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VeChain Partners Alchemy Pay to Enable the Purchase of Goods Across 2 Million Stores Using VET

Lele Jima
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VeChain Partners Alchemy Pay to Enable the Purchase of Goods Across 2 Million Stores Using VET

More utility for the VET token following VeChain’s partnership with Alchemy Pay.


Popular blockchain project VeChain has announced a collaboration with cryptocurrency payment provider Alchemy Pay.

According to a recent announcement, the partnership will enable cryptocurrency enthusiasts to purchase goods from more than two million stores globally, using VeChain’s native digital currency, VET.

“Thanks to partner @AlchemyPay, $VET can now be used to buy goods at 2 million+ stores globally!,” VeChain said in an announcement.

Through VeChain’s low-carbon and scalable blockchain architecture, clients interested in the solution will be able to pay an insignificant transaction cost when they use the service.

“Using our advanced low-#carbon #blockchain, transactions cost fractions of a cent & are processed in seconds from any #VeChain wallet,” VeChain added.

Alchemy Pay Bridging Gap Between Crypto & Fiat

Alchemy Pay also took to the popular microblogging platform Twitter to announce the development, saying:

“Great news VeChainers! You can now use @vechainofficial’s $VET token to pay at 2+million merchants in over 70 countries around the world!”

 Alchemy Pay is an all-in-one online and offline crypto-fiat payment gateway for different businesses, including cryptocurrency exchanges and e-commerce platforms.

The firm is focused on bridging the gap between cryptocurrency and fiat, which it believes will bolster the widespread adoption of digital currencies in the real world.

VET Utility Increases

Notably, the development will increase the utility of VET, which will record massive adoptions from people interested in using cryptocurrency to purchase items from the supported stores.

Meanwhile, the news that VET can now be used to purchase goods across over two million stores did not have much impact on the price of the digital currency.

The token only recorded a slight gain from a low of $0.051 to $0.053. At the time of writing, the coin is down 0.4 % and changing hands at around $0.051, which is mainly due to the dip of Bitcoin price.

Meanwhile, VeChain recently announced that it would be gifting $500,000 to its community in celebration of the launch of its stablecoin, VeUSD.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Says All His Bitcoin Predictions Still On Play Except One

Mark Brennan
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El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Says All His Bitcoin Predictions Still On Play Except One

 

Nayib Bukele sticks to His prediction of a 100K BTC price, While Bukele’s second prediction is gradually becoming a reality.



Earlier in the year, El Salvador, president Nayib Bukele, made some predictions about the BTC market space. Some of his predictions were that BTC would reach $100k and two more countries would adopt BTC as a legal tender. Three months later, Bukele referenced his January 2022 predictions, tweeting, “(a couple of months) all predictions still on the play.”

Bukele predicted on Jan 02, 2022, that Bitcoin:

  • “Will reach $100k
  • 2 more countries will adopt it as legal tender
  • Will become a major electoral issue in US elections this year
  • Bitcoin City will commence construction
  • Volcano bonds will be oversubscribed
  • Huge surprise at @TheBitcoinConf”

 

However, many picked on his prediction of BTC price reaching $100k this year and criticized him for making predictions without having proof to back them up. Some opined that El Salvador doesn’t have any capacity to cause any change to BTC price. Thus, his predictions are baseless. In addition, others accused him of having no idea of how BTC price movement works.

It is important to note that while many crypto market experts have predicted that BTC’s price will be bullish this year. Most analysts agree that it might take at least two years before BTC price could trade and settle around the $100K range.

Central African Republic is the second nation to adopt BTC as a legal tender

Speaking of Bukele’s second prediction for BTC this year, one country (the Central African Republic, CAR) has announced adopting BTC as a legal tender. The country’s president (Faustin-Archange Touadera) announced on April 27. With this official confirmation, the CAR becomes the first African nation to adopt BTC as a legal tender and the second nation in any part of the world.

Part of the official statement remarked that the move was to “open up fresh opportunities for central African citizens.” A representative of the bank of Central African States (BEAC) told Reuters that the Central African Republic didn’t notify it before making the BTC adoption move.

However, the representative added that the BEAC would issue an official response soon. The BEAC controls the CFA Franc, a currency used by six African nations, including the Central African Republic.

Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, and Ghana are some African nations considering using blockchain technology in various ways. But none of them is yet to discuss the idea of adopting BTC as a legal tender.

Last Prediction postponed

Bukele was supposed to deliver some mega surprise at the Miami Bitcoin conference in 2022 held in April but canceled his visit due to the battle against criminal gangs in El Salvador.

 

Bitcoin Number of Millionaire Addresses Grown Steadily In Past Two Months – Santiment

Albert Brown
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Bitcoin Number of Millionaire Addresses Grown Steadily In Past Two Months – Santiment

 

A Few altcoins made gains, and BTC supply on exchanges keeps going down.



Since late February, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the number of bitcoin wallet addresses has been increasing, according to a new data on-chain analytics platform, Santiment.

The data further revealed that more than 1,629 BTC whale addresses are now on the millionaire status. It is the first time some of these wallets are reaching this status, while others are regaining their millionaire status. Santiment defines BTC whales as those whose crypto wallet addresses have between 10K and 100K BTC.

 

Another Santiment data revealed that the majority of the altcoins are down by 10% in the last seven days and 20% in the last 30 days. However, some of the top 100 digital assets made gains on Wednesday, with some making double-digit gains – a rare feat considering the current happenings in the crypto market. Some of the digital assets and the gains they made are GMT (12%), CVX (12%), and LDO (10%).

BTC gains 2.44% in 24 hours

After dipping below $38K, the leading cryptocurrency was slightly bullish on Wednesday, which preceded a steady rise to $39.4K on Thursday morning, showing an increase of 2.44% in 24 hours. It is the first time that the leading crypto has been bullish following ongoing selling pressure in two months.

A recent arcane research data also remarked that BTC’s supply on exchanges has been decreasing gradually, hitting levels last seen in 2018. Until active BTC hoarding stops, BTC’s price might keep going up.

While the fear & greed index rose slightly to 24 points, it remains in the extreme fear region. A recent Coinmarketcap data shows that the entire crypto market gained 1.65% overnight and is now valued at $1.81 trillion. The bitcoin dominance index increased by 0.3% and now stands at 41.6%.

Coinbase CEO Slammed SEC While Commenting on Ripple Lawsuit, Says Not All Cryptocurrencies Are Securities

Mark Brennan
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Coinbase CEO Slammed SEC While Commenting on Ripple Lawsuit, Says Not All Cryptocurrencies Are Securities

Armstrong noted that the Securities and Exchange Commission needs to develop a new policy that would aid in the classification of cryptocurrencies as security.


Commenting on the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of U.S.-based digital currency exchange Coinbase, slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s classification of all cryptocurrencies as securities.

Armstrong Faults SEC’s Crypto Classification

Armstrong, who recently participated in an All-In Podcast interview, noted that not all cryptocurrencies are securities because some are currencies, while others are commodities.

“Treating every cryptocurrency under the same regulations would not make sense. Some cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, might be a commodity, and Stablecoins may be a currency.”

Armstrong said that the different nature of cryptocurrencies implies that the SEC should not be the only regulatory agency overseeing the crypto market as some assets may not fall under its jurisdiction.

The Coinbase CEO added that cryptocurrencies classed as currencies might be subject to regulatory oversight by the Treasury, while cryptos regarded as commodities are expected to be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“Commodities, securities, and currencies must each have a separate set of regulations and regulatory bodies. Commodities are overseen by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and currencies by the Treasury. “

SEC Constantly Relies on Howey Tests to Classify Cryptos

While no regulatory clarity would determine which cryptocurrency should be deemed a security, currency, or commodity, the Securities and Exchange Commission has relied on the Supreme Court’s 1946 decision on SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., popularly referred to as the Howey test.

The Howey test determines whether a transaction should be considered an investment contract to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the Howey test, when people pay for something with the expectation of making a profit over a period of time, then that transaction should be considered a security and must be registered with the SEC.

SEC Abusing the Howey Test?

Meanwhile, Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, noted in a recent interview that he believes the SEC is overstretching the Howey test to suit its objective.

“I think that the Howey Test is being stretched beyond recognition,” Garlinghouse said.

Similarly, legal experts also argued that security regulators strayed from the Howey Test in its quest to nail Ripple for not registering XRP with them.

The SEC needs to establish a new test for Armstrong while considering the Howey test. This, according to Armstrong, is because the Howey test is old and may not be applicable to the current situation.

The Coinbase exec declared his interest in working with other crypto experts and regulatory agencies to develop more friendly rules for the nascent industry.

Meanwhile, Coinbase is among the U.S.-based exchanges that discontinued support for Ripple’s XRP following the company’s legal battle with the SEC.

Notorious Whistleblower Edward Snowden Acknowledges Involvement In Creation of Popular Privacy-Protecting crypto

Mark Brennan
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Notorious Whistleblower Edward Snowden Acknowledges Involvement In Creation of Popular Privacy-Protecting crypto

 

Snowden is among the top six members involved in the establishment of Zcash.



Unknown to many, ex-US defense contractor, Edward Snowden, was crucially involved in developing Zcash, a cryptocurrency that helps users maintain their anonymity. You’d recall that Snowden’s leaks led to the exposure of several secrets about internet surveillance.

However, a video released by Zcash media on Thursday revealed that Snowden was among the top six members (known as the trusted setup) involved in the establishment of Zcash. Zcash media is a subsidiary of the privacy coin that creates educative pieces of training about the Zcash cryptocurrency.

In the video, Snowden said he was interested in the project after seeing some academic cryptographers working on it. However, in a recent interview with the privacy coin’s co-founder (Zooko Wilcox), Snowden revealed that he wouldn’t mind making his participation known to the public.

Snowden, who used the fictitious name John Dobbertin while working on the project, said, “I think you can tell people so long you make it clear that I didn’t receive any payment for my role or be rewarded in any other and that it was only for the interest of the public.”

Even though Snowden has been living as an asylum seeker in Russia for the past nine years following an espionage charge against him by the US government, he is one of the scheduled speakers at the consensus 2022. One other notable speaker at the event is grayscale CEO, Michael Sonnenschein.

How Snowden became involved

Anyone willing to know the importance of Snowden’s role in creating Zcash would need a deeper understanding of how Zcash’s privacy feature works. First, any Zcash holder can perform a ‘transparent’ or ‘shielded’ transaction. The former works similarly to how normal crypto transactions work, while the latter involves using what’s known as ‘privacy pools.’

These privacy pools can be likened to black holes, but for crypto, where records of the source of coins can’t be traced, not even through blockchain technology. However, a user would need to generate a cryptographic key to set up the necessary privacy parameters.

According to Nathan Wilcox (another one of Zcash’s creators and brother to Zooko Wilcox), “the process of generating this key is known as the trusted setup, and through it, supply counterfeits of the crypto can be generated. However, the creator won’t be violating any previous or present privacy.” The possibility of creating counterfeit Zcash cryptos is a huge issue, even if the trusted setup isn’t a violation of privacy.

Hence, the solution to this issue led the Zcash team to assemble a group of researchers who would design the ceremony (aka, the multi-party computation). Besides Snowden, other members of this research group were Peter Todd (a bitcoin developer), Zooko and Nathan Wilcox, Derek Hinch (a security engineer), and Peter Van Valkenburg (a researcher with the Coin center).

During his interview with Zcash media, Snowden recalled the events, saying, “I was happy to offer my help because the concept requires many people to be in several places and be cooperative. More importantly, the concept also requires that those involved are not compromised or work against the group’s interests. Otherwise, the ceremony won’t have been successful.”

Brad Garlinghouse Discloses Ripple’s Next Line of Action If the Company Loses SEC Lawsuit

Mark Brennan
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Brad Garlinghouse Discloses Ripple’s Next Line of Action If the Company Loses SEC Lawsuit

 

Garlinghouse does not think much will change as Ripple is already operating as if it has lost the lawsuit. 


 

Many cryptocurrency enthusiasts are optimistic that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Ripple would end in favor of the blockchain company. 

However, there is no guarantee to these claims, as it is possible that the verdict could go against the blockchain company and further cause the price of XRP to crash even further. 

Ripple Operating Like It’s Already Lost

In a recent interview, Brad Garlinghouse was asked how Ripple would respond if the lawsuit’s outcome does not favor the company, especially now that Bloomberg’s litigation analysts believe the SEC will win. 

Responding to the question, Garlinghouse noted that he does not think much would change as the blockchain company is already operating as it has already lost the lawsuit to the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

 “Unfortunately, Ripple is already operating in a world where it’s as if we have lost”

The charges filed against Ripple and two of its executives resulted in multiple cryptocurrency exchanges and related businesses halting support for the XRP digital currency. 

These businesses fear that they could be slammed with securities charges if they do not stop offering the XRP coin. 

“In the United States, XRP has all for all intents and purposes, there’s no liquidity. It’s been halted and frozen on most US-based exchanges,” Garlinghouse said. 

Ripple to Service More Clients Outside U.S.

It is worth noting that a win for the SEC would mean XRP will not be traded within the United States, which implies that Ripple would have to operate in countries where the cryptocurrency is not considered a security. 

Per Garlinghouse, the fact that XRP is not traded on U.S. exchanges did not stop Ripple from having a record year and if the lawsuit’s outcome does not favor the company, it would still excel. 

“Ripple had a record year last year. We continued to grow very quickly across our major product groups. Even Q1 was a record for us. Now, unfortunately, that growth is almost all coming from outside the United States,” Garlinghouse was quoted as saying. 

Furthermore, Garlinghouse said 95% of Ripple’s clients are outside the United States so the company will continue to remain relevant. 

“Unfortunately, that growth is almost all coming from outside the United States. We are hiring more and more people outside the United States, but our customer base now is about 95% non-US payment companies.”

Although a loss for Ripple will take a huge toll on the price of XRP, the value of the cryptocurrency will still soar as more payment companies tap the company’s technology to facilitate cross-border payments. 

Top Whale Buys Another 100.4B Shiba Inu, But Transfers To A Mysterious Wallet That Now Holds 6.25T Shib

Zabi
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Top Whale Buys Another 100.4B Shiba Inu, But Transfers To A Mysterious Wallet That Now Holds 6.25T Shib

 

“BlueWhale0073” bought 100.4B Shiba Inu.



As of today, the blockchain data tracking website reports that “BlueWhale0073” has made another massive purchase of 100,469,653,862 (100.46B) SHIB, worth $2,329,891 ($2.32M) through one transaction.

The Shiba Inu accumulation for the 5th biggest ETH Whale labeled “BlueWhale0073” has no stopping, and her consistent buying is fueling a bullish sentiment among investors.

Top ETH Wallet “BlueWhale0073” Transferred 393.02 Billion Shiba Inu (SHIB), Worth $9.36 Million, to the New Mysterious Wallet within 72 Hours.

“BlueWhale0073” keeps on gobbling up a big chunk of SHIB tokens for the last 72 hours. She accumulated a whopping total of 393,801,883,649 (393.80B) SHIB, worth $9,386,438 ($9.38M) through four separate transactions.

The etherscan.io data unveil some exciting facts about the 5th biggest ETH wallet. The whale is undoubtedly consistently accumulating SHIB in large quantities for the last 72 hours, but she has also been found transferring her assets to one mysterious wallet.

shib whale holding

 

“BlueWhale0073” wallet transferred 393,027,128,674 (393.02B) SHIB, worth $9,360,628 ($9.36M), through three separate transactions to the new mysterious wallet address.

The mysterious whale which TheCryptoBasic exclusively discovered now holds a hulk total of 6,257,026,637,455 (6.25T) SHIB, worth $144,912,736 ($144.91M) in her wallet, as per data provided by etherscan.io.

whale holding 6.25T shib

 

Despite Elon Musk Advocating Free Speech, Aave Founder Suspended From Twitter for a Joke

Mark Brennan
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Despite Elon Musk Advocating Free Speech, Aave Founder Suspended From Twitter for a Joke

Twitter does not seem to be in any mood to change from its stringent measures of cracking down on certain comments. 


Stani Kulechov, the founder of Aave and ETHLend, has been suspended from the microblogging platform Twitter after making a joke about being the interim CEO of the social media company.

Aave founder took to his Twitter account yesterday to post: “BREAKING: Joining Twitter as Interim CEO.” However, it did not take long before he was issued a ban from the Twitter team for making such a post.

While the comment may be considered misleading to the general public, many people believed the action slammed on the Aave founder was too harsh since it was obvious that the post was only a joke.

The Suspension Supports Musk’s Call for Free Speech

The action from the Twitter technical team further supports Elon Musk, the co-founder of an American electric car company, who was poised to acquire a 100% stake in Twitter’s shares.

The Tesla exec has clearly noted that the existing rules of the platform do not support free speech.

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said on Monday.

Musk, who offered $43 billion to purchase the social media company, saw his offer approved by the board earlier this week following pressure from shareholders.

Although the Twitter board has agreed to sell the company to the Tesla exec, the deal is expected to be completed this year following approval from regulators and shareholders.

Massive Whale Activity, Over $18 Billion Worth of ADA Transactions Recorded on Cardano In 7 Days Amid Price Dip 

Lele Jima
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Massive Whale Activity, Over $18 Billion Worth of ADA Transactions Recorded on Cardano In 7 Days Amid Price Dip 

Cardano faithful are still expecting positive price movements despite ADA’s current perfomance.

Cardano (ADA) has not brought smiles to the faces of enthusiasts, who had expected positive price action following the Alonzo upgrade that ushered in smart contract functionality in September 2021.

However, contrary to Cardano investors’ expectations, the cryptocurrency has performed badly from its price of over $2 during the time the smart contract feature was introduced.

Many ADA Holders in Losses

ADA, which opened the year around $1.3, has fallen sharply below $1 on numerous occasions. At the time of writing, ADA is changing hands around $0.839 and it is down 0.6% in the last 24 hours, according to data on cryptocurrency aggregator platform Coingecko.

Data from cryptocurrency data provider IntoTheBlock paints a perfect picture of how badly the massive price dip has affected ADA investors.

Per the data, of the total ADA holders, 88% are currently in losses, while only 9% of Cardano investors are in profit. Still, on IntoTheBlock data, only 3% are at breakeven, meaning they are neither in profit nor loss.

With Cardano’s slump in value from what was recorded in January 2022, the ninth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization will need to soar over 50% to hit the price recorded at the beginning of the year.

Billions of Dollars Worth of ADA Transactions Recorded

The bearish price of ADA has resulted in a lot of users’ activities amounting to billions of dollars in the last seven days. 

IntoTheBlock data shows that over the last seven days, a total transaction of $18.07 billion consisting of purchases, sales, and staking across various protocols, has been recorded on Cardano over the last seven days. Per the data, none of these transactions are less than $100,000.

Traders Optimistic About Hydra Upgrade

Meanwhile, the bearish price of ADA may seem heartbreaking to many traders, but the team behind the project and most investors still believe the cryptocurrency is yet to reach its full potential. 

This is mainly because of the load of updates and features lined up for the cryptocurrency project. At the moment, Cardano enthusiasts are eagerly anticipating the launch of the Hydra upgrade, which is expected to be deployed on June 29, 2022. 

As teased by Charles Hoskinson, the CEO and founder of Input Output Global, the organization responsible for Cardano research and development, the upgrade will usher in more decentralized application (dApp) developers who will take advantage of the improved smart contract feature. 

If the Hydra upgrade goes live more ADA will be staked across various Cardano protocols, thus causing the price of the cryptocurrency to soar.

At press time, Cardano’s total value locked (TVL) is currently around $200 million, data on DefiLlama shows.

Coinbase announces the listing of StepN dual tokens, GMT and GST

Mark Brennan
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Coinbase announces the listing of StepN dual tokens, GMT and GST

Trading on StepN’s dual tokens will begin on Thursday, April 28 

Coinbase assets Twitter (an official account that announces the listing of intending assets to be listed on Coinbase) has revealed that two StepN tokens (GMT and GST) will be listed on the popular crypto exchange. However, it added that these tokens would be listed with the experimental label.

 

StepN is a move-to-earn project built on the Binance and Solana network by a team of Chinese blockchain developers. The tweet also revealed that P2P transfers of the assets are available on the Coinbase exchange in areas that support such trades.

However, trading on these assets will start this Thursday by 9 am PT unless liquidity terms are not met. If the liquidity conditions are met, the following trade pairs will be available; GST-USD, GMT-USD, GST-USDT, and GST-USDT. However, not all the trade pairs will be available at once.

The announcement also suggested that users must not send the GMT and GST assets over other networks as these assets are solely supported on the Solana network. The values of these tokens are expected to surge sporadically after the Coinbase listing, as is often the case with the listing of tokens on the Coinbase exchange.

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