Home Blog Page 2551

Spanish Football Division, Laliga Enter The World Of NFTs

Mark Brennan
-
0
Spanish Football Division, Laliga Enter The World Of NFTs

LaLiga, one of the top five world football leagues, has signed a major NFT partnership.


Spanish Laliga announced a partnership with Sorare, a fantasy soccer platform to launch non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for all of Laliga players, creating new revenue streams for LaLiga Clubs via a new category of licenses.

 

This offer will allow fantasy football players, and LaLiga fans to trade and play with digital cards of players from LaLiga.

This partnership marks a significant milestone for Sorare, which has partnered for the first-time with one of the most important leagues in the world as Laliga is home of top-class clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal as well as Sevilla, and Valencia.

 

Both LaLiga Santander (Division 1) as well as LaLiga Smartbank (Division 2) have entered the NFT market. This is a major milestone as it highlights the worldwide interest in this fast-growing NFT space.

Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga, said:

“At LaLiga we are always looking for innovative ways to offer our fans new and exciting experiences and to broaden the appeal of our competition, the greatest in the world. This partnership with Sorare, the most exciting sports NFT projects today, enables us to reach new audiences globally and gives existing fans additional ways they can get involved with the players and the clubs they love.”

 

Ukraine Parliament Passes Legislation That Officially Regulate And Recognize Cryptocurrency

Mark Brennan
-
0
Ukraine Parliament Passes Legislation That Officially Regulate And Recognize Cryptocurrency

The Parliament of Ukraine approved a law to legalize and regulate cryptocurrency. This bill was introduced in 2020 and is currently headed to President Volodymyr Zelensky desk.


The bill “On Virtual Assets” was adopted by the Parliament of Ukraine on September 8. It legalizes cryptocurrency in Ukraine for the first time. This legislation is based on standards that were developed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Official documentation shows that 276 Ukrainian legislators voted in support of the bill.

In recent months, the use of cryptocurrency in Ukraine has increased sharply. The law after approval from Ukraine parliament reaches President Volodymyr Zelensky desk, if signed by President Volodymyr Zilensky, the bill will protect digital asset owners and crypto exchanges against fraud and illicit activities. It will also provide clear guidance to other crypto companies that operate in the country.

According to a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, the government plans to open crypto markets for investors and companies by 2022.

 

While crypto currencies become legal in Ukraine, they don’t have the status of legal tender, and cannot replace Hryvnia, the country’s national currency.  The law only allows the trade and exchange of digital assets via regulated exchanges within the country.

Ukraine digest, Kyiv Post Writes:

“Although virtual assets are now legitimate in Ukraine, Ukrainians cannot use them as a means of payment or exchange for goods or services — only the official national currency, the hryvnia, has this power. However, Ukrainians can own, exchange and trade cryptocurrencies using local or foreign exchange platforms registered in Ukraine.

The law on virtual assets allows crypto businesses to work officially in Ukraine and pay taxes here. To register a crypto business, a company needs to prove that it is transparent and has an excellent reputation. The permission to start a business costs over $3,100. To prevent profit laundering and financial terrorism, crypto businesses have to declare their activity to the state.”





Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine Minister for Digital Transformation said:

“Only a few countries in the world have legalized crypto assets — Germany, Luxembourg, Singapore. Ukraine will be one of them. Favorable conditions will allow companies to register in Ukraine, rather than abroad. The entrepreneurs will pay taxes to the budget, but will be protected by the state”.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, National Bank of Ukraine, and National Securities Commission will be the main regulators of the Ukrainian crypto market.

Solana (SOL) Becomes 6th Largest Crypto Surpassing Ripple (XRP)

Albert Brown
-
0
Solana (SOL) Becomes 6th Largest Crypto Surpassing Ripple (XRP)

Solana (SOL), is more optimistic than ever, and was able to flip XRP on the week which was worst for other altcoins.


Coingecko reports that the SOL has best price performance in the top 10 cryptocurrency over the past seven days. Solana has increased valuation by 86.9%.

SOL surpass XRP in cryptocurrency rankings, The high-flying coin is currently valued at $62 billion after a stunning rally, climbing to sixth place.   

SOL is now up an astonishing 8,451% year-to-date. Despite the recent market sell-off, SOL is up another 20% in last 24 hours.

solana flipping xrp

 

Solana was able to flip Dogecoin last week. There was a debate considering that Dogecoin is still a young in the top 10 and only made it into the Top 10 in October. But now Solana is proud to have strengthened its position over XRP, which is in top 10 for years.

The rapid growth is a reflection of the optimism expressed by speculators as well as investors who believe in Solana blockchain. 

 

No doubt price rise is one of the signs of strong blockchain fundamentals but due to solana speed and scalability, it is gaining popularity within top DApp developers. 

Solana has been preferred over Ethereum by NFT collections such as Degenerate Ape Academy, total Volume Locked on DeFi platforms running on Solana exceeds $7.5B.

Because of her processing power and low fees, Solana is already proving to be a Ethereum killer.




European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) Selected IOTA Foundation To Support The EU Blockchain Initiative

Jakkk
-
0
European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) Selected IOTA Foundation To Support The EU Blockchain Initiative

IOTA Foundation was chosen as one of the seven projects to support the EU blockchain initiative.


IOTA is well-suited to the task with its scalable, open-source, decentralized and interoperable technology.

The European Union has chosen the IOTA Foundation as one of seven projects to support the early stages of its European blockchain venture. The purpose of the initiative is to improve the efficiency and accountability of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI).





In a post on its blog, the foundation announced:

“The IOTA Foundation has been selected as one of 7 projects from 30+ applications, to participate in the first phase of the EU blockchain pre-commercial procurement process.

This aims to design new DLT solutions to improve the scalability, energy efficiency and security of EBSI, a network of blockchain nodes across Europe. If selected for the next phase, IOTA could be one of the technologies that will be developed and tested with core European services.”

 

Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder and Chairman of the IOTA Foundation said:

“We are very excited about moving forward in the rigorous EBSI procurement process, and we feel great about our chances to play a central role in bringing distributed ledger technology to European administrations.

EBSI is an excellent fit, both technologically and ideologically. We do not need to adapt an existing blockchain or to start developing a new solution that fits EBSI’s needs.

Our core technology already offers a near-perfect match to the strict requirements and precise specifications for a European ledger infrastructure, and it is ready for widespread adoption with only minimal adjustment.”

U.S. Securities And Exchange commission (SEC) Threatens to Sue Coinbase Over Lending Product

Mark Brennan
-
0
U.S. Securities And Exchange commission (SEC) Threatens to Sue Coinbase Over Lending Product

Coinbase announced its 4% savings product on stablecoins in June. Surprisingly, Coinbase has been warned by the SEC that it will sue them if they continue to move forward with their Lend product.


Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO, revealed in a lengthy Twitter thread that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) threatened to sue Coinbase for lending prodcuts.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission warned Coinbase that it could be sued if they move forward with their plan to offer a product known as “Lend”, which would pay stablecoin holders 4% interest on savings. This unexpected move is a setback to Coinbase and could pose a problem for other companies that offer high-yielding cryptocurrency products.

 

Coinbase CEO, Brain Armstrong writes:

“SEC responded by telling us this lend feature is a security. Ok – seems strange, how can lending be a security? So we ask the SEC to help us understand and share their view. We always make an effort to work proactively with regulators, and keep an open mind.

They refuse to tell us why they think it’s a security, and instead subpoena a bunch of records from us (we comply), demand testimony from our employees (we comply), and then tell us they will be suing us if we proceed to launch, with zero explanation as to why.

we’re committed to following the law. Sometimes the law is unclear. So if the SEC wants to publish guidance, we are also happy to follow that (it’s nice if you actually enforce it evenly across the industry equally btw).”

Brain Armstrong says that it is highly unfair treatment by SEC as other companies are offering lending products for years.

“Meanwhile, plenty of other crypto companies continue to offer a lend feature, but Coinbase is somehow not allowed to.

If you don’t want this activity, then simply publish your position, in writing, and enforce it evenly across the industry.

by preventing Coinbase from launching the same thing that other companies already have live, they’re creating an unfair market.”





Armstrong stated that Gary Gensler, chairman of the SEC, was the only regulator who refused meet him in Washington, D.C. when the  exchange went public in April.

“The SEC was the only regulator that refused to meet with me, saying “we’re not meeting with any crypto companies“. This was right after we became the first crypto company to go public in the U.S.”

Paul Grewal, a Coinbase chief lawyer says that Coinbase has already received a Wells Notice from the SEC.

McDonald, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Started To Accept Bitcoin In El Salvador

Mark Brennan
-
0
McDonald, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Started To Accept Bitcoin In El Salvador

September 7, 2021, will be remembered as the day when Bitcoin was first accepted as legal tender by any country.

Read: Bitcoin Is Now Official Currency Of El Salvador


As BTC became a mean of payment, you can use Bitcoin to pay for your favorite burger on McDonald.

Forbes confirmed that McDonald has started accepting bitcoin in El Salvador.

OpenNode, a California-based bitcoin payment processor, has announced that it has partnered up with McDonald (In El Salvador) to make it possible for McDonald to accept bitcoin as payment.

Aaron van Wirdum, Bitcoin Magazine journalist was not expecting that BTC payment infrastructure would not be available from day one, he shared on twitter:

“Just walked into a McDonald’s in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin, tbh fully expecting to be told no.

But low and behold, they printed a ticket with QR that took me to a webpage with Lightning invoice, and now I’m enjoying my desayuno traditional”

 

Pizza Hut in El Salvador also started to accept BTC as President Nayib Bukele shared a post on twitter asking “Who Wants Pizza Hut”.

pizza hut accepting btc in el salvador

Link: https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/143526933969181492

 

Starbucks customers have reported similar story where BTC is accepted as a mean of payment.

 

$2.8 Billion Liquidated From Crypto Market In No Time

Albert Brown
-
0
$2.8 Billion Liquidated From Crypto Market In No Time

Bybt data shows that $2.8 Billion in long positions on the major cryptocurrency exchanges were liquidated due to today sharp crypto market fall.

Read: Microstrategy CEO: “If I Had Chosen Gold Instead Of Bitcoin Last Year, It Would Have Been A Multi-Billion Dollar Mistake”


Bybit a derivative exchange accounted for 36.27% liquidated positions, Huobi (28.01%) followed by Binance (17.72%).

crypto liqudations

The largest single liquidation order of $43.7K took place on Huobi.

In the last 24 hours, 329,765 traders saw their long positions erased.

Bitcoin fell to intra day low of $42,800, losing approximately $10,000 in just hours.

The good thing was President Nayib Bukele just announced that El Salvador purchased the dip and added 150 more BTC.

Read: Bitcoin Is Now Official Currency Of El Salvador

For just fun, it seems that President Nayib Bukele has become a more professional trader than a politician.

Microstrategy CEO, Michael Saylor: “If I Had Chosen Gold Instead Of Bitcoin Last Year, It Would Have Been A Multi-Billion Dollar Mistake”

Albert Brown
-
0
Microstrategy CEO, Michael Saylor: “If I Had Chosen Gold Instead Of Bitcoin Last Year, It Would Have Been A Multi-Billion Dollar Mistake”

Nasdaq-listed company Microstrategy has avoided a “multi-billion dollar mistake” by choosing to invest in bitcoin instead of gold. The company now holds about 108,992 bitcoins.


The Nasdaq-listed software company Microstrategy has avoided making a mistake that could have cost the company multi-billion dollars.

CEO Michael Saylor tweeted Sunday:

“If I had chosen Gold instead of Bitcoin last year, it would have been a multi-billion dollar mistake. It doesn’t help to diagnose the problem if you don’t choose the right solution.”

 

As the chart below shows, if MicroStrategy would have invested in Gold rather than Bitcoin, the over $2 billion initial investment would have lost 80% of its value in one year. In the past 30 days, it would have lost 21% of its value.

microstrategy gold return vs btc

Data from monitor BitcoinTreasuries.org indicates that MicroStrategy owns over 100,000 BTC or 0.5% of its total supply. As seen above, this investment has seen a 376.34% appreciation in one year.





Additional data provided by Ecoinometrics suggest a correlation between MicroStrategy (MSRT) share performance and the price of Bitcoin. Since the company launched its BTC treasury program, its shares have experienced a 428% rally.

 

Bitcoin and MicroStrategy have managed to outperform two of the most important stock indexes, the NASDAQ and the SP500. The former has a 68.3% profit while the latter records a 54.8% profit since the software company announced its BTC treasury program.

 

Chairman Of The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Criticized Kim Kardashian For Promoting Unknown Crypto Tokens

Mark Brennan
-
0
Chairman Of The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Criticized Kim Kardashian For Promoting Unknown Crypto Tokens

Kim Kardashian is criticized by the head of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), for promoting a shady cryptocurrency on Instagram.


As reported by TheCryptoBasic in June Popular reality television personality, and actress Kim Kardashian promoted a shady project through her social networks, called Ethereum MAX or ETHMAX Protocol.

Back then Kardashian uploaded two Instagram stories, and asked her fans if they were “into crypto”. The celebrity influencer shared a story about EthereumMax with her 228 million Instagram followers.

 

Charles Randell, chairman of the FCA, strongly criticized Kim Kardashian efforts to push the dubious project in a keynote speech delivered on Monday night at Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crimes.

Randell said:

“Kim Kardashian recently paid to ask her 250 million Instagram followers to speculate on crypto tokens by ’joining the Ethereum Max Community‘, it may have been the financial promotion with the single biggest audience reach in history.

Despite this, the hype around them generates a powerful fear of missing out from some consumers who may have little understanding of their risks. There is no shortage of stories of people who have lost savings by being lured into the cryptobubble with delusions of quick riches, sometimes after listening to their favorite influencers, ready to betray their fans’ trust for a fee.

At the FCA we have repeatedly warned about the risks of holding speculative tokens. To be clear: these tokens are not regulated by the FCA. They are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. If you buy them, you should be prepared to lose all your money.”





Randall concluded that there were more rules needed to bring transparency in crypto. He stated that it would require a lot of careful thinking to create a regulatory system for crypto.

 

FTX Launches Cross Chain NFT Platform for Both US And Global Users

Mark Brennan
-
0
FTX Launches Cross Chain NFT Platform for Both US And Global Users

FTX, a spot-and derivative cryptocurrency exchange announced the launch of NFT Marketplace on its trading platform.


According to FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, the newly launched NFT marketplace will be accessible to US users as well as other countries. Both US and non US users can use FTX US NFT platform.

 

FTX Users will soon be able to deposit NFTs from other sources on FTX. This is important as peer-to-peer marketplace users of OpenSea and Solanart will be able list their NFTs on the FTX.com and FTX US.

All NFTs will be traded cross-chain across Ethereum and Solana. 

 

The FTX-US website has also added a test function for the NFT platform. Bankman-Fried Test NFT is on sale, the current bid for Bankman-Fried test post is more than $2.3 million.

FTX may be trying to capitalize upon the popularity of NFTs that are moving billions on specialized decentralized exchanges like opensea.

1...2,5502,5512,552...2,626Page 2,551 of 2,626