Gunyer (follow back) (@vietnamcrypto) • Hey
Remember that you are capable of achieving anything you set your mind to, and every new day brings with it new opportunities for growth and success. So emb
Publications
- gm gm gm gm gm!!!🌿🌿#bitcoin #eth #lens💚💚#follow 😉
- Decoding Blockchain Network Congestion: An Overview
Blockchain network congestion is a growing issue in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. It occurs when the volume of transactions exceeds the capacity of the blockchain to process them efficiently, leading to delays and inefficiencies. This article delves into the causes, problems, and potential solutions of this congestion.
- gm gm gm gm gm gm!!!
🌿🌿
#bitcoin #eth #lens
💚💚
#follow 😉
- ZNS Connect is currently on the 10th place, and we need your help to secure a spot in the TOP 3 positions! Every vote counts, and together, we can make a difference.
🎉 Why Your Vote Matters:
PolygonVillage is all about community participation, and JokerAce contests are a fantastic opportunity for projects to receive grants. With 215 projects in the running, your vote plays a crucial role in elevating ZNS Connect.
🌍💙 Let's Shape the Future of Polygon Together!
Join us in making an impact on the Polygon community and ensuring that ZNS Connect continues to thrive.
#PolygonVillage #PolygonCommunity #zeta #JokerAce #ZNSConnect #zns
- gm 😄gm gm gm gm!😁
🌿🌿
#bitcoin #eth #lens
💚💚
#follow 😉
- gm gm gm gm gm gm!!!
🌿🌿🌿
#bitcoin #eth #lens
💚💚💚
#follow 😉
- gm 😄gm gm gm gm!!!😁
🌿🌿
#bitcoin #eth #lens
💚💚
#follow 😉
- gm gm gm gm gm gm!!!
🌿🌿
#bitcoin #eth #lens
💚💚
#follow 😉
- All you have to do is take the quiz on Friday at 6pm UTC for a chance to win. Let's see how much Super Protocol you know! May the best protocol experts win!
- Bringing Web3 Social to Base
Aug 9th, 2023
We are thrilled to share that CyberConnect is now available on Base, a secure, low-cost, and builder-friendly Ethereum L2 blockchain to power the next generation of hyper-scalable web3 social dApps.
Over the last two years, we have been on a mission to redefine social networking on the internet by taking the best of web3 and blockchain technology and bringing it to the world. Through that time, over 50 dApps have been built upon the CyberConnect social network protocol, that have cumulatively attracted 1.2M users who execute over 400k transactions every month. Not only this, CyberConnect has quickly become the playground for passionate builders to build new digital social primitives and help us reimagine how our internet experience can be more meaningful, personalized, and equitable.
Incubated by Coinbase, Base aims to make onchain the next online and onboard one billion users into the crypto economy. On this mission, Base will serve as both a home for Coinbase’s on-chain products and an open ecosystem for developers like CyberConnect to build powerful new applications.
CyberConnect’s deployment on Base is timely as it is crucial. Within two weeks of its launch, CyberAccount, our ERC-4337-compatible smart account system, is already a leader in account abstraction (AA) with over **365k+ accounts** deployed across Polygon, Linea, and Optimism. This is a key step in expanding web3 social to become truly multi-chain and the natural next step for CyberConnect’s integration with Base.
- Giveaway & airdrop from the wavGAME for the @lensprotocol.lens fam 👀🌊👾
1. Like & mirror this post
2. Collect this post for free
3. Sign up to play with your email: https://wavgame.xyz
We will raffle 2 Level 1 wavGAME cards ($10 each) to 2 ppl from everyone who collects!
What is the wavGAME? 🌊👾
Collect cards from 8 artists' wavROOM performances, level up by trading, and deepen your connection with them.
Each level has unique experiences and rewards, culminating in winning a paid-for trip & a 1-on-1 concert from the artist of your choice.
We’re excited to feature some of our favorite artists & their music in the wavGAME - @karmavioletta.lens @jadynviolet.lens @tarotsings.lens @tkthelegend.lens @cammurdoch.lens @blackdave.lens @fredriko.lens.lens @abjonian.lens
Why we built the wavGAME? 🌊👾
We believe collect-to-connect is an under-explored motive for music fans.
We also know that many music collectors are driven by speculation of future profit.
wavGAME encourages both connection & speculation.
How do you play the wavGAME? 🌊👾
It’s simple.
Buy Level 1 with a credit card. You can buy as many as you want at a time.
At each level, trade 2 cards for 1 card from the next level.
Earn prizes at every level & get a reward for a full set.
Level 1 is $10 per card.
What do you get at each level? 🌊👾
L1 - a live song
L2 - a rare live song
L3 - an unreleased song & listening room
L4 - reveals in 3 days, 20 available
L5 - reveals in 5 days, 10 available
L6 - a meet & greet and 1 winner gets a paid-for trip with 1-on-1 concert, to be raffled off
Get an artist’s full set and win the full set holder prize. 🌊👾
To earn the full set holder prize, keep at least 1 card from each level from the artist's path you’re playing.
You will need 63 Level 1 cards from an artist to get their full set.
Top minter prize 🌊👾
We will award the top minter 1% of the game’s revenue.
We hope this encourages a healthy competition, directly leading to artists getting paid more.
Reusable Infrastructure 🌊👾
The wavGAME is the first reference for others to launch their own games that deepen the connection between artists & true fans.
The vision is to build a plug-&-play platform for play-to-connect games.
How long does the game last? 🌊👾
The game will last for a limited & timed period after the first person gets to Level 6 (unlocks in a week).
We will then take a snapshot of everyone who made it to Level 6 and raffle the trip and 1-on-1 concert.
Thanking our partners! 🌊👾
We’d like to thank Liquality, Crossmint, @web3auth.lens, @gelato.lens and @r3vl.lens_xyz for making it possible to build the next generation of collecting.
We can now create simple, fun, powerful applications that help artists and fans grow.
We’d also like to thank some of wavWRLD’s core team without whom this wouldn’t be possible - @karmawav.lens @violetta.lens @slapscher.lens @sirlenny.lens @roundpotatocat.lens @fredriko & Invictus
Playing conditions 🌊👾
The wavGAME is in beta.
It is a desktop browser game only (no mobile), optimized for Chrome, and you can only login with a Google account for now. More options to come.
Play the wavGAME! 🌊👾
Let’s find the incentive behind collecting music together and support rising artists to find sustainability in new ways.
Play the wavGAME, and help us spread the word!
https://wavgame.xyz
- Lately, you often see that we talk about the virtual interactive space. This is the eve of the Alpha version of the metaverse and we are actively working on the sale of interactive locations for business.
⚡️To speed up this process, as well as to allow you to make money on the sale of interactive spaces, we have developed a referral system. You can start making money by selling locations without even investing money. For this purpose, the "Advertising only" ( https://ads.nftmoon.space/#plan ) plan has been specially created, which costs $ 0.00.
🔝If you have a business, you can choose two other plans, these are: A Location for Business and a City for business.
Link to the website: https://ads.nftmoon.space
You can register and start earning by following the link:
- Yes but if you’re choosing to publish open data to Lens you’re choosing to keep the data open.
You could manually encrypt the data.
You could write or find a Lens app which encrypts it.
You could use protocols and layer 2s which are encrypted by default.
Everything that exists in the world of private databases can exist inside of the current open databases, is the point.
This is actually something which frustrates me greatly:
I don’t think enough devs realize their app can encrypt the data they store onchain. Devs do not need to put everything onchain, and they don’t need to post open data onchain either.
- gm gm gm gm gm gm!!!
🌿🌿🌿
#bitcoin #eth #lens
💚💚💚
#follow 😉
- Welcome to Cancer season! Let's talk all about **Cancer!** ♋️ 🦀
**Ruler:** Moon ☾
Cancers look to form safe emotional environments for themselves and loved ones. Ruled by the Moon means fluctuating feelings, which can cater to beautiful artistic and intuitive abilities.
**Who has Cancer on their natal chart?**
Own your chart: https://astrace.app
- **Who are Web3 people?**
What is the difference between a Web2 person and a Web3 person?
My vision based on experience in building own #Web3 community. 💪
Web2 people are generally passive observers.😑
Persons who use a product
and remain within it without engaging anyone outside.
Web3 is a new layer
where active persons take precedence,
with strong emphasis on communication skills. 📞📲
Communication is the most vital and necessary skill set in the current Web3 sphere! 💪
- #BKN will list soon.
During the two weeks of listing, you join the select 1000 registrants to receive a 10% incentive on their purchase!
Visit brickken.com/bkn-listing to participate.
Time is running out, so move quickly!
Get ready, listing details are coming shortly.
- #ETH is the leading blockchain platform for decentralized applications. #Ethereum is home to some of the most popular DApps in the world. #Cryptocurrency #DigitalAssets #Blockchain #EthereumCommunity #ETHMarketCap
- AZURO. SPORTS BETTING AND RECEIVING A DROP $AZUR
Although the topic is very slippery in terms of sports betting, gambling, but at one time I was also fond of it, and as a gambler and with a certain risk, I liked not just watching sports events and worrying, rooting for my favorite team, but also making money on it at the same time : **no one canceled cross-usefulness in life.**
- What is BRC-20?
BRC-20 is a new type of token standard that is built on the Bitcoin network using ordinals and inscriptions. You may have heard about the OnChain Monkey and Bitcoin Punks NFT collections on the Bitcoin network, which caused a stir in the crypto world in early 2023, but the hype around these projects quickly faded as they became easy to reproduce and suffered from dwindling demand.
However, the BRC-20 token is different. It is a new way of creating tokens on the Bitcoin network that is sure to catch the attention of the crypto community and are primarily designed to work in a similar way to ERC-20 tokens, which are used on the Ethereum network.
Some may argue that inscriptions and Ordinals were not designed for this purpose, and that BRC-20 tokens are a speculative use of the technology. However, the fact remains that BRC-20 tokens have the potential to change the face of cryptocurrency as we know it, and it will be interesting to see how they are used in the future.
- Cryptocurrency has taken the world by storm in recent years, and many people are curious about how it works. At its core, cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography (the practice of secure communication) for security. But how does cryptocurrency actually work? Let's dive in.
Decentralization
One of the defining features of cryptocurrency is its decentralized nature. Traditional currencies, like the US dollar, are issued and regulated by a central authority, such as a government or central bank. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are not controlled by any central authority. Instead, they are maintained by a network of computers that work together to verify and process transactions.
This decentralized network is made up of nodes, which are individual computers that participate in the network. Each node has a copy of the blockchain, which is a digital ledger that records all transactions that have ever occurred on the network. Whenever a new transaction is made, it is broadcast to the entire network, and each node works to verify the transaction.
Mining
In order to verify transactions, nodes use a process called mining. Mining involves solving complex mathematical problems using computer processing power. The first node to solve the problem is rewarded with a certain amount of cryptocurrency, which incentivizes nodes to participate in the network and verify transactions.
The process of mining is essential to the security of the network. Because the blockchain is decentralized, there is no central authority that can verify transactions. Instead, the network relies on a consensus mechanism, which means that a majority of nodes must agree that a transaction is valid in order for it to be added to the blockchain. Mining helps to ensure that the consensus mechanism is not compromised, because it requires a significant amount of computational power to alter the blockchain.
Cryptographic Security
Another important aspect of cryptocurrency is its cryptographic security. Cryptography is used to secure transactions and protect the integrity of the blockchain. When a transaction is made, it is broadcast to the network and verified by multiple nodes. Each node uses a cryptographic hash function to create a unique digital signature for the transaction, which is added to the blockchain.
This digital signature ensures that the transaction cannot be altered or duplicated. Because the blockchain is decentralized, it would be virtually impossible for a single entity to alter the blockchain without the agreement of a majority of nodes. This makes cryptocurrency transactions highly secure and resistant to fraud.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency is a complex and constantly evolving technology, but at its core, it relies on decentralization, mining, and cryptographic security to function. By removing the need for a central authority and relying on a network of nodes to verify transactions, cryptocurrency offers a new way to store and transfer value that is secure, transparent, and open to anyone with an internet connection.
- Since launching in 2021 as web3’s earliest decentralized social network, CyberConnect has grown to become the biggest platform for developers and users to experience the power of owning their identities, content, connections, and monetization channels. There are already over 50 projects that utilize CyberConnect’s decentralized social network infrastructure for a variety of use cases, such as community-owned social networks, marketplaces, content curation, discovery tools, and more.
- In today's world, social media has become an integral part of our lives. It provides us with a platform to share our thoughts, experiences, and connect with people from all over the world. However, sometimes we may find ourselves in a situation where we are restricted from posting on social media, which can be a frustrating and disheartening experience.
Being restricted from posting on social media can be a result of various reasons such as violating community guidelines, posting inappropriate content, or even being targeted by cyberbullies. Regardless of the reason, it can leave us feeling sad, isolated, and disconnected from the online community we have built.
One of the biggest challenges of being restricted from posting is the feeling of being silenced. As humans, we have an innate need to express ourselves and share our opinions with others. When this freedom is taken away from us, we may feel like our voice and our identity are being suppressed.
Furthermore, being restricted from posting can also impact our social life and relationships. Social media is a platform that allows us to connect with our friends, family, and acquaintances. When we are unable to post on social media, we may miss out on important events, updates, and conversations, which can leave us feeling isolated and disconnected from our social circle.
Moreover, being restricted from posting can also impact our mental health. Social media has become a source of validation and affirmation for many individuals, and being unable to post on it can cause feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and even depression.
In conclusion, being restricted from posting on social media can be a frustrating and disheartening experience. It can leave us feeling silenced, isolated, and disconnected from our online community and social circle. However, it is important to remember that these restrictions are put in place to maintain a safe and healthy online environment. Instead of dwelling on the negative aspects of being restricted from posting, we should focus on finding other ways to express ourselves and connect with others. This may include reaching out to friends and family, joining online forums and communities, or even starting a blog or vlog. Ultimately, it is important to find healthy and constructive ways to channel our thoughts and emotions, even when we are restricted from posting on social media.
- I just voted "No ❎" on "Poll by @yoginth.lens" https://snapshot.org/#/polls.lenster.xyz/proposal/0x04e4c4bceee9ed9e54b6012d566d139e7c334829ddf27307fd11fd29882f7950 #snapshotlabs
- **BNB Chain's Red Alert Flags 191 High-Risk Projects**
Binance's BNB Chain has taken a proactive step to help users in their investment research by updating its red alarm list to include 191 high-risk projects and decentralized applications (DApps). The list, which is updated every Friday, is based purely on smart contract assessment and includes projects that are suspected of issuing fake tokens, having high or opaque tax fees, or simply because their websites or Twitter handles don't work.
The red alarm list serves as a warning to users to carry out their own due diligence before investing in any of the flagged projects. It is important to note that the list is not investment advice and does not represent the risk level of the underlying DApp projects. Instead, it is aimed at helping users make informed decisions by highlighting potential risks associated with the projects.
In addition to the red alarm list, BNB Chain has also launched a portal that allows users to scan any BNB Chain project for risks. The portal provides users with detailed information about the flagged projects, including the reasons for the red alert, the smart contract address, and the token symbol.
Out of the 191 new projects added to the list, three were flagged for suspected funding by assets originating from Tornado. These projects are CycGo, Piston token, and Shorter Finance. BNB Chain's red alert serves as a warning to users to be cautious when investing in these projects.
On April 10, BNB Chain also began testing BNB Greenfield, an in-house attempt to deliver decentralized storage solutions. The move is part of Binance's larger strategy to expand its offerings beyond cryptocurrency trading and into the broader blockchain industry.
With the increasing popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the risk of fraud and scams in the blockchain industry has also increased. BNB Chain's red alarm list is a timely reminder for users to conduct thorough research before investing in any project. By providing users with relevant information about potential risks associated with projects, BNB Chain is playing an important role in promoting transparency and accountability in the blockchain industry.
- **Law Firm Pleads with Shaquille O Neal to Acknowledge Legal Complaint**
The Moskowitz Law Firm, representing victims affected by the FTX collapse, has publicly appealed to NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal to acknowledge its legal complaint. The firm has been standing outside TNT studios in Atlanta all week, where O'Neal is employed as a television host, attempting to serve him on behalf of FTX investors regarding his previous endorsement of the now-defunct crypto exchange. However, his security guards have not allowed them in to deliver the legal complaint.
O’Neal is the only one among the “FTX celebrities” named in the class-action lawsuit filed against several celebrities for endorsing FTX, including Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and Larry David, who has not yet been served. The law firm has stated that O’Neal has been “running” from them “for 3 months” and should show courtesy and honor by allowing its process servers to deliver the legal complaint on his behalf. This will enable him to defend his “actions in this matter.”
The Moskowitz Law Firm’s public plea highlights the legal challenges faced by FTX investors who lost funds due to the exchange’s collapse. It also emphasizes the responsibility of celebrities who endorse cryptocurrency platforms to understand the risks and potential impact of their actions on investors.
FTX was a major cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed in 2019, resulting in significant losses for its investors. The collapse led to a class-action lawsuit filed by affected investors against several celebrities who endorsed FTX. O’Neal, as one of the endorsers, is now being pursued by the Moskowitz Law Firm to acknowledge its legal complaint.
The Moskowitz Law Firm’s plea to O’Neal reflects the importance of acknowledging legal complaints and taking responsibility for one's actions. It also highlights the need for greater transparency and accountability in the cryptocurrency industry to protect investors and prevent similar collapses from occurring in the future.
- **NFTs Get Security Boost with New Warranty Service**
The rise of Web3 has led to an explosion in the popularity of nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which offer unique ownership of digital assets, including art, music, and even tweets. However, the Web3 space has seen its fair share of exploits, with hackers exploiting more than $320 million in the first quarter of 2023 alone. As a result, securing digital assets has become a top priority for many users, particularly those considering joining the Web3 space.
To address this security gap, Wert and Avata have launched a new NFT warranty service. The opt-in service will provide coverage for up to 90% of the value of compromised digital assets in a smart contract hack, offering a sense of security and trust for both active and prospective collectors. The service will be available on nearly 80 digital asset marketplaces, including the KnownOrigin NFT marketplace.
According to Vano Basiladze, CEO of Wert, the NFT protection will be charged at 6% of the asset cost at checkout, with coverage calculated by the purchase price rather than the current market value. By offering a service that ensures some degree of protection against hacks and theft, Basiladze believes that mass adoption of NFTs and Web3 technologies in general will be perpetuated.
“Overall, any consumer looking to get into the NFT space wants to protect their money invested, and by offering them that sense of security, they are able to engage in Web3 on a deeper level with reduced risk,” Basiladze said.
Basiladze also noted that high-value NFTs, similar to traditional collectibles and art, are often bought by serious investors who are more worried about security than the average collector. By offering warranties, the NFT industry can become more open to professional collectors and investors.
The NFT market has exploded in recent years, with some projections estimating that NFT-related global transactions will skyrocket from 24 million in 2022 to nearly 40 million by 2027. In fact, a recent study from CoinGecko revealed that 25% of NFT owners have a collection of 51 digital assets or more. As such, the need for increased security and protection of digital assets is more important than ever.
In conclusion, the launch of Wert and Avata’s NFT warranty service represents a significant step forward for NFT security. By reducing the risk for both active and prospective collectors, the offering aims to encourage mass adoption of NFTs and Web3 technologies. With the NFT market continuing to grow, the need for increased security measures is paramount, and this warranty service is a welcome addition to the ecosystem.
- **Binance CEO Emphasizes Importance of Understanding Crypto for Proper Regulation**
During a fireside chat at the Hong Kong Web3 Festival, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) shared his views on the importance of regulators having a deep understanding of the crypto industry to properly regulate it. According to CZ, applying traditional financial industry regulations to crypto is not ideal since crypto is different from banks and traditional financial industries.
One of the challenges of regulating the crypto industry is deciding on how to classify different assets. CZ explained that there are many types of crypto assets, and some may look like securities, others like commodities, or utility tokens, and some may even have a combination of those characteristics. Therefore, it is important for regulators to know how to classify these assets to decide on appropriate regulations.
CZ also stressed the importance of having regulatory clarity. He stated that unclear regulations are "the worst," and having clear regulations is better. However, he also suggested that it is best to let the industry develop fully before introducing regulations, as it is difficult to predict what exactly will be popular in the industry.
In terms of engaging with regulators, CZ advised crypto industry players to be actively engaged with them. While many crypto regulators around the world are receptive, some are still skeptical. However, CZ believes that skepticism should not deter industry players from engaging in conversations with regulators.
When asked about what could trigger mass adoption of crypto, CZ pointed out that government efforts to restrict traditional financial markets may push more people towards crypto, ultimately leading to mass adoption. He explained that the more governments try to come for crypto, the more it will grow.
Finally, CZ stressed the need for patience among crypto industry players. He believes that the first draft of regulations is often overly restrictive, but a balance is usually found in due time. Therefore, it is important for industry players to be patient and understand that regulations will continue to evolve over time.
Overall, CZ's fireside chat highlighted the importance of understanding the crypto industry for proper regulation. As the industry continues to grow and evolve, it is crucial for regulators to keep up and engage with industry players to ensure effective regulation.
- **BTC Mining Report Draws Criticism**
The New York Times' recent report on Bitcoin mining, "The Real-World Costs of the Digital Race for Bitcoin," has been met with criticism from BTC proponents. The article claims that Bitcoin mining has a "voracious" appetite and uses as much energy as all residences in New York City. However, some analysts have pointed out that the article cherry-picks data and neglects the increasing use of renewable energy in the mining sector.
Bitcoin environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analyst, Daniel Batten, said that the article exaggerates the fossil fuel use of BTC miners and uses incomplete datasets to support its thesis. He also noted that some Bitcoin miners in the United States and Canada use 90% sustainable energy to fuel their mining activities, but the NYT article focuses on the sites least backed by renewable energy.
Bitcoin proponent, Troy Cross, criticized the article for using "marginal emissions accounting" and selectively applying it only for carbon emissions, not generation. Dennis Porter, CEO of the Satoshi Act Fund, also noted an error in the article's initial reporting, where the wrong town was named for a BTC mining facility in Texas.
BTC mining firm Riot's vice president of research, Pierre Rochard, accused the NYT of using "fictitious fractional-reserve carbon accounting" and "cooking the books to fabricate emissions." Meanwhile, another Twitter user believed that the article was fear-mongering.
Despite the debate on Bitcoin mining's energy consumption, it remains significant for the blockchain. Mining is used to verify transactions, make it decentralized, and add a layer of security. According to the Bitcoin Mining Council's Q4 2022 report, the Bitcoin network is already a leader in sustainable energy use, with 58.9% of its energy coming from renewable sources.
While some mainstream outlets criticize Bitcoin mining for its environmental impact, many BTC proponents see these reports as hit pieces and offer opposing perspectives. Some are even campaigning to change Bitcoin's mining consensus to the more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake. Despite the criticism, Bitcoin mining's importance to the blockchain makes it an essential area for continued development and research into sustainable energy solutions.
- **Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) Bullish on Blockchain**
Blockchain technology has had a rocky start in the logistics industry, with Danish logistics firm Maersk terminating its blockchain-based supply chain platform last year. However, Hong Kong-based Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) has not given up on blockchain applications in global trade. In fact, the nonprofit consortium sees blockchain as a crucial logistics tool in the long term.
GSBN currently operates one of the world’s largest platforms that can be described as an alternative to Maersk’s TradeLens tool, according to a report by the South China Morning Post. The platform is based on a permissioned blockchain with strong data governance, allowing only authorized parties to contribute and consume shipping-related data.
Since launching its blockchain-based shipping platform in 2021, GSBN has tapped major shipping partners like Cosco, Orient Overseas Container Line, and Hapag-Lloyd. In addition, the organization has also reached partnerships with terminal operators such as Hutchison Ports, SPG Qingdao Port, PSA International, Shanghai International Port Group, and Cosco Shipping Ports. Among the members, only German Hapag-Lloyd and Singaporean PSA International are not based in mainland China or Hong Kong.
Despite past failures of major industry firms like Maersk in implementing similar projects, GSBN CEO Bertrand Chen is confident that blockchain technology has yet to fully catch on and its adoption may take another decade. However, with the world's largest shipping companies on board, the potential of blockchain in logistics seems promising.
The use of blockchain technology in the logistics industry has been a topic of discussion for several years. It is seen as a tool that can increase transparency and efficiency, as well as reduce fraud and errors. However, the adoption of blockchain has been slow due to concerns about security, scalability, and interoperability.
GSBN's permissioned blockchain platform addresses some of these concerns. With strong data governance, it allows only authorized parties to access data, reducing the risk of data breaches. In addition, by bringing together major shipping partners and terminal operators, the platform aims to increase efficiency and reduce the time and costs associated with shipping.
While Maersk's failed blockchain platform may have dampened enthusiasm for blockchain in logistics, GSBN's platform shows that there is still potential for blockchain in the industry. As the platform gains more traction and more companies adopt blockchain technology, the logistics industry may see a shift towards more transparent and efficient supply chain management.
- gm Lenster fam 🌸
We are excited to announce the launch of our new Snapshot voting feature. Now you can have your say on important community decisions by simply voting from Lenster.
If you paste any Snapshot URL, it will turn into an interactive widget where you can vote for a proposal. You can also use it with your Lens follower NFTs by configuring Snapshot strategies 🚀
Vote us below if you like this feature 😉 https://snapshot.org/#/yoginth.eth/proposal/0x9287c40edcd68c362c7c4139fe3489bbaaa27cf4de68be5c218a82d0f252e718
- **Bitcoin Mining Firm Sphere 3D Sues Gryphon Digital Over Spoofing Attack – Here's What Happened**
Bitcoin mining firm Sphere 3D is suing Gryphon Digital Mining, its business partner, for losing about $500,000 worth of Bitcoin due to a spoofing attack.
The firm accused Gryphon CEO Rob Chang of sending 18 Bitcoin to a fraudster who pretended to be Sphere 3D's CFO in January. A few days later, another eight Bitcoin were transferred using the same method, according to a Saturday press release.
Furthermore, Sphere 3D alleged that Gryphon provided poor services to its partner and misrepresented the Bitcoin miner's computing power in public disclosures.
“Today we filed litigation against Gryphon, the custodial management services provider of our blockchain and cryptocurrency-related services, for materially breaching the Master Services Agreement (“MSA”) we entered into with Gryphon,” Patricia Trompeter, CEO of Sphere 3D, said in a statement.
"We believe that Gryphon has put the Company's assets at significant risk and willfully violated their contractual duties."
The complaint was filed with the Southern District of New York.
The two businesses have been working together since August 2021, with Gryphon managing Sphere 3D's "crypto mining activities" and keeping the "fiduciary duties of Sphere's digital assets." Gryphon gets 22.5% of gross profit from Sphere's operation for its services.
Spoofing is an attempt to trick a user into believing that you are someone else. The attack is done by falsifying data, such as IP addresses, email addresses, or user credentials to gain access to a system, steal sensitive information, or launch further attacks.
The latest statement from Sphere 3D shows a deteriorated relationship between the company and Gryphon. The duo even once considered a merger, which was canceled in April last year “due to changing market conditions."
"Today's filing demonstrates that we will not only protect the Company that we all have worked so hard to navigate through the past year, but also that we will not be bullied or threatened by the likes of Gryphon," Trompeter added.
Regulators Express Concern About Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining
Regulators around the world have voiced concern about the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.
Last month, US Senator Edward Markey and Representative Jared Huffman revealed intentions to reintroduce the Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act in Congress in a bid to promote greater transparency around crypto mining and its environmental impacts.
The bill would require crypto mining companies to disclose emissions for operations that consume more than 5 megawatts of power or "multiple crypto-asset mining facilities that are owned by the same company and each have a power load that is less than 5 megawatts; but have a cumulative power load that is greater than or equal to 5 megawatts."
Similarly, US lawmakers have recently ramped up efforts to regulate the crypto industry in the wake of some high-profile failures last year.
The SEC, in particular, has been cracking down on crypto companies, charging exchanges, lending platforms, and other digital asset firms with violating securities laws.
- **Shiba Inu Price Prediction as SHIB Reaches $6.5 Billion Market Capitalization – Here's Where SHIB is Heading Now**
Shiba Inu (SHIB), the world’s second-largest dog-inspired meme coin with a market capitalization of close to $6.5 billion, was last changing hands close to $0.000011 per token, broadly flat on the day.
Trade in cryptocurrency markets on Friday has been subdued with most traditional financial markets in Europe and the Americas closed for Good Friday.
The just released US labor market report for March was mostly in line with expectations, thus failing to trigger any meaningful breakouts in the crypto market.
For now, Shiba Inu is holding up despite sell pressure in rival memecoin Dogecoin, which was triggered by Twitter removing the Dogecoin logo as it main logo on the platform.
That’s probably because Shiba Inu, which has a different logo from Dogecoin (a cartoon version of a Shiba Inu), never pumped when Twitter implemented the Dogecoin logo in the first place.
SHIB/USD is around 6.5% lower versus its earlier weekly highs in the $0.00001170 area, but is still up around 13% versus last month’s sub-$0.000010 lows.
**Here’s Where SHIB is Heading Now**
Shiba Inu’s price action has been subdued by historic standards in recent weeks, with the 200-Day Moving Average (currently at $0.00001060) seemingly acting as a magnet, a sign of an indecisive market.
However, as the broader cryptocurrency market trends to the upside (many think Bitcoin will soon return to $30,000 and Ether to $2,000), Shiba Inu’s uptrend for the year could well extend in the coming months.
Shiba Inu is currently up around 35% since the start of the year.
The cryptocurrency’s near-term technical outlook supports this thesis.
Shiba Inu appears to be forming an ascending triangle structure, which often form ahead of bullish breakouts.
SHIB has been following a trendline higher from the March lows, but continues to find resistance in the $0.00001170 area.
A breakout to the north of $0.0000170 resistance could be the trigger for a push higher back towards the earlier annual highs in the $0.000016 area, which would mark 45% upside from current levels.
**Buy Shiba Inu Now**
**Love Hate Inu (LHINU) – A Shiba Inu Alternative to Consider**
Shiba Inu’s near-term outlook is good.
However, the fact that Shiba Inu is already so famous and well-known and already has such a massive market capitalization makes 10xing from current levels more difficult.
Investors might therefore want to consider investing in some lesser-known coins that potentially hold a better likelihood of seeing exponential gains.
A great new meme coin to consider is Love Hate Inu, a new dog-meme-inspired social media polling platform that has been taking the internet by storm in the last few weeks.
To fund the development of its revolutionary vote-to-earn platform, Love Hate Inu is currently conducting a presale of its LHINU token.
The presale has been a huge success, with Love Hate Inu having already raised a massive $3 million and the presale already having entered stage 4.
Analysts at Cryptonews.com have ranked Love Hate Inu as the hottest presale of 2023 and many think the cryptocurrency could see big gains when it ICO’s later this year.
- **Solana's Latest Tech Solution Aims to Dramatically Reduce On-Chain Storage Costs – Here's How it Works**
Popular layer-1 blockchain Solana has unveiled a new solution that will dramatically decrease the cost of storing data on-chain.
In a Thursday blog post, Solana Foundation tech lead Jon Wong said the "state compression" technology would bring down the cost of minting 1 million non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the network to around 4 SOL, or $110.
In comparison, it currently costs roughly 1,200 SOL (more than $24,000) to store 1 million NFTs on the Solana blockchain.
“After numerous phases of development, adoption, and rollout, compressed NFTs are live on Solana’s mainnet-beta and powering the next wave of novel on-chain product experiences,” Wong said.
He called the state compression technology a "true cross-ecosystem effort," noting that it was built by developers at Solana Labs and Metaplex, with support from Phantom, Solflare, and the Solana Foundation.
State compression takes advantage of Merkle trees, a hash-based data structure that is a generalization of the hash list.
"This compression-friendly data structure allows developers to store a small bit of data on-chain and updates directly in the Solana ledger, cutting the data storage cost down dramatically while still using the security and decentralization of Solana’s base layer."
Wong added that some projects built on the Solana ecosystem are already using state compression to cut costs, including blockchain-based messaging service Dialect and Crossmint, an NFT and API tooling company.
Furthermore, projects like user-owned wireless network Helium, NFT distributor DRiP, and on-chain publisher Wordcel are also using the new solution to offer scalable services to users of the blockchain.
Meanwhile, Solana's native token SOL is currently trading at $20, largely flat over the past day. However, the coin is down by more than 92% compared to its all-time high of $259 registered in November 2021.
Solana Faced a Tumultuous Year in the Wake of FTX Drama
Solana, which was designed as an efficient and speed-first platform and touted as an "Ethereum Killer," had a rough year in 2022, marked by outages and overloads.
However, among the blockchain's biggest problems last year was its significant exposure to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange, which failed miserably in November last year.
Reportedly, Bankman-Fried’s companies held nearly null.2 billion worth of SOL tokens in June. This led to many investors dumping the coin after the implosion of FTX, which crashed the price of the token.
In another blow to the blockchain, two of the biggest NFT projects built on Solana, DeGods and y00ts, left the network late last year.
At the time, DeGods announced on Twitter that it would be migrating to Ethereum, while its sister project y00ts said it was considering moving to Polygon, a popular Ethereum layer-2 solution.
“There’s an argument to be made that [DeGods] has capped out on Solana,” DeGods project leader and y00ts creator, Rohun Vora, known as Frank, said in a Twitter Spaces back then.
“It’s hard to accept, but it’s been tough to grow at the rate we want to grow. If Ethereum is where we have to go to keep growing, it’s what we have to do.”
Furthermore, in April, a class action lawsuit was filed against Solana Labs in a California federal court, accusing the company and people within the ecosystem of making illegal profits and promoting SOL as an unregistered security.
- **Bitget Features GoSleep (ZZZ) on Launchpad and Introduces Sunshine Pool**
**Victoria, Seychelles 7 Apr 2023 -** Bitget, the leading crypto derivatives exchange and copy trading platform, has announced a new round of launchpad listing featuring GoSleep (ZZZ), the leading Web3 sleep and healthy living reward app on Arbitrum. The launchpad tickets for ZZZ token will be allocated on Apr 17, with the deposit period starting on Apr 10. In this round of launchpad, Bitget has also introduced the sunshine pool, which is specially designed to provide fair opportunities for more participants to get allocations.
Bitget's Launchpad was initially introduced in February 2022, and as of now, it has launched eight early-stage projects with a price increase of up to 14950% in the first week of their listing. Previously, Launchpad featured REVO, BBO, and HALO, offering users the opportunity to participate in early-stage token sales for handpicked brightest projects.
GoSleep aims to motivate users to pursue a healthy lifestyle by providing them with sleep tracking tools and personalized advice on sleep patterns to help gradually develop healthy sleeping habits. Earlier in February, GoSleep secured funding of 2 million USD, led by Foresight Ventures, and with participation from CCC Capital, Amber Group, SevenX Ventures, KuCoin Ventures, and Gate Labs.
Bitget users who sign up for the launchpad and make a minimum deposit of 300 USDT within the deposit period from Apr 10 to 17 will be eligible for allocation of tickets on Launchpad. The final allocation will be decided in terms of the user's net deposit proportion of net deposit from all participating users and fit into the context of the total Launchpad ticket number. Users who get less than 1 ticket allocated can grab a share of the sunshine pool with 200,000 ZZZ tokens instead.
**Gracy Chen, Managing Director of Bitget**, said, "We're excited to work with GoSleep on our latest round of Launchpad. Our Launchpad has seen tremendous success in the past, with up to 100k users participating in previous rounds. With the introduction of the sunshine pool, we're able to include more participants to get allocations, creating a fair and equitable opportunity for all participating users. We remain committed to offering our users access to the brightest and most promising projects in the crypto industry, and we look forward to continuing our efforts to build a robust and thriving ecosystem for all our users."
About Bitget
Established in 2018, Bitget is the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange with futures trading and copy trading services as its key features. Serving over 8 million users in more than 100 countries and regions, the exchange is committed to helping users trade smarter by providing a secure, one-stop trading solution. It also inspires individuals to embrace crypto through collaborations with credible partners, including legendary Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi, the leading Italian football team Juventus, and official eSports events organizer PGL. According to Coingecko, Bitget is currently a top 5 futures trading platform and a top 10 spot trading platform.
- **The Future Of Recruitment Is Here and It’s Powered by the Blockchain - How Does It Work?**
Technology is growing at a blazing pace. In the last decade, we have experienced the rise of artificial intelligence, more conversations and initiatives toward a greener atmosphere, better electoral systems, and several others.
However, the one that has seen the most impact has been blockchain technology.
Unceremoniously introduced by the Bitcoin network, the decentralized ledger system has gone on to disrupt several key industries beginning with finance, real estate, medicine and healthcare, gaming, entertainment, and the internet.
Blockchain technology is now changing the very face of how employers and employees will relate in the coming years.
This change is coming into the freelance space through DeeLance.
Say Hello to Decentralized Freelance Space
There are over 1 billion freelancers worldwide. This is a snatch from the current global workforce of 3.5 billion people.
The 1.1 billion people employed on a contract-by-contract basis represent 35% of the global workforce engaged in an independent framework.
With the advent of remote working, more people can take up multiple job roles across related industries.
This has since spurred researchers to put the freelance workforce to increase by 65% in the coming years.
While the industry is rapidly increasing, it has largely become stagnant in increasing the welfare of freelance workers and largely providing employers with verifiable talents. This stalemate is being changed as we speak.
A new fast-rising blockchain project focused on the freelance industry is now in force.
Called DeeLance, the protocol is a freelancing and recruitment platform based on the ethos of Web3.
The innovative platform is decentralized and aimed at changing how freelancers get jobs and employers find talent for their industries.
DeeLance is the first of its kind in a fast-paced crypto marketplace and aims to radically change the freelance ecosystem as a whole.
To do this, DeeLance provides a comfortable landscape where freelancers can get the perfect roles without paying exorbitant fees compared to their Web2 counterparts like Upwork and Fiverr.
Focusing on the commission freelancers are charged on these platforms shows why DeeLance is the future of recruitment.
For instance, on the DeeLance platform, users pay only 2% in commission, the lowest fee in the industry.
There is also a competitive 10% freelancer fee that puts it amongst the top names in the future of work. However, this is where the similarity ends.
For cashing out earnings, freelancers do not have to battle traditional banking systems. Instead, they get instant crypto payouts without any hassles and withdrawal limits.
This way, anyone can get and earn on DeeLance without going through the rigors of supplying their details to a third-party payment infrastructure.
User Ownership Is the New Norm
One thing that many have come to associate with the Web3 movement is its focus on duly rewarding the real value creators who are Internet users.
This ideology runs rampant on DeeLance as freelancers get to hold their work until the employer fulfills their end of the bargain.
To interface on the DeeLance platform, the employer stores the required funds for the project in an escrow system which works like a smart contract.
Once the freelancer completes the task and submits, the funds are released to their online crypto wallet if and only if they meet the stipulated metrics.
From there, the freelancer transfers ownership to the employer, which is duly noted. This gives power to value creators instead of the employers of labor.
The platform’s valuable utility, DLANCE, is getting many investors excited. So far, the digital asset has already secured over $71,000 in its presale after launching less than two weeks ago.
Aside from the obvious utility of being a network and stakable asset, DLANCE will play a critical role in DeeLance becoming a non-fungible token (NFT) and metaverse-powered freelance marketplace.
This way, users will be able to apply for jobs in virtual worlds, and business owners will be able to create value in real-time with this teeming workforce.
- **Today in Crypto: Do Kwon Converted Millions in Illicit Funds to BTC, Robinhood to Pay $10.2M in Penalties, Mt Gox Creditors Repayment Window Now Open**
*Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.*
__________
Legal newsSouth Korean prosecutors identified $314.2 million in illicit assets associated with **Terraform Labs** co-founder Do Kwon and his associates, out of which $69 million is directly linked to Kwon. He, however, converted most of the illicit funds into Bitcoin using overseas crypto exchanges, KBS reported, so the assets tied to him are not recoverable or under South Korean jurisdiction.Major US online trading platform **Robinhood** “will pay up to $10.2 million in penalties for operational and technical failures that harmed main street investors,” the USA, **California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation** (DFPI) announced. The DFPI joined the multi-state settlement that followed a **North American Securities Administrators Association** (NASAA) investigation into the platform outages in March 2020.The deadline for **Mt Gox** creditors to provide their repayment information has passed, opening the window for repayments to be made, according to an April 7 letter from the exchange Trustee. The Trustee will carry out the necessary preparations to make the repayments, coordinating with several financial institutions, including crypto exchanges, which will receive and distribute the payments to creditors. “In light of this, it is expected to take some time before the repayment is commenced,” it said.Politics newsA candidate for Thailand’s prime minister position, Srettha Thavisin, promised every citizen 10,000 Thai Baht ($300) in digital currency if his party forms a government following a general election in May. According to the Bangkok Post, the real estate mogul promised a basic-income style economic stimulus package via “digital currency” should the Pheu Thai party win the election.DeFi news**ZkSync**, a ZK-Rollup Layer 2 scaling solution developed by **Matter Labs**, said that it found “an elegant solution” to unlock the frozen contract, referring to the ETH 921 stuck in a smart contract used by a team called **Gemholic** on its Era network, after this team reached out for support. “It will require minimal changes in the gas metering of the protocol, but will allow for full recovery of the funds,” said ZkSync, adding that the funds are safe.Security newsCrypto security firm **CertiK** found that malicious actors drained $320,332,058 of value from Web3 protocols in the first quarter of this year. Per its FY23 Q1 Hack3d report, this represents over a third of the $950 million lost in Q4 last year, and a quarter of null.3 billion lost in Q1 2022. The $197m-heavy **Euler Finance** exploit alone represented over 60% of the value stolen in Q1 2023.A new report by **the United States Treasury Department** “explores how illicit actors are abusing what is commonly referred to as decentralized finance (DeFi) services as well as vulnerabilities unique to DeFi services.” It found that bad actors – including ransomware cybercriminals, thieves, scammers, and North Korean hackers – are using DeFi services in the process of transferring and laundering the illicit proceeds, exploiting vulnerabilities in the US and foreign AML/CFT regulatory, supervisory, and enforcement regimes, as well as the technology underpinning DeFi services. “In particular, this assessment finds that the most significant current illicit finance risk in this domain is from DeFi services that are not compliant with existing AML/CFT obligations,” it said.Mining newsCrypto-mining firm **Foundry**, owned by embattled conglomerate **Digital Currency Group**, is going to start charging users a fee for its Bitcoin mining services. Per Bloomberg, Foundry USA will begin levying a pool fee on members between April 19 and April 22, saying that it will be implementing tiered fees, according to a notice it circulated to clients on April 6. The pricing tiers for each quarter will be based on the previous quarter’s average hashrate, it said.
- **Solana's Latest Tech Solution Aims to Dramatically Reduce On-Chain Storage Costs – Here's How it Works**
Popular layer-1 blockchain Solana has unveiled a new solution that will dramatically decrease the cost of storing data on-chain.
In a Thursday blog post, Solana Foundation tech lead Jon Wong said the "state compression" technology would bring down the cost of minting 1 million non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the network to around 4 SOL, or $110.
In comparison, it currently costs roughly 1,200 SOL (more than $24,000) to store 1 million NFTs on the Solana blockchain.
“After numerous phases of development, adoption, and rollout, compressed NFTs are live on Solana’s mainnet-beta and powering the next wave of novel on-chain product experiences,” Wong said.
He called the state compression technology a "true cross-ecosystem effort," noting that it was built by developers at Solana Labs and Metaplex, with support from Phantom, Solflare, and the Solana Foundation.
State compression takes advantage of Merkle trees, a hash-based data structure that is a generalization of the hash list.
"This compression-friendly data structure allows developers to store a small bit of data on-chain and updates directly in the Solana ledger, cutting the data storage cost down dramatically while still using the security and decentralization of Solana’s base layer."
Wong added that some projects built on the Solana ecosystem are already using state compression to cut costs, including blockchain-based messaging service Dialect and Crossmint, an NFT and API tooling company.
Furthermore, projects like user-owned wireless network Helium, NFT distributor DRiP, and on-chain publisher Wordcel are also using the new solution to offer scalable services to users of the blockchain.
Meanwhile, Solana's native token SOL is currently trading at $20, largely flat over the past day. However, the coin is down by more than 92% compared to its all-time high of $259 registered in November 2021.
Solana Faced a Tumultuous Year in the Wake of FTX Drama
Solana, which was designed as an efficient and speed-first platform and touted as an "Ethereum Killer," had a rough year in 2022, marked by outages and overloads.
However, among the blockchain's biggest problems last year was its significant exposure to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange, which failed miserably in November last year.
Reportedly, Bankman-Fried’s companies held nearly null.2 billion worth of SOL tokens in June. This led to many investors dumping the coin after the implosion of FTX, which crashed the price of the token.
In another blow to the blockchain, two of the biggest NFT projects built on Solana, DeGods and y00ts, left the network late last year.
At the time, DeGods announced on Twitter that it would be migrating to Ethereum, while its sister project y00ts said it was considering moving to Polygon, a popular Ethereum layer-2 solution.
“There’s an argument to be made that [DeGods] has capped out on Solana,” DeGods project leader and y00ts creator, Rohun Vora, known as Frank, said in a Twitter Spaces back then.
“It’s hard to accept, but it’s been tough to grow at the rate we want to grow. If Ethereum is where we have to go to keep growing, it’s what we have to do.”
Furthermore, in April, a class action lawsuit was filed against Solana Labs in a California federal court, accusing the company and people within the ecosystem of making illegal profits and promoting SOL as an unregistered security.
- **Thailand Opposition Leader Vows $300 Crypto Airdrop If Elected Prime Minister – Here's What You Need to Know**
The opposition leader of Thailand has promised to airdrop 10,000 baht ($300) in digital currency to anyone 16 or over should his Pheu Thai Party win the next election.
On Wednesday, real estate mogul turned candidate Srettha Thavisin announced the $300 handout policy in the heavily populated central Thai province Nonthaburi, according to a report by the Bangkok Post.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Pheu Thai's chief adviser on public participation and innovation, claimed the policy is part of a blockchain-based project designed to distribute Thai products abroad and help introduce digital currencies to Thailand.
The $300 airdrop will need to be spent within a 4-kilometer community radius in six months.
Shinawatra said the policy is designed to make Thailand an Asian fintech hub while spurring the development of its economy.
He explained that the funds would be invested in local areas for people to use within several months after receiving them, although critics slammed the initiative for lacking transparency and not clearly outlining the funding sources.
“Our country has been economically bruised over the last eight years, with less income and more expenses for the people,” Thavisin was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.
“The current government has been feeding IV drips with small money handouts. That’s not the right way and doesn’t stimulate the appropriate and right economic growth.”
Experts Show Concern About Sources of Funding
The policy has been criticized as a vote-winning gimmick, with some experts noting that there is no clear funding source to cover the initiative.
Waiwit Thongthongkham, a commercial bank employee, acknowledged that people like the prospect of free money from the authorities, but questioned where it would come from.
Pundits have also pointed out that Pheu Thai had previously criticized a policy by the Prayut government regarding a state welfare scheme for poor elderly people.
The Pheu Thai Party is running against the ruling Palang Pracharath Party, led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, a former chief of the military junta that ruled the country after a coup in 2014.
Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, a minister in prime minister Chan-o-cha's office and chief strategist in the United Thai Nation Party, said the budget would run to 500 billion baht ($15 billion) if distributed to all 50 million Thais.
He also said that creating a digital currency would be a significant challenge, with implications for the country's entire financial system, and suspected that the policy was a marketing gimmick.
The move by Thailand comes as more and more Asian countries are striving to create a more friendly environment for crypto firms in a push to become global crypto hubs.
Just recently, it was revealed that the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the police have been working with lenders in the country to refine their approach to onboarding crypto service providers.
Similarly, Hong Kong has been aggressively pushing with its plans to become a global crypto hub.
As reported, Hong Kong officials plan to host a meeting between crypto companies and bankers in an attempt to ease financing for the sector, which suggests the city is determined to tackle various difficulties that crypto companies face when trying to set up corporate banking accounts.
Furthermore, a number of Chinese state-owned banks in Hong Kong, including the Bank of Communications, Bank of China, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, have either started offering banking services to local crypto firms or have made inquiries.
- **Today in Crypto: Sentiment Recovers 90% of Funds from Hacker, Major Chinese State-owned Company Launching Two Crypto Funds, Australian Regulator Cancels Binance's Derivatives License**
*Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.*
__________
Security newsLending protocol **Sentiment** recovered the funds stolen in the recent hack by offering the hacker a $95,000 bounty. “After successful negotiations with the exploiter, 90% of hacked funds have been returned as agreed,” Sentiment said. Per **MetaMask** developer Taylor Monahan, the hacker first returned ETH 414 out of the ETH 517.5 stolen, followed by a second transaction for the remaining funds.Investment newsMajor Chinese state-owned company **CPIC Investment Management**, a subsidiary of **China Pacific Insurance** (CPI), is launching two crypto funds in partnership with the investment firm **Waterdrip Capital**, the local news agency 36Kr reported. The new crypto funds reportedly include a venture capital fund called the **Pacific Waterdrip Digital Asset Fund I**, focused on investments in early-stage blockchain projects, while the second, called the **Pacific Waterdrip Digital Asset Fund II**, will manage proof-of-stake (PoS) digital assets.Exchange newsThe **Australian Securities and Investments Commission** (ASIC) has canceled **Binance Australia**'s derivatives license, according to a press release. “The licence cancellation was effected today in response to a request to cancel received from Binance yesterday,” it said. Binance will require clients to close any existing derivative positions before April 21, on which day it will close any remaining open positions.**Bitstamp** announced a new lending service across several European markets, Hong Kong, and the UAE. It partnered with **Tesseract**, a Finnish lending firm that also offers a white-label platform, on which the borrowers must provide 100% collateral for stablecoin loans, according to The Block. The exchange's lending product offers daily rewards and up to 4.4% APY, with lending available for major coins, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), and Tether (USDT), among others.**Bitfinex Derivatives**, a derivatives platform accessible through **Bitfinex**, announced a range of perpetual contracts for three of the largest and oldest Asian Equities indices: HONG KONG 50, JAPAN 225, and AUSTRALIA 200. The launch of these equity perpetual contracts will allow Bitfinex Derivatives customers to trade products that are usually found on traditional financial exchanges, but are subject to restricted trading hours, said the press release.Regulation newsFor the past six months, the **Monetary Authority of Singapore** (MAS) and the police forces have been working with traditional banks to set uniform standards for screening potential customers from the crypto and digital assets sectors, Bloomberg reported. Stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and transferable gaming or streaming credits will also be covered under this initiative that focuses on firms providing services in payments, trading, and transfers of these assets, a source said. Results and conclusions for risk management and due diligence will be published in the next two months.CBDC newsCreators of India's retail central bank digital currency (CBDC-R) aim to scale the user base of the digital rupee to one million users – double the previous aim – and have prioritized solving the challenge of creating an offline version, CoinDesk reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. “Given India’s population as the world’s largest, we expect to reach the milestone of one million users easily,” a source said, adding that the tentative timeline for reaching one million users is three months.Mining newsBuncombe County, in North Carolina, USA, is considering a 1-year moratorium on new and existing Bitcoin mining operations in the area, according to a document shared by local news outlet News 13 WSOL. The pause would give the county's **Board of Commissioners** time to “develop standards and mitigation methods for intensive land uses that may pose detrimental harm to the natural environment,” the document said. Commissioners have set a public hearing on the issue for May 2.
- **Is It Too Late to Buy Dogecoin as DOGE Pumps Up 20% in 30 Days – Will DOGE Reach null This Year?**
In wake of Dogecoin’s (DOGE) latest Twitter logo change fuelled pump, some investors are asking whether it now might be too late to buy the Shiba Inu dog meme-inspired cryptocurrency.
For short-term traders looking to jump in and out of the market quickly, the answer may be yes.
Dogecoin saw a perfect technical set-up for a short-term pump from under $0.08 to $0.10 in late March/early April when the cryptocurrency broke above a downtrend that had been in play going all the way back to last November.
The price jump catalyzed by Twitter’s logo change to the Dogecoin logo saw the cryptocurrency quickly rally to its short-term target (at $0.10).
Dogecoin has since eased back to the $0.09 area, a sign that the easy short-term gains have now been achieved.
Short-term speculators who missed the latest pump may have thus left it too late to make quick easy gains from Dogecoin.
**Is It Too Late To Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)?**
What about those who want to buy and HODL Dogecoin for the longer term? Is it too late for them as well?
Well, the first thing to say is that asking whether it is “too late” to buy an asset is never a good way to think about the market.
The only questions an investor should be asking are those relating to the asset’s price outlook and risk reward.
If an investor thinks the Dogecoin outlook in the medium to long term is good, then they should consider allocating a proportion of their portfolio to the asset.
But to answer the question “is it too late” to buy Dogecoin more directly, no it probably isn’t.
DOGE is still down nearly 90% from its all-time highs hit back in May 2021 and is down around 40% versus its Q4 2022 highs.
That means that anyone buying Dogecoin right now is arguably still “buying the dip”, or at least not buying DOGE at highly overpriced levels.
And with the broader macro backdrop turning more favorable for crypto in recent weeks and Elon Musk amping up his support (most recent with the Twitter logo change), Dogecoin’s medium-term outlook is getting better.
Blue chip coins like Bitcoin and Ether are already in bulls markets as banking crisis/recession concerns lead push market to bet on a Fed rate-cutting cycle later this year and this could continue to offer Dogecoin tailwinds as well.
From a historical perspective, now is arguably a good time to get into the market, but investors should of course always do their own research to make sure they fully understand the asset they are investing their hard-earned cash into.
**Will Dogecoin Reach null This Year?**
Nothing is impossible in crypto markets. Dogecoin’s gains exceeded 7,000% in the first half of 2021.
That means investors should not rule out the possibility that DOGE could post a 1,000% gain from current levels to hit new all-time highs at null per token this year.
But Dogecoin’s subdued performance since May 2021 means that there isn’t that much confidence right now that it could pull of such a feat once again in such a short time period.
However, if the US recession gets really bad and the Fed really starts cutting interest rates and injecting liquidity into the financial system, the chances of Dogecoin hitting null.0 in the next few years remain good.
For what its worth, analysts at Cryptonews.com expect Dogecoin to reach null.0 by 2030, noting that “the consistent expansion of meme coin popularity offers an opening for Dogecoin to become a more widely-accepted means of payment among more merchants”.
**Buy Dogecoin Now**
**Love Hate Inu (LHINU) – A Dogecoin Alternative to Consider**
The fact that Shiba Inu is already so famous and well known and already has such a massive market capitalization makes 10xing from current levels more difficult.
Investors might therefore want to consider investing in some lesser-known coins that potentially hold a better likelihood of seeing exponential gains.
A great new meme coin to consider is Love Hate Inu, a new dog-meme-inspired social media polling platform that has been taking the internet by storm in the last few weeks.
To fund the development of its revolutionary vote-to-earn platform, Love Hate Inu is currently conducting a presale of its LHINU token.
The presale has been a huge success, with Love Hate Inu having already raised a massive $2.98 million and the presale already having entered stage 4.
Analysts at Cryptonews.com have ranked Love Hate Inu as the hottest presale of 2023 and many think the cryptocurrency could see big gains when it ICO’s later this year.
- **Swiss Government-Owned Bank to Grant 2.5 Million Users Crypto Capabilities via New Partnership – Crypto Adoption on the Rise?**
Major Swiss bank PostFinance has partnered with digital asset services provider Sygnum Bank to offer its customers cryptocurrency trading and storage services.
As part of the partnership, the Swiss state-owned bank will provide its 2.5 million customers access to buy, sell, and store Bitcoin and Ethereum, two of the world's largest cryptocurrencies, with more tokens expected to be added in the future, according to a Wednesday press release.
The bank will tap Sygnum’s institutional business-to-business (B2B) banking platform, which allows financial institutions to enter the crypto markets in a regulated and compliant manner to offer crypto services.
Sygnum’s B2B network includes more than 15 partner banks and supports a “range of cryptocurrencies,” also featuring revenue-generating services like staking.
"Digital assets have become an integral part of the financial world, and our customers want access to this market at PostFinance," Philipp Merkt, Chief Investment Officer of PostFinance, commented.
Founded in 1906, PostFinance is fully owned by the Swiss government and is the fifth-largest financial services firm in the country.
It is also the financial services unit of Swiss Post, which is the national postal service of Switzerland.
The company is known for its pro-crypto stance, building an in-house trading and custody service and issuing digital collectibles linked to physical stamps.
In 2021, PostFinance also partnered with online trading platform Swissquote to develop the Yuh mobile application, which gives users access to traditional shares and stock markets as well as over 25 cryptocurrencies.
Sygnum, which describes itself as the world's first digital asset bank, is fully regulated with a Swiss banking license.
Earlier this year, Sygnum inked a partnership with Ethereum scaling solution zkSync Era to work on several areas, including a proof-of-solvency solution, providing custody options for zkSync Era users via Sygnum-run validator nodes on the protocol, and building on-ramp and off-ramp infrastructure for Sygnum’s client base.
Crypto Adoption Finds Momentum as TradFi Companies Join in
The recent move by PostFinance to offer its 2.5 million customers exposure to crypto could further accelerate the pace of adoption among traditional finance users.
As reported, S&P Global is also looking for a DeFi director to oversee its expansion into the rapidly evolving decentralized finance sector in a move that signifies the mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technologies.
Furthermore, Nasdaq aims to launch its much-anticipated crypto custody service by the end of the second quarter to meet the increasing institutional interest and demand for crypto services.
In an October survey, BNY Mellon revealed that 91% of the bank's institutional investors are interested in investing in digital assets with 97% claiming that “tokenization will revolutionize asset management” and will be “good for the industry."
It is worth noting that some of the world's largest companies are already using blockchain technology and crypto in some form.
In a report last year, blockchain adoption analytics platform Blockdata said 44 out of the top 100 public companies by market capitalization across six major sectors are currently actively utilizing blockchain.
- **Shiba Inu Price Prediction as $420 Million Trading Volume Surges In, Yet Whales Are Eyeing Another Coin for 10x Gains**
Shiba Inu (SHIB), the world’s second-largest dog-inspired meme coin by market capitalization after Dogecoin that lives on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 token, has been consolidating in the $0.000011-0.00001150 area in the last few days.
SHIB has failed to keep pace with a rapid surge in Dogecoin over the last few days after widely used social media application Twitter changed its logo to the Dogecoin logo (a picture of a Shiba Inu dog).
SHIB continues to remain constrained to the upside by its 50-day moving average around $0.00001150, while the 21, 100 and 200DMAs all also continue to act as a magnet to the price action.
Despite this, trading volumes have been trending higher in recent days and some think SHIB could soon be about to pop higher.
According to data sourced from CoinGecko, SHIB trading volumes across exchanges hit an impressive $420 million in on Wednesday, even before the day even ended.
That comes after trading volumes neared $600 million on Tuesday, their highest level since mid-March.
Since the start of the year, SHIB trading volumes have been gradually rising in tandem with strong price performance – Shiba Inu is nearly 40% up on the year.
**Price Prediction - Favorable Macro Backdrop Technicals, Upcoming Ecosystem Developments Could Pump SHIB**
Despite the strong performance since the start of the year, SHIB is still down around 30% from earlier yearly highs in the $0.000016 area.
But SHIB broke above the downtrend from this high late last month.
If it can break away from its cloud of major moving averages, which continue acting as a drag, and get above support-turned-resistance in the mid-$0.000011s, then it could threaten a retest of these earlier annual highs.
The fact that Twitter’s logo is currently a Shiba Inu (even if it’s the Dogecoin logo, not the Shiba Inu logo) should be a tailwind.
Optimism about upcoming Shiba Inu ecosystem upgrades could also pump optimism.
“In the coming week you will start to see some real progress on all things SHIB the metaverse,” Shiba Inu metaverse development team lead Marcie Jastrow said in a recent post to Shiba Inu community’s Discord channel, as shared by popular Shiba Inu proponent LUCIE on Twitter on Tuesday.
Shiba Inu recently released a beta version of Shibarium, its Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution designed to bring down transaction costs and provide a platform for the development of a Shiba Inu-specific web3 ecosystem that still benefits from the underlying security of the Ethereum blockchain’s consensus layer.
**Whales Are Eyeing Big Gains – Can SHIB 10x?**
Despite SHIB’s big pullback from earlier annual highs in the $0.000016 area, major SHIB whales appear to be holding onto their tokens and not capitulating.
That’s according to on-chain data cited by WhaleStats, which shows the number of transactions being conducted by the top 100 Shiba Inu whales has fallen to virtually zero per day since mid-February, having previously been in the 100s.
That suggests that sentiment amongst whales remains strong.
As to whether SHIB can 10x from current levels. That is a tough ask, at least in the short term.
7x gains would see Shiba Inu’s market cap explode to around $47 billion and SHIB hit new all-time highs in the upper-$0.000088s area.
10x gains would see SHIB lose a zero and expand its market cap to above $65 billion.
If the US Federal Reserve is about to embark on a big rate-cutting cycle later this year to stave off a US bank crisis/recession, and Shiba Inu developers do continue to give SHIB new utility via expanding the scope of the web3 project’s ecosystem, then the cryptocurrency could feasibly see 10x gains in the next few years.
**Buy Shiba Inu Now**
**Love Hate Inu (LHINU) – A Shiba Inu Alternative to Consider**
The fact that Shiba Inu is already so famous and well known and already has such a massive market capitalization makes 10xing from current levels more difficult.
Investors might therefore want to consider investing in some lesser-known coins that potentially hold a better likelihood of seeing exponential gains.
A great new meme coin to consider is Love Hate Inu, a new dog-meme-inspired social media polling platform that has been taking the internet by storm in the last few weeks.
To fund the development of its revolutionary vote-to-earn platform, Love Hate Inu is currently conducting a presale of its LHINU token.
The presale has been a huge success, with Love Hate Inu having already raised a massive $2.9 million and the presale already having entered stage 4.
Analysts at Cryptonews.com have ranked Love Hate Inu as the hottest presale of 2023 and many think the cryptocurrency could see big gains when it ICO’s later this year.
- **Crypto Ecosystem Loses Another P2P Marketplace As Paxful Shuts Down – End of an Era?**
The peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange **Paxful** has succumbed to the relentless pressures of the ongoing crypto downturn.
On Tuesday, Ray Youssef, Paxful's Founder and CEO, announced the suspension of the marketplace, stating, "Today, Paxful will be suspending its marketplace. We are not sure if it will come back."
However, the Paxful Wallet will continue to operate, allowing customers to access their funds.
The CEO emphasized that safeguarding customer assets remains the company's top priority and added that,
"All customer funds are all accounted for. Please withdraw them and if you can — self-custody."
Users soon complained, however, that the transfers were taking longer than usual.
The CEO assured them that this will be resolved as well, saying that there is a database overload.
The company's recommendation is to use cold wallets such as **Exodus** and **Muun**.
Paxful is currently offering migration to other options for non-US users to platforms such as the peer-to-peer (P2P) company focused on the Global South (Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania), called **Noones**.
Another suggested option for African customers is **Bitnob**, a Nigeria-based P2P platform that lets users buy, save, and invest in Bitcoin (BTC).
Two (or three) main problems
While admitting that the company shutting its doors may be shocking news to many, Youssef wouldn't go into specific details surrounding it, saying that he can't "share the full story now."
What Youssef did share is that,
"We unfortunately have had some key staff departures. Also, regulatory challenges for the industry continue to grow, especially in the peer-to-peer market and most heavily in the U.S."
In a Twitter Spaces meetup, Youssef said that "a quarter of the company was compliance people" but that "even that was not enough to please Uncle Sam" (referring to the US government).
Continuing operations but only blocking customers from the US was not really an option because the company doesn't have sufficient staff for that, Youssef said.
In addition to the above-mentioned issues, Youssef noted a lawsuit brought by a Paxful co-founder, filed against the CEO and the company.
The person was not named, but there is a January court docket with Artur Schaback as the plaintiff.
It seems that these issues have been a storm strong enough to possibly sink the entire ship.
In the CEO's words, the company is working to resolve them but has decided to take "the most secure option" and ask its customers to "explore self-custody and trade elsewhere."
Youssef also tweeted that he would not be withdrawing his own BTC until the customers withdraw their coins, also noting that he's already self-custodying most of his assets.
Meanwhile, on March 29, Paxful, which was founded in 2015, said that it would be refunding its Earn program users who were unable to assess their funds following the **Celsius** bankruptcy filing.
"I’ve personally taken action and will be refunding all affected Paxful users—Celsius funds will be available in Paxful Wallet later this week," Youssef said at the time.
- **After Manhattan Indictment, Trump's NFT Trading Cards See Sharp Rise in Value – Here's Why**
Digital trading cards tied to Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, have seen a spike in price following news that a grand jury in Manhattan voted to indict him.
According to NFT data aggregator NFTPriceFloor, the floor price of Trump's NFTs currently sets at 0.499 ETH, or over $900 at current rates. In comparison, the cards were initially priced at $99 and dropped to as low as 0.02 ETH (around $35) in late December last year.
The NFT collection has also seen a surge in trading volume. On March 31, one day after the former president was indicted, the trading volume of his digital cards spiked to 87 ETH (around $160,000), compared to 34 ETH the earlier day.
Trump's NFTs had an average sale of 0.4555 ETH, or roughly $800 — down by more than 16% in the last 24 hours. The highest sale soared to 0.9298 ETH, which equates to nearly null,700 — an increase of 23% in the same period, according to the site.
As reported, the former president released its collection of NFTs, dubbed "Trump Cards," in December last year.
The NFT collection features a series of digital "cards" depicting Trump in various iconic poses and situations, which include Trump as a muscle-bound wrestling champion, Trump holding a basketball, and even Trump in space.
"These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career!" he said at the time, adding that the cards, costing $99 (£81) each, "would make a great Christmas gift."
There were a total of 45,000 NFTs, all minted on Polygon, a layer-two scaling solution that runs alongside the Ethereum blockchain and allows for speedy transactions and low fees.
Trump Indicted on Criminal Charges
On March 30, Trump was indicted on criminal charges by a New York grand jury in a first for a former US president. The exact nature of the charges is still unclear because the indictment remains under seal, but they stem from payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.
More specifically, Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, allegedly sent $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels back in 2106. Daniels claims to have had an affair with Trump, which he denies, along with the allegations that he was involved in paying her to keep quiet.
Furthermore, Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in the indictment, CNN reported, adding that the former president is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in a recent statement, Trump attacked District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other Democrats following news of the indictment. “I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” the former president said in a statement Thursday.
“The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
- **A Sharp Rise in Bogus Russian Crypto Exchanges – How Are Fraudsters Targeting Russians?**
A “significant” rise in the number of fraudulent crypto exchanges targeting Russians and Russian-speaking crypto traders has been detected, a new report has found.
Per Kommersant, experts have noted a “significant increase” in the number of “small [Russian-language] crypto exchanges, some of which turn out to be fraudulent.”
InformZashitae, a Russian security firm, explained that “unscrupulous exchange”-linked crypto transactions had “grown by one and a half times” in recent weeks.
The firm added that the number of such exchanges “continues to grow.”
A firm named Positive Technologies claimed that the number of fraudulent crypto exchanges had grown by triple in the space of a year, per March 2023 data.
The report also found that “fake crypto exchange aggregators” were “also spreading.”
Dmitry Stepanin, the head of the crypto exchange Satoshkin, was quoted as stating that BestChange clones were “being created specifically to advertise fake exchanges.”
Rise in Fraudulent Russian Crypto Exchanges – What Is Driving the Increase?
Experts claimed that the trend was “associated with an increase in the volume of crypto-fiat transactions” in Russia – with many Russians looking for crypto-powered ways to evade economic sanctions.
Oleg Ogienko, the head of government relations at the crypto mining firm BitRiver, was quoted as explaining:
“It is natural that in any market that undergoes explosive growth – such as cryptocurrencies – all kinds of scammers become active.”
Crypto industry insiders claimed that “only the legalization” of crypto-related activities in Russia could put an end to the rise in bogus exchanges.
Ogienko suggested that crypto exchanges could initially operate in a government-controlled “experimental legal regime” – often referred to as a sandbox.
Politicians have suggested that launching a government-run crypto exchange could provide the answer. But the anti-crypto Central Bank appears to disapprove of this idea.
A bill on the regulation of crypto was submitted to the State Duma in November last year.
But the draft law has failed to make any progress in the Russian House due to deep divisions between the Central Bank, law enforcement agencies, and pro-industry ministries.
Lawmakers say they will try again with a revised bill later this month.
- **DOJ Seizes $112M Linked to Cryptocurrency Investment Schemes in Multi-District Action**
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has seized crypto worth more than $112 million linked to several crypto-related scams.
The seizure targeted six cryptocurrency accounts, and was based on warrants authorized by judges in the District of Arizona, the Central District of California, and the District of Idaho, according to an announcement from the DOJ.
According to court documents, the virtual currency accounts were used to launder proceeds from what the prosecutor called cryptocurrency confidence scams, scams where fraudsters cultivate long-term relationships with victims met online, eventually enticing them to make fraudulent investments.
Instead of going to legitimate crypto projects, the money invested by the victims was funneled to crypto wallets controlled by the scammers and their co-conspirators, the DOJ said.
The DOJ’s announcement did not say which cryptocurrencies the case involved.
Investment fraud responsible for $3.31 billion in losses
The FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center reported that investment fraud caused the highest losses of any scam in 2022, totaling $3.31 billion.
Frauds involving cryptocurrency represented the majority of these scams, increasing by a whopping 183% from 2021 to $2.57 billion in reported losses last year.
Depriving scam organizations of their ill-gotten gains is an important part of the Justice Department’s strategy to combat the “ruthless schemes” that these organizations operate, said Director Eun Young Choi of the Criminal Division’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET).
He added that the Bureau now has a particular focus on crypto and on tracking the movement of funds on-chain:
“We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to disrupt and deter cryptocurrency confidence schemes, including by following the money on the blockchain and seizing cryptocurrency to return funds to victims, and by targeting and taking down online infrastructure used by the scammers.”
Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division added:
“Financial fraud schemes like these demonstrate the great lengths criminals will take to swindle innocent victims out of their money. There is no place beyond the reach of the FBI.”
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Phoenix, Arizona Division.
- **Binance Founder CZ Denies Sudden Red Interpol Notice Rumors – Here's the Latest**
Binance CEO has refuted allegations that he has received an Interpol Red Notice seeking to locate and arrest the crypto founder, calling the rumor "FUD."
In a Tuesday tweet, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao denounced claims that he was facing a Red Notice request issued by The International Criminal Police Organization.
He even shared a photo of the alleged Red Notice, clarifying that the picture was photoshopped.
The rumors started to spread on social media after users on Twitter decrypted a message by Twitter personality ‘Cobie’, which claimed that CZ was facing an Interpol Red Notice.
Several news outlets picked up the story, which led to panic among the crypto community.
It triggered a sharp drop in the price of Binance’s BNB token and the broader market.
Interpol is an international criminal police organization that facilitates cross-border cooperation among police forces from different countries.
It issues a Red Notice for fugitives who are wanted for extradition.
The agency can act as a request to law enforcement agencies in 194 member countries to locate and provisionally arrest the person who is the subject of the notice.
A Red Notice is not equivalent to an international arrest warrant, and it is not enforceable on its own.
Instead, the notice serves as a tool to facilitate the extradition of a wanted individual from one country to another.
In a comment to Cryptonews, a spokesperson for Binance denied the allegations and referred to Interpol’s website, which does not list a public Red Notice for Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as of April 4.
Binance in Hot Waters With Regulators in the US
Binance has been under increasing scrutiny from regulators around the world in recent months, with its US business being the most vulnerable to ongoing crackdowns by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Just recently, the CFTC announced that it is suing Binance and founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao on allegations that the crypto exchange knowingly offered unregistered crypto derivative products in the US in the transgression of the law.
The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange is also under investigation by the US Internal Revenue Service and various federal prosecutors over concerns about poor adherence to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) controls.
Furthermore, the SEC had issued a Wells Notice to Paxos, a crypto firm that issues Binance’s stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), and plans to sue the company over its BUSD issuance.
The agency argued that BUSD is considered an unregistered security.
In early March, three US Senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), asked Binance and its US partner Binance.US to provide detailed information regarding their business operations amid accusations of illegal practices.
In a letter addressed to CZ and Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder, the senators said that the exchange and its related entities have "purposefully" evaded regulators, facilitated the transfer of assets to criminals and sanctions evaders, and concealed basic financial information from its customers and the public.
- **OpenSea Sees Explosive Demand for 'Vitalik' NFT Collection Tied to Ethereum Co-Founder – Here's What You Need to Know**
Since its association with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was revealed, the "Gitcoin Presents" NFT collection has surged to the top spot on OpenSea.
Created by Metalabel in collaboration with Web3 funding platform Gitcoin, the collection is based on Quadratic Funding, a funding model designed by Vitalik Buterin, Harvard economist Zoë Hitzig, and RadicalxChange founder Glen Weyl.
The drop includes the project’s 2018 whitepaper, a poem, and even physical prints signed by the three founders.
While the open edition mint launched on March 1, the collection found momentum just recently after some NFT traders spotted its connection with Buterin.
So far, the collection has amassed around 5,600 ETH ($13.4 million) in cumulative trading volume, according to data by OpenSea.
Furthermore, the collection consists of 9221 items, with a floor price of 0.3047 ETH (worth around $430).
Each NFT in the collection looks like an album cover and includes a digital version of Quadratic Funding's 2018 whitepaper “Liberal Radicalism: A Flexible Design for Philanthropic Matching Funds” signed by Buterin and his co-authors, economists Glen Weyl and Zoë Hitzig.
Furthermore, twelve Signature Edition records come with physical copies of the project’s whitepaper. These were called special “Signature Edition” records and were reserved for collectors to mint at 10 ETH, or over $15,000.
The collection's website notes that Gitcoin and Metalabel are the ones releasing the Quadratic Collection “to commemorate and preserve this original work and to raise funds for public goods.” It also says 70% of the funds from the sales will go toward Gitcoin, 20% to the Plurality Institute, and 10% to Metalabel.
What is Quadratic Funding?
Quadratic Funding is a model used in the matching process for crowdfunding campaigns. It is touted as a more democratic and scalable form of matching funding for public goods as it amplifies the donations made by a large community over the contributions made by a small group with big pockets.
In other words, that means that a few whales can’t determine how matching funds are delegated based on the size of their contribution. Meanwhile, the breadth of support for particular projects is also a factor.
"Since this idea was introduced, more than $70 million has been directed to public goods and open source projects using quadratic funding by Gitcoin and other organizations," according to the collection’s website.
It is worth noting that the "Gitcoin Presents" collection is not the only NFT project currently trending.
Starbucks, which launched its limited edition NFTs consisting of a collection of 2,000 digital “Stamps” today, has seen all the NFTs sold out in minutes.
Each priced at $100, the NFTs brought in a total of $200,000 for the coffeehouse giant. The collection has also generated more than $117,546 in secondary market sales so far.
- I'm saying my piece in the #futureofsocial by signing the @t2world.lens manifesto. Which values do you support?
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