Blockchain
China aims to separate NFTs from crypto via new blockchain infrastructure
China is planning to draw a clear line between cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs), pretty much the same way it did with its digital currency efforts, before the crypto crackdown in the country harms the local NFT industry. The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), a government-backed blockchain project in China, is working on infrastructure that would support businesses and individuals to build platforms and apps to manage NFTs, the South China Morning Post reported. Officially called the BSN-Distributed Digital Certificate (BSN-DDC), the project aims to support the deployment of non-crypto NFTs by offering application programming interfaces for the development of user portals and apps where fiat money would be the sole payment method. Underscoring that NFTs have no leg...
Seba Bank raises $119M in Series C funding
Seba Bank, a Swiss-based digital assets banking platform regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, announced on Wednesday that it had completed a successful Series C funding round of 110 million Swiss franc, or $119 million U.S. dollars. Notable investors in the round included cryptocurrency exchange FTX, quantitative digital currency trading firm Alameda Research, decentralized finance asset management firm DeFi Technologies, and venture capital entities such as Altive, Ordway Selections and Summer Capital. The bank said it plans to use the funds to fuel international growth and drive demand from institutional investors in the digital assets industry. Seba has been at the forefront of crypto innovation in Switzerland. In September 2021, the firm was granted the f...
Raking In $4 Million In NFT Sales, deadmau5 Is Showcasing Potential of New Creator Economy
Driven by a fundamental belief in a better creator economy and an insatiable passion for technological experimentation, deadmau5‘s leap into NFTs has been a massive success by all accounts. From releasing his collaboration with Portugal. The Man as one million NFTs to leveraging the technology to sell VIP tickets to his recent performances at Red Rocks, each iteration has invited creators to reimagine what their digital future could look like. In a new Pollstar story, deadmau5’s manager, Dean Wilson, illuminates the potential with one practical example. “I’ve been banging on for a long time about ticketing on the blockchain and secondary ticketing in general. The only people that don’t get a cut of secondary ticketing are the people that everyone’s coming to see,” W...
Zero-knowledge scaling tech Plonky goes live on Polygon
On Monday, Polygon (MATIC), a layer-two Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution that is known for its fast transaction times and negligible gas fees, announced the launch of Plonky2, a zero-knowledge scaling technology, claimed to be the fastest in the world. Zero-knowledge algorithms ensure everything is correctly computed on layer two and return the succinct proof to Ethereum without sending the entire data. Instead of every miner (or staker) verifying every posted transaction, zero-knowledge allows the verification of simplified rolled-up proofs, thereby significantly speeding up the overall network. 1/2 We are proud to announce Plonky2, the world’s fastest ZK scaling tech! Plonky2 is a recursive SNARK that is ~100x faster than existing alternatives! Furthermore, it is Ethereum compatible...
Ramp expands presence in US with FinCEN regulation
On Tuesday, crypto-fiat gateway payments platform Ramp announced that its U.S. subsidiary Ramp Swaps LLC had received its registration as a Money Service Business with the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The regulatory greenlight enables Ramp to do business in 38 states across the United States. Besides the development, Ramp also has regulatory clearance with the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority and Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority. Ramp allows users to buy crypto directly in their wallets and decentralized applications, or DApps. Last year, the company grew its transaction volume by approximately 30x. It has partnerships with over 400 blockchain entities worldwide, including Axie Infinity, Mozilla, Opera Browser, Aave, T...
What should the crypto industry expect from regulators in 2022? Experts answer, Part 2
Michelle is the CEO of the Association for Digital Asset Markets, which works in partnership with financial firms and regulatory experts to devise a code of conduct for digital asset markets. “2021 was the year Washington woke up to the digital assets industry. The year started with the rushed FinCEN “Unhosted Wallets” proposal, which the industry was able to voice its concerns and delay. At the same time, pro-digital asset Senator Cynthia Lummis joined the Senate. As the Biden Administration got up to speed on digital assets, it seemed like all of Washington was studying the industry in some shape or form. Then came the Infrastructure Bill, which contained a rushed provision defining a broker for tax reporting purposes. This flawed language unleashed digital ...
What should the crypto industry expect from regulators in 2022? Experts answer, Part 1
Hatu is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of DAO Maker, which creates growth technologies and funding frameworks for startups while simultaneously reducing risks for investors. “2021 has been a stop-start year for crypto and DeFi, as regulatory bodies have not clarified their stance on the industry. This has held back the retail population from getting involved, and this is a huge opportunity cost for the industry. However, with El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as legal tender and more countries embracing crypto, the future looks brighter. In 2021, yes, there have been multiple deliberations at various levels regarding crypto and its regulatory status. Governments and regulatory authorities across the globe have expressed reservations against the mainstreaming of crypto. Howe...
Vitalik Buterin gives thumbs down to cross-chain applications
In a Reddit post on Friday, Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), outlined critical security concerns surrounding cross-chain bridges in the blockchain ecosystem. As told by Buterin, storing native assets directly-chain (Ethereum on Ethereum, Solana on Solana, etc.) provides a certain degree of immunity against 51% attacks. Even if hackers manage to censor or reverse transactions, they cannot propose blocks to take away one’s crypto. The rule also applies to the Ethereum application. For example, if hackers launch a 51% attack (by controlling 51% of all circulating ETH supply) while an investor swaps 100 ETH for 320,000 DAI stablecoin, the end state remains invariant, i.e., the investor would always get either 100 ETH or 320,000 DAI. However, Buterin continued, that the ...
BTCS stock jumps 44% after announcing first-ever dividend payable in Bitcoin
On Wednesday, Nasdaq Composite logged its biggest daily loss since February last year. But for one of its listed companies, the day turned out to be extremely bullish. Blockchain stock soars The share value of BTCS Inc. (BTCS), a blockchain technology company, surged nearly 44% to $4.36 at the New York closing bell, thus becoming the third-best performer on Nasdaq after Lixte Biotechnology (LIXT) and Mainz Biomed BV (MYNZ). Top Nasdaq performers as of Jan. 5, 2022’s close. Source: TheStockMarketWatch.com In contrast, Nasdaq plunged 3.3% Wednesday, its losses driven primarily by the release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in mid-December last year. In detail, the minutes revealed the Federal Reserve officials’ intention to rais...
MELVV On the Promise of NFTs: “Ownership Is Finally Returning to the Musicians”
You can roll your eyes and call “BS” on NFTs all you want, but their potential for musicians is undeniable. And no matter how many of those in the dark write them off as foolish without nary a Google search, independent artists will gladly continue to reap the rewards. Such is the case with MELVV, a popular electronic music producer and DJ who has performed at many of the nation’s most coveted music festivals, like Coachella, Electric Forest, and Lollapalooza. He, like many other artists, recently discovered a latent love of NFTs after a snakebitten lifecycle with a major record label. MELVV recently opened up about his experiences in a candid blog post on Mirror.xyz, a decentralized publishing platform. Due to sustained creative differences with his former label and the ...
Blockchain and the Metaverse make inroads at Consumer Electronics Show
Blockchain, metaverse and NFT technology are set to make a splash at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) event in Las Vegas this week. The CES is an annual event that features exhibitions of the latest tech advancements and keynote speeches from giants such as LG, Samsung, Amazon, Nvidia and Sony. Innovation of mobility. Sony’s Vision-S #CES2022 pic.twitter.com/lLykDAUapB — Sony (@Sony) January 5, 2022 This year’s event runs between Jan. 5 and Jan. 7 and will host more than 2200 exhibitors, with crypto and NFT companies a notable addition to the perennial gadget makers and TV manufacturers. In terms of the blockchain sector, the exhibitors grouped under the cryptocurrency category include the derivatives and NFT exchange FTX, NFT platform Blockparty and NFT Software and hardware deve...
Rave On: World’s First Decentralized EDM Festival Planned for 2022
2021 saw the electronic dance music landscape erupt into a technological inferno, as artists and event organizers tore hell for leather into the NFT gold rush. And as more industry pros adopt blockchain technology, the fabric of the scene is changing at a torrid pace. Now, a new event has big ambitions to host what organizers are calling the world’s first community-driven, decentralized music festival. The fest, Project Rave, was recently announced by RaversUniverse, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). DAOs are entities that allow platforms to operate as member-owned communities, which are devoid of a consolidated leadership structure. A decentralized future of the creator economy has been embraced by many reputable electronic music artists an execs, such as deadmau5,...
