnight availability of funds transforms the Crypto ATM industry, allowing BankLine’s Crypto ATM operators to reduce or eliminate the need for lending lines and related interest charges, creating a more self-reliant path toward corporate expansion. “

While a lot of other banks aren’t crypto-friendly, BankLine improves operational efficiency and makes working with crypto ATMs easier for users. 

James Howells Plans a £10M Treasure Hunt For A £140M Missing Bitcoin Hard Disk

Mark Brennan
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James Howells Plans a £10M Treasure Hunt For A £140M Missing Bitcoin Hard Disk

 

James Howells is organizing a treasure hunt with a reward of ten million pounds to find a lost Bitcoin hard drive.



James Howells, a computer expert who threw his hard drive containing Bitcoins worth £149 million, is now planning a treasure hunt for the missing hard drive that will cost £10 million by searching a trash site, according to Daily Mail UK. After successfully mining 8,000 Bitcoins in the early stages of the cryptocurrency in 2013, Howells tossed away the hard drive by mistake.

If/when the hard drive gets found, Howells said that he would donate 10% of the revenues to the effort to transform the city of Newport into a crypto center. He has added that he would only retain 30% of the treasure for himself, and the remaining will be distributed among his recovery team, investors, and other charitable organizations in the area.

Participants in the treasure hunt include specialists in landfill excavation, environmental waste management, and data recovery. Additionally, the location is protected by robot Spot dogs, which patrol the vicinity to guarantee that no one else is attempting to retrieve the device. An Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered machine would be brought in with the local pickers to dig through the garbage for the hard drive.

Howells said: “The funding has been secured. We’ve brought on an AI specialist. Their technology can easily be retrained to search for a hard drive. We’ve also got an environmental team on board. We’ve basically got a well-rounded team of various experts, with various expertise, which, when we all come together, are capable of completing this task to a very high standard.”

Howells has to go under a massive undertaking of bearing all expenses as there is no certainty that the lost hard drive can be recovered, as it has been nearly a decade since its loss.

But if recovered, its owner and all other beneficiaries are in for a windfall of wealth, but the precise sum will depend on which way the fickle cryptocurrency moves.

Cambodia’s Largest Alcoholic Beverage Exporter Taps VeChain To Combat Fake Products

Mark Brennan
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Cambodia’s Largest Alcoholic Beverage Exporter Taps VeChain To Combat Fake Products

Attwood adopts VeChain’s tech to guarantee products’ authenticity.  


Cambodia’s largest alcoholic beverage importer and distributor, Attwood Import Export, has tapped VeChain technology, VeChainThor, to develop a new security sticker. 

VeChain noted in an announcement today that the initiative, dubbed Attwood Blockchain Sticker (ABS), will help the alcoholic beverage distribution company guarantee product authenticity. 

Attwood Blockchain Service Use

According to VeChain, the blockchain sticker will be placed on each bottle of drink that Attwood distributes. Each Attwood Blockchain Sticker has key information about the product integrated into the VeChain blockchain. Thus, making salient information immutable and trustworthy. 

Upon buying drinks distributed by the company, Attwood’s customers can scan the sticker placed on the bottle from their smartphones to verify the authenticity and origin of the product. 

The initiative would help prevent fraud and keep customers safe from consuming fake drinks produced by malefactors.  

“As a leading import export trading company, Attwood has always played an important role in bridging the gap between brands and consumers. Through the partnership with VeChain Tech, we strengthen the ability to take responsibility for our customers and products,” Mr. Tan Se Chhay, CEO of Attwood, said. 

Attwood’s Prowess in Drinks Distribution

Attwood Import Export has been one of the leading companies distributing luxury alcoholic beverage brands for more than three decades. 

Some of the brands Attwood distributes include Johnie Walker, Chandon Sparkling, Budweiser beer, Moet & Chandon, Hennessy, Terrazas, etc. 

VeChain Tech Solving Real-World Problems

In recent times, there has been a spike in the number of fake products in circulation, especially in developing nations. However, VeChain is committed to combating these fraudulent practices through its technology. 

Companies looking to build trust in their brands can leverage VeChainThor to develop solutions that will bolster customers’ trust in their products. 

VeChainThor is specifically developed to address trust issues. Based on this, the network has been adopted by many companies across various sectors, including supply chain & logistics. 

“VeChain Tech will continue its mission of developing and deploying digital solutions for Attwood and other visionary businesses, push the fore of digital transformation and unlocking new value while solving complex industrial problems,” VeChain noted in an announcement. 

The announcement comes less than 24 hours after VeChain’s co-founder Sunny Lu said the company is committed to changing the world using its blockchain technology. 

US Department Of Justice Sends Two Orange County Men To Jail For Crypto Scam Involving 2k Investors

Mark Brennan
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US Department Of Justice Sends Two Orange County Men To Jail For Crypto Scam Involving 2k Investors

 

Two men from Orange County have been sentenced to jail time for a crypto scam that resulted in $1.9 million in losses.



Yesterday, the Justice Department announced that two men from Orange County had been sentenced to federal prison for 36 months for defrauding more than 2,000 investors out of $1.9 million by tricking them into purchasing a cryptocurrency that purportedly gave them unique access to a highly profitable trading program.

The offenders are Jeremy McAlpine and Zachary Matar, who, in August 2021, both pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud. 

How They Did It

Dropil Inc., a Belize-based firm situated in Fountain Valley, was created by McAlpine and Matar in 2017. A cryptocurrency developed by McAlpine and Matar, known as DROPs, launched after an initial coin offering (ICO). It was one of the digital assets that Dropil invested in and managed for its thousands of clients. A trading bot dubbed “Dex” was also developed by McAlpine and Matar for Dropil’s digital asset trading platform, which could only be used using the DROPs token.

Among other untrue statements, An average annual return between 24% and 63% could easily be earned by using the DEX trading bot, depending on the risk profile chosen by the investors.

According to McAlpine and Matar, their false claims about the functionality and profitability of Dex and the number and volume of investors who had already invested in DROPs increased the token’s value as a result of the basic principle of supply and demand. These false claims led investors to purchase hundreds of millions of so-called “DROPs” tokens.

Through the purchase and selling of roughly 629 million DROPs by 2,472 investors, the offenders were able to receive a total of about $1,896,657 ($1.89M). The Justice Department further accused McAlpine and Matar of using the money for their personal and associate benefits.

The prosecution stated in sentencing memos that the defendant’s acts were grave and worrisome because they caused considerable financial loss to many victims and included efforts to thwart law enforcement’s efforts to investigate and resolve the misconduct.

1,100 Dormant Bitcoin (BTC) Moved After 8 Years

Lele Jima
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1,100 Dormant Bitcoin (BTC) Moved After 8 Years

A huge amount of Bitcoin (BTC) has been moved after eight years of lying dormant in a wallet. 


Cryptocurrency analytics data provider CryptoQuant disclosed that the funds – 1,100 BTC ($25.12 million) – belong to a retired Bitcoin miner known by the name of Ghash. 

According to CryptoQuant, the funds have been dormant since 2014. Interestingly, the crypto data provider noticed that Ghash, who is no longer a miner on the Bitcoin network, decided to move the funds to an unknown wallet on July 20, 2022. 

A development of this sort usually spreads panic among enthusiasts of the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Many would think that the owner of the funds may choose to dump his Bitcoin holding in the market, which may plunge the price of BTC. 

However, CryptoQuant noted that the 1,100 Bitcoin were not sent to a cryptocurrency exchange as feared. 

“We suspect that almost half of these coins could have gone to a custodian service because the receiving address type can be used by multiple digital signatures (P2SH),” CryptoQuant noted in a report.  

 

Twitch Streamers Can Now Create NFTs And Generate Tokens On XRP Ledger (XRPL)

Mark Brennan
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Twitch Streamers Can Now Create NFTs And Generate Tokens On XRP Ledger (XRPL)

Streamers on Twitch may now create their own NFTs and create utility tokens that they can distribute to their followers.



PlayNFT, a platform for minting non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has announced that they are one of the companies to receive funding from RippleX’s XRPL Grants Program. As a result, Twitch streamers can create NFTs on XRPLedger and interact with other gamers and developers to provide their tokens’ utility inside the games. It is expected to be launched later this month.

 

PlayNFT links NFT holders and NFT creators to the in-game content of blockchain games. Game developers can use this platform to generate content for holders on any supported blockchains.

Streamers on Twitch can now generate digital tokens via the PlayNFT platform, which they can then give to their followers. NFT markets can also use the PlayNFT platform to indicate which NFTs are tied to utility and which aren’t.

Ripple’s XRPL Grants

The Ripple Foundation’s XRPL Grants program provides financial support to software development endeavors using the open-source XRP Ledger (XRPL). XRPL Grants provided a total of $3 million in financing during the second quarter of 2022, distributed to 36 recipients.

The funds are used to support new functionality and the creation of tools that will assist in the tokenization of carbon credit as core NFTs on the XRP Ledger.

The XRPL Grants Program is comprised of many waves of funding. Both Wave 1 and Wave 2 concentrated on non-fungible tokens and federated side chains as their primary areas of attention. Open-source software programmers and developers are the focus of the Wave 3 phase.

Swiss Bank Sygnum Adds Cardano (ADA) to Its Bank-Grade Staking Offering 

Lele Jima
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Swiss Bank Sygnum Adds Cardano (ADA) to Its Bank-Grade Staking Offering 

Swiss bank Sygnum has announced that it has added Cardano (ADA) to its staking offering. 



The company noted in an announcement today that its customers will be able to stake ADA, the eighth-largest cryptocurrency, via its bank-grade staking platform to earn rewards. 

Following the development, ADA will be added to the list of cryptocurrencies Sygnum already offers for staking. Prior to the announcement, Sygnum offered to stake in three cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), Internet Computer (ICP), and Tezos (XTZ). 

With the addition of ADA, the cryptocurrency has become the fourth coin that Sygnum offers for staking to its clients. 

Commenting on the development, Thomas Eichenberger, Head of Business Units at Sygnum Bank, said: 

“As institutional adoption of digital assets continues to ramp up, demand for the ability to earn rewards alongside upside from the underlying protocols also continues to rise. Signum’s bank-grade staking offering, now including Cardano, offers our clients a broad selection of investment opportunities backed by the security and peace of mind of a regulated bank.” 

Sygnum Staking Service and Its Importance to Users

It is noteworthy that Sygnum offers one of the top cryptocurrency staking services. Sygnum’s staking service is fully integrated with its banking platform. 

Users’ security is guaranteed via segregated wallets, secure private key management, and a multi-layer security infrastructure. 

Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation, was excited about the development, while welcoming Sygnum users to the Cardano ecosystem. 

“This new offering allows Sygnum’s clients to participate in our ecosystem, where they enjoy a risk-free staking experience without having to transfer the asset nor lock it. Additionally, Cardano’s state of the art architecture provides both retail and institutional clients a unique experience for ADA-holders. You always have the power over your ADA,” Gregaard added.  

Meanwhile, Sygnum became the first regulated bank to offer Ethereum staking to its clients. The move suggests that Sygnum is fully aware of cryptos’ potential and is committed to giving its users full exposure to the nascent asset class. 

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