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Top Luxury Retailers in Berlin to Accept XRP Payments via Ripple’s Liquidity Hub

Albert Brown
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Top Luxury Retailers in Berlin to Accept XRP Payments via Ripple’s Liquidity Hub

Ripple has partnered with LUNU to foster widespread acceptance of crypto payments.


Popular fintech company Ripple has announced a partnership with cryptocurrency payment provider Lunu, which will enable Berlin-based luxury retailers to accept digital currencies as a form of payment for their merchandise.

The announcement was made by Ripple today, stating that luxury retailers will accept cryptocurrency payments using its Liquidity Hub, a solution developed by the blockchain company to foster long-term crypto adoption.

Lunu’s Crypto Payment Solution

Prior to the announcement, Lunu had been offering luxury retailers the ability to accept cryptocurrency payments using its Point of Sale (POS) terminal and online widget.

Lunu’s services have been widely adopted by top luxury brands in Europe and the United Kingdom, including Steven Stone, Farfetch, Off-White, and Browns.

It is worth noting that customers purchasing items from any of the luxury retailers that use Lunu can make payment using any of the seven supported cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC), Binance coin (BNB), ripple (XRP), Tron (TRX), USD coin (USDC), USD tether (USDT), and Ethereum (ETH).

Ripple Partnership to Enhance Lunu’s Offering

Despite its ongoing lawsuit in the United States, Ripple has seen a growing demand for its services across various parts of the world, including from traditional financial institutions.

The rising demand for Ripple’s services does not come as a surprise given that a number of traditional financial institutions in Europe have indicated interest in blockchain-related solutions.

Per a recent survey conducted by New Value, 70% of respondents stated that blockchain tech will contribute positively to their businesses in the next five years, while another 59% disclosed that they will adopt crypto payments.

It is worth noting that Ripple is among the market leaders in the crypto industry, processing over $15 billion worth of transactions on behalf of its clients using RippleNet last year.

Although Luna’s services have tried to cater to its growing clients, the recent initiative will further improve the cryptocurrency payment provider’s offering.

According to the announcement, Ripple’s Liquidity Hub will further enhance Lunu’s services, enabling its clients to accelerate the acceptance of digital currencies, optimize the conversion of cryptocurrencies to fiat at competitive prices, and faster lower-cost transactions.

Rajesh Madhaiyan, Director of Product, Lunu, said:

“For luxury retailers, it is vital to stay on top of the latest trends, and when it comes to payments the greatest innovation is coming from the evolving crypto scene. Thanks to Lunu, these retailers get access to new, younger, more affluent audiences that are constantly growing in numbers.”

Madhaiyan added that Lunu’s partnership with Ripple will be beneficial to its clients’ customer services, as it will help increase the number of supported payment methods, as well as portray them as being innovative.

“Crypto liquidity is the common thread that underpins all of Ripple’s solutions, from payments to lending and credit. Our ambition is to build a suite of enterprise-oriented crypto products for the benefit of our clients and their customers,” Sendi Young, Managing Director, Europe, Ripple.

Another Significant Milestone As Number of Projects Building on Cardano Surpasses 1,000

Lele Jima
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Another Significant Milestone As Number of Projects Building on Cardano Surpasses 1,000

Cardano has continued to prove its critics wrong to achieve yet another significant milestone. 


In a stunning feat celebrated across the Cardano community, the number of decentralized applications (dApps) currently being built and preparing to launch on the blockchain has surpassed 1,000.

NFT Projects Outnumber Others

According to data shared by Input Output Global (IOG), the firm responsible for the research and development of Cardano, as of yesterday, the number of projects building on Cardano soared to 1,003.

The projects built on the blockchain cut across various cryptocurrency niches, including crypto wallets, stablecoins, NFT marketplaces, community & social, decentralized exchanges (DEX), gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), and lending, among others.

Per the data, out of the 1,003 decentralized applications built on Cardano, most projects are non-fungible tokens (NFTs) collections, representing a massive 40.4%.

The second-highest projects are community and social, representing 6% of the entire dApps under development on the Cardano blockchain.

As illustrated in the data shared by the IOG:

  • NFT collection represents the highest number of projects under development on Cardano, with 40.4%.
  • Community and social dApps represent 6% of the total projects being built on Cardano.
  • 4.2% of the projects are classed under the NFT marketplace.
  • DEX, Gaming, DeFi, Lending, and Metaverse, represent 3.8, 4.2, 2.1, 1.7, and 4.1 percent, respectively.
  • Crypto wallets and stable coins claim 3.7% and 1.2%, respectively.
  • Data explores, Dev Team, and Developer tools share a combined 9.4%.
  • Oracles, identity solutions, Launchpad, and other projects share a combined 11.8%.

Rising Interest in Cardano’s Features

The development suggests a growing interest among decentralized application developers in building on Cardano.

Unlike most projects, Cardano encountered a slow start, with the project not having a single decentralized application for more than three years after it launched in 2017.

However, following the implementation of the Alonzo Hard Fork Event in September 2021, the upgrade introduced smart contract functionality, thus making it possible for developers to start building decentralized applications on Cardano.

Not many projects were interested in building on Cardano in the initial stages. Interestingly, since the beginning of the year, things have changed as more projects keep launching on the blockchain.

Benefits of Building on Cardano

Building on Cardano comes with many perks, as developers get to enjoy fast and low-cost transactions, scalability, funding, and zero downtime.

Despite the benefits associated with Cardano, IOG is still committed to making developers’ journeys smooth, as the Cardano team is planning to implement the Vasil Hard Fork in the latter part of this month.

According to Charles Hoskinson, the CEO of IOG, more dApps will be built on Cardano when the Vasil upgrade is implemented.

New US Crypto Bill Leaked: Bill Goes Hard After DAOs, DeFi, Stablecoins, And Exchanges

Mark Brennan
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New US Crypto Bill Leaked: Bill Goes Hard After DAOs, DeFi, Stablecoins, And Exchanges

 

Doge Founder Says Leaked Bill Goes Hard After Sh.t Tokens, DAOs, DeFi, Stablecoins, And Exchanges.



The Crypto community tries to understand the repercussions as over 600 pages of the US crypto bill leaked.

Crypto Twitter is currently buzzing with debates and conversations about legal regulations pertaining to the space.

This was after a cache of documents was leaked. Apparently, the 600+ pages of the draft are said to cover the US crypto bill that is currently in preparation. The initial leak was posted by the slam bot.

 

Various entities, including Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, got hold of the documents and shared their opinions. Billy sent out a Twitter thread to that effect. In his opinion, the bill is designed to be tough on altcoins, DeFi, DAO, Stablecoins, and crypto exchanges. On this, Billy thinks that going hard on exchanges would have a lasting impact on the industry.

He said, “looks like the new US crypto bill that has been leaked goes hard after sh.t tokens, DAOs, DeFi, stablecoins, and exchanges.”

He further said:  “All they really gotta do is go hard after exchanges and the party is over.”

No More Anonymous Projects

Looking at it from another angle, the bill seems to try to protect crypto users. First off, all crypto entities operating in the space, like DeFi platforms, crypto projects, Exchanges, and DAO, would have to be legally registered.

This means that the industry would no longer see tokens developed by anonymous creators. No more BTC-like tokens. For one, these situations increase the risk of rug pulls that end up with people losing money to scams.

The bill introduces clarity where gray areas have lingered for a long. Exchanges, DAOs, and Stablecoins will have to be registered, failure to which they’ll be taxed.

A number of assets have also been reclassified as commodities. For example, under the CFTC’s guidelines, if profit/revenue, dividends, equity, or debt are involved in dealing with any token, the asset will cease to be a digital asset. If there is any debt, equity, profit revenue, or dividend of any variety, then it is now expressly not a digital asset commodity.

In terms of disclosure, there will be stricter measures that will eliminate any more possibilities of projects created by anonymous characters. The bill also proposes a raise in exchange for compliance costs, which means that investors will have to foot the bill because the platforms will pass the costs over to the customers. New disclosure requirements would make anon-run projects almost impossible to comply with under the law. -Anything that trades 1 digital asset meets the burden of being a digital asset exchange. The current language seems like it would include AMMs.

Where bankruptcy is filed, exchanges will be required to refund the users’ assets as opposed to liquidating them. This is a big win for users. Exchange oversight is going through the roof. Huge increase in compliance costs (so fees would go up) but likely better listing and no trading against their own users. Fee offsetting rules mean exchanges will have to pay the government fees, likely putting costs up.

The bill also requires exchanges to have Terms of Services that users agree to. Users will have to assent to their agreement whenever the exchange updates its source code. Depository institutions will have the freedom to issue stable coins.

Bankruptcy definition changes are a win for users making it clear assets deposited would get returned to users and not liquidated.

However, the bill clearly spells out penalties to be enforced in the event of non-compliance.

Crypto Space “Was Asking For Regulation”

On the other hand, the bill proposes a rise in compliance costs. As usual, businesses tend to pass these extra costs over to the consumer, meaning that crypto exchanges would increase transaction fees on their platforms.

They would also be required to pay taxes from these fees. Basically, in the eyes of the crypto industry, this bill is a double-edged sword.

According to Billy, the crypto market is full of garbage and has a high concentration of scammers. In his view, this space has been asking for regulation. Billy isn’t exactly pro-crypto, despite him being one of the co-founders of DOGE.

NOTE: It’s A Draft Bill

At this point, it’s worth noting that the bill is still in its draft form. As is always the case with bills, lobby groups will get involved in the refining process to come up with a final, all-inclusive bill.

It’s still not clear when the bill will be presented for debate or passing by lawmakers. It’s also not clear who leaked the documents.

Dogecoin Founder Says People Are Only Interested In Crypto When Prices Go Up And It Will Always Be Like That

Mark Brennan
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Dogecoin Founder Says People Are Only Interested In Crypto When Prices Go Up And It Will Always Be Like That

The Dogecoin creator has stated cryptocurrency investors’ attitude toward the nascent asset class. 


Billy Marcus, the co-founder of the popular meme coin Dogecoin (DOGE), has noted that people only show interest in cryptocurrencies when prices are high. However, the same cannot be said when the nascent asset class prices are low.

In one of his many Twitter sessions, Marcus said: “crypto is only interesting to the masses when numbers go up. Always has been, always will be.”

Investors’ Interest in Dogecoin

He shared data from Google, showing cryptocurrency traders’ interest in his creation – Dogecoin. Per the data, global interest in Dogecoin has plummeted massively in the past year.

Over the past 12 months, interest in DOGE has plummeted from 100 to below 25 from June 2021 to June 2022, thus suggesting a massive decline in interest in the asset class.

interest in dogecoin

The data analyzes interest in the popular meme coin on a scale of 0 to 100, based on the number of times people across various parts of the world have searched about cryptocurrency on the internet.

Basic Point:

The primary point that Marcus is telling us is that people in crypto only care about prices. They don’t see fundamentals like any altcoin team, its mission and vision, the product it’s offering, etc. People jump in every coin where they see they can make money no matter how worse that coin is or how fake its team may be.

The only concern for crypto lovers is to make money without reading or analyzing any project. On this basis, doge founder recently said that 95% of Cryptocurrencies Are Garbage And scams; he also pointed out that Every Project is Made these days to Enrich Creators At the Expense of the Community.

So the crypto dilemma is that both the community and the project makers are behind money, which must change if this industry wants growth.

Dogecoin’s Performance

It is worth noting that Dogecoin’s interest spiked tremendously in June 2021 because the popular meme coin hit an all-time high a month earlier.

Recall that DOGE had soared to an all-time high of $0.73 on May 08, 2021. However, the cryptocurrency has dipped massively by more than 89% ever since, which has resulted in a decline in interest in the coin.

According to the cryptocurrency aggregator platform data, DOGE is trading at $0.079, representing a decline of 4.8% in the last 24 hours.

Global Crypto Market Affected

Meanwhile, aside from a declining interest in Dogecoin, the entire cryptocurrency market has recorded massive capitulation among investors following the unfortunate incident that befell Terra ecosystem tokens.

The incident had a massive impact on the entire cryptocurrency market, causing all digital currencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), to embark on free fall.

With the crash of the crypto market and the massive price swing recorded since the beginning of the year, many investors have chosen to stay away from digital currencies to avoid incurring more losses.

Do Kwon And TerraForm Labs Hold 42 Million Terra 2.0 (LUNA) Despite Claiming Not Holding Any Coins

Mark Brennan
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Do Kwon And TerraForm Labs Hold 42 Million Terra 2.0 (LUNA) Despite Claiming Not Holding Any Coins

Do Kwon’s troubles double up as expose links him and TerraForm Labs (TFL) to multiple shadow wallets with 42 million LUNA.



Do Kwon’s troubles with the Terra community don’t seem to be ending any time soon. There’s a new allegation made against the Terra founder every other day. One guy named FatMan on Twitter has dedicated his time and resources to digging up as many skeletons as possible about Do Kwon and Terraform Labs.

In his latest expose in a Twitter thread, FatMan accuses Kwon and TFL of duping the community and lying about their LUNA holdings.

“Do Kwon has stated numerous times that TFL has zero new LUNA tokens, making Terra 2 ‘community owned’. This is an outright lie that nobody seems to be talking about. In fact, TFL owns 42M LUNA, worth over $200m.”

While Terra In their Official Tweet on May 25th Wrote: “The removal of the wallets from the airdrop whitelist will make Terra a fully community-owned chain.”

 

He shared a screenshot of the tweet earlier sent out by Terra assuring the community that wallets associated with TFL and LFG would be excluded from the LUNA airdrop whitelist when Terra 2.0 launched. Apparently, this decision was made to “make Terra a fully community-owned chain.”

Coins Held In Shadow Wallets

However, according to information now shared by FatMan, TFL was fibbing. Apparently, the company, and Do Kwon, have other secret wallets and shadow wallets holding upwards of 42 million LUNA. FatMan went on to share the links to the wallets in question. There are three wallets associated with TFL and two associated with Do Kwon.

According to Fatman below are the hidden Terra wallets that hold 42.81M LUNA

Did Kwon Approve His Own Proposal?

FatMan didn’t stop there. He further accused Do Kwon of using his shadow wallets to manipulate the governance voting to pass his proposals. Basically, Kwon made proposals, then used his shadow wallets to vote and pass them. FatMan noted that TFL is not supposed to vote in community governance motions.

Do Kwon owns TFL. One such instance may be the recent voting that passed the proposal to create Terra 2.0.

In the preliminary voting, almost the entire community was against creating a new chain, instead opting for the burning of the old LUNA (now Luna Classic).

However, after an amendment, the proposal was passed by the VIP voters. Since then, there have been complaints within the community that Do Kwon has abandoned LUNC. Interestingly, Terra 2.0 has been supported by various crypto exchanges.

One Of The World Oldest Crypto Exchange Bitstamp Lists Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Mark Brennan
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One Of The World Oldest Crypto Exchange Bitstamp Lists Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Shiba Inu gets another listing on yet another veteran crypto exchange.


Following the widespread interest in Shiba Inu (SHIB), Luxembourg-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp has announced that it has listed the dog-themed digital currency.

The exchange made this known in a blog post today, stating that it has listed two trading pairs for the cryptocurrency, including SHIB/EUR and SHIB/USD.

 

According to the announcement, Bitstamp users can begin depositing their Shiba Inu tokens to the platform today, while users who want to purchase the cryptocurrency can do so beginning tomorrow.

While users will be allowed to place limit orders from tomorrow by 07:00 AM UTC, these orders will not be filled until the exchange has enough liquidity. Within this time users can cancel their orders before the matching of orders commences.

Per the announcement, Bitstamp will begin matching all orders tomorrow by 11:00 AM UTC. The exchange noted that once it has gathered enough liquidity, it will commence full trading for the dog-themed cryptocurrency, including card purchases, as well as add more Shiba Inu trading pairs.

It is no longer news that Shiba Inu is one of the most widely adopted cryptocurrencies, as the asset class continues to be listed across multiple exchanges.

Bitstamp Successes in the Market

Meanwhile, Bitstamp is a veteran cryptocurrency exchange that launched in the early days of crypto. The exchange was launched in 2011 with its headquarters located in Luxembourg. Bitstamp stands out among its peers due to its low trading fees and has succeeded in onboarding millions of users globally.

With the addition of Shiba Inu, the cryptocurrency will be available to the millions of users currently using Bitstamp.

According to data on Coingecko, Bitstamp is ranked as the 25th-largest exchange with a 24-hour trading volume of $215.8 million.

Speakeasy Club Becomes The First In UAE To Accept Bitcoin Payment for Its Public Speaking Online Course

Lele Jima
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Speakeasy Club Becomes The First In UAE To Accept Bitcoin Payment for Its Public Speaking Online Course

Bitcoin adoption continues to soar as Speakeasy Club launches UAE’s first online training to accept cryptocurrency. 


UAE-based PR firm Speakeasy Club has announced today that it is accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments for its first online course dubbed the Public Speaking Masterclass.

The startup was launched this year by two women, Rachel Pether and Kat Hicker, who have journalism backgrounds.

According to the announcement, the acceptance of the world’s largest cryptocurrency would facilitate payment for the online course to quickly expose people to the course.

Commenting on why the startup decided to accept bitcoin payments, Rachel Pether, the co-founder of Speakeasy and SkyBridge Capital advisor, said:

“We are big believers in the power of technology to improve people’s lives. It made sense to have an online course accepting payment using Bitcoin.”

It is worth noting that the initiative has made Speakeasy Club the first UAE-based company to accept the world’s largest cryptocurrency as payment.

Notably, the online course is broken down into eight modules to make comprehension and practice easy for participants.

Speakeasy’s Public Speaking Masterclass

Per the announcement, the online course is designed to help attendees build the needed confidence required to engage in public speaking.

Recalling their experience, both Pether and Hicke noted that they noticed a lot of MENA professionals, especially women, had difficulty engaging in public speaking, and they had to help with developing their public speaking skills.

The disability among these professionals left them embarrassed among their peers and stakeholders.

Noticing this pattern, the duo chose to launch the Public Speaking Masterclass to help many people to become fluent in public speaking.

“This is why we’ve created a concise eCourse solution to support busy professionals. The methodologies we use in the online training have been tested and developed over the past 10 years,” Hicker said.

This quarter’s launch of the online course would not have been possible without a strong network of Dubai-based media production talent.

Widespread Bitcoin Adoption

Meanwhile, the adoption of Bitcoin would further contribute to helping the cryptocurrency to further go mainstream. Since the inception of Bitcoin, the asset class has been adopted across diverse industries, including health, finance and commerce, among others.

The latest acceptance of Bitcoin payments by Speakeasy Club goes to show that more adoption awaits the top asset class.

Bitcoin Is Current Sitting At A Key Level Between Bears And Bulls – Which Way Does It Swing?

Albert Brown
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Bitcoin Is Current Sitting At A Key Level Between Bears And Bulls – Which Way Does It Swing?

Bitcoin is starting the week with a positive outlook as $36K seems to be coming.



Bitcoin is currently hitting the headlines after opening the week on a positive note. The top coin seems to be gaining a moment after breaking above the $30k mark. However, this should be looked at with caution, especially given the crypto’s current volatility.

BTC has been swinging between $29 and $31k for some time. That said, it appears that some external measures may be at playtime round.

An analysis tweeted out by IntoTheBlock reveals that BTC has broken out of an 8-week rut and has soared to reach $31,400. That’s a 5% increase from the previous mark.

 

This could mean that the market is ready to move, but to which side? The bears have perturbed the market for months now, and a bit of positive movement doesn’t necessarily mean they’re retreating. The analytical piece went deeper to explain the situation, delving into both the support and resistance sides.

Support Side

Investors are buying Bitcoin at around $30k, marking that as the support level. There are over 1.65 million addresses that have purchased upwards of $980,000 Bitcoin at around this price level. Interestingly, this level has been the previous key resistance level.

It has now turned into a support level due to the recent surge. This notion suggests that a drop below $30k may not be very likely now. Instead, it indicates an increase in buying pressure as the price approaches that point.

The Resistance

Looking at the resistance side, as stipulated by IntoTheBlock, the selling pressure seems to die down as the price approaches $32.5k.

Around 371,000 addresses have bought 220,000 Bitcoins at around that price level between $31.4k and $32.5k.

This suggests that investors are more inclined to HODL as BTC’s price approaches $32.5k. If the price breaks past this point, it could pump up to reach $36k easily. This would probably set off a bull run.

 

According to a tweet by another crypto trader Van de Poppe, BTC’s overnight movement that sent it over $29.7k made $30.5 the new support point, with a support target at $32.8k.

 

At this writing, Bitcoin is trading at around $31.3k, with a 5.56% increase daily. The coin has recorded a 7-day price increase of 3%.

DOGE Announcement: New Dogecoin Update 1.46.6 To Be Released This Month

Mark Brennan
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DOGE Announcement: New Dogecoin Update 1.46.6 To Be Released This Month

 

Dogecoin launching a new update this month.



Dogecoin (DOGE) has been making headlines of late. Crypto has gained the support of some of the heavy-weights in the industry, including Tesla’s Elon Musk. Recently, Elon engaged in a Twitter spat with one of DOGE’s co-founders, Jackson Palmer, about his coding abilities. It now appears that while these two were “sparring,” DOGE’s core developers were busy planning an upgrade of the system.

It’s worth noting here that Palmer left the Dogecoin project over 7 years ago.

A recent tweet reported that a DOGE core developer, Patrick Lodder, was liaising with others to implement a system upgrade, dubbed update 1.14.6. Patrick had earlier on posted about it on Reddit. You can find the GitHub version here.

 

The Must Haves

According to Patrick, a few things must be fixed before the update is released. These include enhanced wallet protection, fixes for known Bitcoin vulnerabilities, fixes for potential DOGE vulnerabilities, making the Dogecoin Core wallet cheaper to use, an easy-to-use gitian script, and improved handling of address messages.

The Should Haves

He also mentioned a few other updates that Dogecoin should. These aren’t necessarily a must to be included when the update happens. These include dependency updates and a few others that are in development.

The Could Haves

This group of updates isn’t necessarily important and the system can still work without them, but Patrick feels they could be included now or at a future date. These include better clean-up modules, increased secrets entropy, increased system performance, and cleanup of compiling. There are a few others still in the draft stage.

How Is DOGE Responding?

The DOGE community is already excited about the upcoming updates, and the crypto has already seen a positive impact on price. At the time of this writing, DOGE is trading at around $0.083 and posting a 2.5% increase on the daily.

Shiba Inu to Commence Distribution of Rewards to Participants of LEASH Locker Program

Mark Brennan
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Shiba Inu to Commence Distribution of Rewards to Participants of LEASH Locker Program

The Shiba Inu team has announced that it has made some adjustments to the reward distribution contract of SHIB: The metaverse locker program. 


The development, according to a blog post today, will enable users who locked their LEASH at the early stage of the SHIB: The Metaverse locker program, to receive their rewards at the completion of the 90 days duration.

Before the adjustment, the reward distribution contract specifies that participants of the initiative will receive their reward after the land sale has been completed and the 90 days duration.

However, with the land sale still ongoing, which is currently in the Public Sale event, the Shiba Inu team believes that participants of the program may be delayed and frustrated when the sales are not concluded in earnest.

“This updated contract fulfills unlocking the rewards without the need for selling out. Rewards will become available after the 90 days for locking rewards come to an end for all users, and to be fair to all those who locked their assets, which at this time is set for July 2nd, 2022,” the team announcement reads.

This comes as the Shiba Inu community continues to anticipate the rewards for locking their $LEASH in the locker tool built on its metaverse website.

LEASH Locker Program

Recall that the Shiba Inu team mandated LEASH and Shiboshi holders to lock their assets in a locker tool on the metaverse website before they will be allowed to purchase plots of land in the first two stages – Bid and Holders’ event.

Although the first two events have ended, the land sale is currently available for public sale.

Users who locked their $LEASH and Shiboshi are tipped to be entitled to 3% of the funds generated through the sale of the land.

The reward will be distributed in $BONE, with each user expected to receive a reward based on the amount of $LEASH locked and the total time their assets have been locked.

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