Freeze, pause, reboot: Projects react differently to $200M KuCoin hack

KuCoin reported at least $129M of the affected funds are ‘safe.’ Following news of a security breach resulting in the loss of more than $200 million worth of tokens on KuCoin, many projects quickly reacted to prevent users’ holdings from being moved off to other exchanges.  Speaking to Cointelegraph, KuCoin Global CEO Johnny Lyu said at least $129 million of the tokens affected in the breach and the Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and ERC20 hot wallets impacted were “safe” or in a position to be recovered.

Ethereum still not ready for DeFi, say some critics

Ethereum needs to fix its problems. As DeFi projects flock to Ethereum, experts warn the network is not yet ready to support the frenzy. Martin Froehler, a mathematician, former hedge fund manager, and founder of Austrian crypto trading platform Morpher, told Cointelegraph that although Ethereum is the “best thing [the blockchain industry] has” for DeFi, the current capabilities of the network are not enough: “Ethereum can only handle about 15 transactions per second and has a block-time of 15 seconds, which is an eternity in finance.

Not your keys, not KuCoin's: Red flags ignored

A dizzying lack of transparency as the crypto exchange is hacked and $150m in customer funds goes missing Back in April of 2020, Cointelegraph took a close look at the KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange.

Nexo founder feels vindicated by the FinCen leak, talks of double-standards

Had it been Coinbase or Nexo, he agreed with speculation that law enforcement would have been knocking on the door the next day. Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev told Cointelegraph that he believes the information revealed during the recent FinCen leak vindicates the crypto industry.

This non-Ethereum based DeFi project has $180M staked so far

This project is focusing on cross-chain interoperability and on-chain credit scoring to advance the DeFi lending ecosystem. Wing, a lending protocol built on the Ontology blockchain, currently has $180 million in crypto assets staked on its platform — not a meager amount, even by Ethereum (ETH) standards.  Eric Pinos, Ontology’s ecosystem lead for the Americas and an advisor to Wing, told Cointelegraph that he believes two features make this DeFi project unique: cross-chain interoperability with Ethereum and the fact that lending is credit-based, allowing for loans to be under-collateralized.

Chinese state-endorsed public chain to act as a global DeFi bridge, says Conflux CEO

Chinese Free Trade Zone is open to experimenting with permissionless DeFi applications. Conflux Network, a permissionless blockchain project which is endorsed by the Chinese state, told Cointelegraph on Sept.

Atari's VCS reboot promises standard blockchain gaming features

The hybrid console/PC will come with the Ultra blockchain-enabled gaming platform integrated into the system. Atari is the latest big name in gaming to get into the blockchain space with new functionalities on its forthcoming console. The Atari VCS was first released in 1977 to bring classics like Space Invaders and Pac Man into the home. While it can’t compete with the major consoles of the gaming world, Atari’s rebooted VCS console/PC hybrid will have the Ultra blockchain-enabled gaming platform installed as standard. This means that when the user tires of playing the included retro games from the original VCS, they can use the Ultra app to download PC games to play through the service. Gamers will also be able to take advantage of the platform's blockchain-enabled features, including in-game NFT trading, esports tournaments, and the recently announced game streaming feature, all whilst earning tokenized rewards. Hardware will also be available to purchase through the Ultra platform, using UOS or Atari tokens. The VCS has experienced several delays due to hardware redesigns and the coronavirus pandemic. While stopping short of announcing the actual launch date, Atari told Cointelegraph that the initial batch of consoles and accessories are currently in transit to the fulfilment warehouse in the United States. The company expects to have everything under one roof and ready for sorting and shipping by the end of October. Atari has been making waves in the blockchain and crypto world since first investing in the space back in 2018.

Recap of Cointelegraph panel: Brokers and banks in crypto

Cointelegraph recently hosted a YouTube panel discussing brokers and banks involved in the crypto industry, based on a report from CV VC and PwC. This past summer, a Switzerland-based blockchain investment company called CV VC, and a Swiss audit and advisory firm known as PwC, in collaboration with Cointelegraph, put together an in-depth report on the top blockchain companies and what they are up to in their distinct sectors. The report lists eight separate categories.

Cointelegraph Consulting survey: Mass DeFi adoption is 3–10 years away

Cointelegraph Consulting releases some trends and insights featured in their “DeFi Adoption 2020: A Definitive Guide to Entering the Industry.” The majority of DeFi projects believe the industry is far away from maturity, but they are sure that mainstream adoption is likely to occur.

Booming African crypto adoption drives concerns over regulation

African crypto adoption has exploded in 2020, prompting fears of a heavy-handed regulatory response 2020 has seen an acceleration in African crypto adoption, with the continent emerging as the second-largest region for peer-to-peer (P2P) trading, and two African nations ranking in the top eight of the Chainalysis crypto adoption index. However, the booming growth has caught the attention of Africa’s financial regulators, sparking concerns that a rush to introduce heavy-handed oversight could quell innovation in the local crypto industry. Nigeria has led the continent’s growth in 2020, posting weekly P2P volumes of between $5 million to $10 million, followed by Kenya and South Africa with between $1 million and $2 million a week each. Speaking to Cointelegraph, a representative of top P2P exchange Paxful stated that Africa has been its strongest growing region in 2020, noting there was also dramatic growth in smaller economies like Ghana, and Cameroon. Centralized exchanges have also reported a spike in trade activity, with Luno reporting $549 million worth of combined volume from Nigerian and South African customers last month — a 49% increase compared to the start of 2020.

Indian police begin probe into alleged $270K cryptocurrency exchange scam

Another cryptocurrency scam in India has reportedly duped investors of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The operator of Delhi-based cryptocurrency platform Pluto Exchange is accused of duping 43 investors of more than $272,000. A local news outlet Millennium Post reported that the Economic Offence Wing of the Delhi Police has launched a probe against the operators of the Pluto Exchange after 43 investors filed a complaint with the EOW. Bharat Verma, the founder of Pluto Exchange, and others involved in the investment scheme allegedly lured investors by saying they were running crypto trading and cryptocurrency mining operations under the company “F2poolminin.” Joginder Kumar, one of the 43 investors, claimed that he first met the operators of the exchange in Delhi’s Connaught Place, where they told him about the cryptocurrency scheme that would offer a return of 20–30% each month. According to a statement published by the Delhi Police, the suspects also promised Kumar an added commission if he brought more people to invest in the scheme. After not receiving any returns on his investment of over $6,500, Kumar said he met Bharat Verma who explained that the seizure of many of the company’s bank accounts and the plummeting price of Bitcoin (BTC) had forced them to not pay out the returns to the investors. At present, Pluto Exchange has shifted its offices from India to Dubai, and according to Kumar, the director of the company has collected more than $6.8 million for the cryptocurrency business. Pluto Exchange did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph's request for comment.  As Cointelegraph previously reported, there has been a rise in the number of cryptocurrency scams targeting Indian investors.

Cointelegraph Consulting releases DeFi Guide to increase wider adoption

Cointelegraph Consulting releases “DeFi Adoption 2020: A Definitive Guide to Entering the Industry,” to speed up DeFi adoption. Many new users have been attracted to the explosive expansion of the DeFi sector in 2020, seeking to explore the growing selection of finance tools and applications.

Uniswap payday, ETH transactions hit record high, EU backs stablecoins: Hodler’s Digest, Sept. 14–20

The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — one week on Cointelegraph in one link! Coming every Sunday, Hodlers Digest tracks every important crypto news story from the previous week.

Early Bitcoiner got into the space due to his lack of Blackjack skills

Bitcoin losses hurt more as the price goes up. Joel Birch, co-founder of automated crypto investment platform Stacked, detailed his initial dive into Bitcoin (BTC) as a way of gambling on the internet.  "I bought my first Bitcoin because I was playing Blackjack online," Birch told Cointelegraph in an interview.

BurgerSwap frying high — Binance offers up the latest dish on DeFi menu

BurgerSwap has pumped BNB price, but how long can it last, and what does that mean for Binance? Cointelegraph talks to the Burger King.

Dash is evolving into a decentralized cloud cryptocurrency

Dash is transitioning into a decentralized cloud cryptocurrency by releasing a platform that supports blockchain-verified user data storage and a decentralized API. Payments-focused cryptocurrency Dash is starting to release insights into its new platform, which enables data to be stored within the network in the form of decentralized cloud service. The forthcoming Dash Platform has been developed from longstanding ideas to evolve the cryptocurrency’s functionalities — dating back to the announcement of “Dash Evolution” back in 2015. Dash Platform will incorporate four features: a Dash Drive, a decentralized API, or DAPI, a username layer, or DPNS, and the Dash platform protocol, or DPP. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Mark Mason outlined what exactly the company means by “turning Dash into a decentralized cloud.” In Mason’s words, “Dash Platform is an application development platform that leverages the Dash masternode network and blockchain by transforming the p2p network into a decentralized cloud.” Clients will be able to integrate their applications to the Dash Platform by using the distributed, decentralized application programming interface —  the DAPI.

Cointelegraph Consulting: ERC-20 token's market cap overtakes Ethereum’s

Can the price of ERC-20 tokens grow while Ethereum stagnates? The latest findings by Santiment, published in Cointelegraph Consulting’s biweekly newsletter, suggest that Ethereum is temporarily being ‘professionalized’.  Since the September 2nd market crash, the combined market capitalization of all ERC-20 assets has overtaken Ethereum’s own market cap, with the differential between the two continuing to grow in favor of ERC-20 assets.

Bitcoin maxis DeFi ideology as BTC tokenized on Ethereum tops $1B

Lured by the sirens’ call, traders are wrapping their Bitcoin at record levels in order to yield farm and trade DeFi tokens. After failing to hold the $11K mark and exposing what some analysts have described as a general apathy to trade BTC at these levels, Bitcoin (BTC) price is once again flirting with $11,000.  As suggested by Cointelegraph contributors Marcel Pechman and Micheal van de Poppe, a move above $11K is not a deeply significant milestone as the confluence of multiple factors, including looming overhead resistance and low trading volume decrease the likelihood that the digital asset will breakout once above $11K. Cryptocurrency daily market performance snapshot.

Bitcoin Birch says no retail crypto-wide bull run likely for rest of 2020

He isn't bearish. In fact, his ideas appear to lean ever so slightly bullish. Crypto prices may still be weighed down by a difficult global economic atmosphere, according to Joel Birch, co-founder of automated crypto investing platform Stacked.  "I don't necessarily think that 2020 is going to be the year of some type of major retail bull run, largely due to the fact that the global economy still lingers over this industry, just like other financial markets," the personality, also known as "Bitcoin Birch" on Twitter, told Cointelegraph in an interview.

This crypto mining operator was named Bitmain’s sole North American cooperative repair center

North America now has its own Bitmain repair center. Crypto mining operator Core Scientific is set to become the first North American cooperative repair center for major crypto mining hardware manufacturer, Bitmain. According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the company will offer repair services for Bitmain’s machines.

XMR workgroup says IRS should study Monero — not try to break it

Dollars are used for nefarious activities too. The United States Internal Revenue Service has better ways to spend taxpayer dollars than offering bounties to break Monero’s (XMR) privacy, a Monero working group says. After the IRS announced it is offering up to $625,000 to anyone who can break Monero, a major Monero-focused workgroup expressed their take on the matter. A spokesperson for Monero Outreach — an independent workgroup focused on XMR awareness and education — told Cointelegraph that the IRS should learn how Monero actually works instead. Monero Outreach’s representative emphasized that the crypto’s features in fact provide users with a certain level of transparency, stating: “$625,000 would be better spent by the IRS to hire a few consultants to teach their staff how Monero works and how its features allow users to opt-in to transparency.” The spokesperson said that Monero is “designed to function just like cash,” highlighting that the US dollar also has a certain amount of privacy: “The US dollar is used for a majority of the world’s nefarious activities and yet, it is what denominates the IRS’ balance sheet.

China’s Blockchain Service Network integrates three more public chains

China’s BSN is moving forward with its plans. China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), a cross-cloud, cross-portal, and cross-framework global public infrastructure network, is adding three more well-known public blockchains into its ecosystem.  He Yifan, CEO of Red Date Technology, the private company behind the BSN, told Cointelegraph that the network is at its second stage of integrating more public chains.

Venezuelans are running out of crypto P2P trading options

What will happen to foreign P2P marketplaces operating in Venezuela? Due to the regulations and sanctions related to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, Paxful announced that they will no longer provide services in Venezuela, according to an announcement on September 14. In a statement sent to Cointelegraph, Paxful’s CEO, Ray Youssef, commented that they’ve tried for several months to find a way to maintain their operations in Venezuela, but “with current risks, we had no choice but to make this incredibly difficult decision.”  Ray also told Cointelegraph how the wind down of his company’s services will work:  “The roll-out of our impending closure in Venezuela will begin with restricting new account creation in the country and the closure of any existing accounts.

Algorand staking now compatible with Ledger wallet's desktop software

Self-custody staking arrives for Ledger's hardware wallets. Popular hardware wallet company Ledger added Algorand's ALGO token to the list of wallet-compatible assets available on its desktop app, Ledger Live, allowing holders to store and stake the asset. “The integration with Ledger Live will provide users with additional opportunities to earn passive income, ensuring the highest level of control and flexibility," Ledger's CEO, Pascal Gauthier, explained Tuesday in a statement provided to Cointelegraph.

First ICO mandating buyers to ‘use’ tokens is successful, collects $5M

The average contribution was just over $1,300. A new way of conducting token sales spearheaded by ConsenSys Codefi achieved its first success, with the planned sale of Skale Network tokens collecting just over $5 million. As Cointelegraph reported in February, the Skale token sale was the first to be launched on the Activate platform developed by ConsenSys.

Russia’s largest bank joins blockchain trade finance platform

The Swiss arm of Russia’s largest bank is exploring blockchain-based trade finance. A subsidiary of Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, has joined a blockchain-based platform for commodity trade finance. Sberbank Switzerland AG has signed an agreement with Swiss trade finance platform Komgo to apply its blockchain-powered trade finance service. Representatives from Sberbank Switzerland AG told Cointelegraph that the collaboration with Komgo addresses the growing digitization of trade finance. Evgeny Kravchenko, head of trade finance at Sberbank, outlined that commodity trade finance is a strategic business of Sberbank Switzerland AG.

DApps can now send push notifications to Ethereum wallet users

An Indian startup plans to take DApps and decentralized services out of the “stone age era of communication.” An Indian startup has built a decentralized notification protocol dubbed Ethereum Push Notification Service (EPNS) allowing DApps to send push notifications to Ethereum wallet users. Speaking to Cointelegraph, EPNS founder Richa Joshi said that they developed the protocol after finding a striking similarity between how applications operated in the early days of the internet and how they operate on Web 3.0. She explained that Gmail or Orkut did not send notifications in their early days as they do now.

US Presidential candidate served for alleged securities fraud at rally in NYC

This campaign rally probably did not turn out quite as the candidate had envisioned it. Presidential candidate Brock Pierce was served for his connection to alleged securities fraud during his campaign rally in New York City earlier today. Source: Twitter. James Koutoulas, the lawyer leading this case, told Cointelegraph that Pierce was served legal documents in connection with a class action case against Block.One — a company that Pierce co-founded.

Report on global blockchain ecosystem by CV VC, PwC and Cointelegraph

PwC, Swiss blockchain investment firm CV VC and Cointelegraph have released a report discussing the current blockchain ecosystem.

DeFi carnage, Chef Nomi’s admission, $625K prize for cracking Monero: Hodler’s Digest, Sept. 7–13

The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — one week on Cointelegraph in one link! Coming every Sunday, Hodlers Digest tracks every important crypto news story from the previous week.

Top 5 Cryptocurrencies to Watch This Week: BTC, BNB, NEO, YFI, LINK

Bitcoin remains stuck in a tightening range but select altcoins may begin moving higher if they bounce off their key support levels. This week Digital Assets Data CEO Mike Alfred told Cointelegraph that mainstream investors are still “skeptical of Bitcoin and the ecosystem."  However, Alfred believes that this “skepticism and disbelief” will turn out to be a positive for Bitcoin (BTC) because when the “traditional folks capitulate, they will be forced by their clients and partners to get involved at significantly higher prices." While Bitcoin has struggled to start a sustained uptrend in the past few weeks, select altcoins and tokens in the DeFi space have been in a strong bull run.

The Blockchain Service Network will stimulate China’s CBDC plans

The wait for CBDCs continue. From the Chinese government’s perspective, cryptocurrencies are not considered legal tender; instead, they are categorized under a type of “virtual commodity," but some industry players believe the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) infrastructure can stimulate the development of virtual currencies like a CBDC.  During an interview with Cointelegraph, Eden Dhaliwal, Global Managing Director at Conflux Network, a layer-1 blockchain protocol and the only state-endorsed public blockchain project in China, stated that the government of China is highly motivated to launch a CBDC to “dominate the digital commerce landscape and make the economy future-ready.” The BSN is a major blockchain interoperability infrastructure network.

Bitcoin Cash hits new low vs. Bitcoin as Draper deletes Twitter praise

Bitcoin’s controversial hard fork now buys less BTC than ever before as one analyst warns that buyer support has disintegrated. Altcoin Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is plumbing new lows against Bitcoin (BTC) after crashing through fresh support. Data from price tickers including Cointelegraph Markets and CoinMarketCap confirm that BCH/BTC is now at its worst levels in Bitcoin Cash’s three-year history. BCH/BTC in “downward price discovery” At press time, 1 BCH bought just 0.022 BTC, 92.2% less than at its peak of 0.285 BTC in December 2017. BCH launched as an off-shoot from BTC in August the same year, at the time enjoying support from various industry figures and businesses.

Digital Assets Data CEO says mainstream finance still doesn't trust Bitcoin

Bitcoin still has ground to make up in the mainstream world. Following the news of Fidelity Investments' Bitcoin (BTC) fund filing, Mike Alfred, CEO of analytics outfit Digital Assets Data, described continued hesitancy in mainstream finance when it comes to Bitcoin.  "Many in the traditional financial services/asset management/wealth management verticals remain deeply skeptical of Bitcoin and the ecosystem," Alfred told Cointelegraph on Sept.

“DeFi will outperform Bitcoin in next five years”, says Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead

According to Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehad, DeFi has more chances to grow 100X in the next five years than Bitcoin. Dan Morehead, CEO and founder at investment firm Pantera Capital, is convinced that DeFi will outperform Bitcoin in the next five years.  In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Morehead pointed out that despite the poor performance of Pantera’s altcoin funds in 2019, the situation has flipped in the last few months due to the explosive growth of decentralized finance protocols and tokens.  At the end of August, Pantera’s digital assets fund was up 123% year to date.

Russia's crypto law is a mixed bag, according to industry execs

Crypto businesses are unsure how to react to new regulations in the Russian Federation. Russia’s new cryptocurrency-related law, “On Digital Financial Assets,” or DFA, seems to have had little impact on the local cryptocurrency industry so far. In its current form, the DFA law essentially provides legal status to digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), but prohibits their use for payments in Russia. As the DFA law is poised to be officially adopted in less than four months, Cointelegraph talked to major crypto firms operating in Russia to get their take on how the new law can impact their business.  Based on comments from executives at companies like Binance, Waves, Paxful, LocalBitcoins, and Wirex, companies aren't exactly scrambling to adapt to the new law, largely due to its ambiguous language. Many in the industry don't understand the new law Anton Kozlov, head of the Russian market at Paxful, said that the DFA law has caused a lot of confusion.

Bitcoin price at risk of CME gap-fill unless $10.5K flips to support

Bitcoin price is finding support at $10.1K but the threat of the CME gap and resistance at $10.5K continue to weigh on trading sentiment. Since dropping 17.5% to a monthly low at $9,817 last week, Bitcoin (BTC) price has bounced around in what appears to be a tightening range between $9,800-$10,600.  The digital asset has yet to establish a clear pattern of daily higher lows and lower highs but as mentioned by Cointelegraph contributor Rakesh Upadhyay:  “The long tail on the candlesticks of the past five days shows that the bulls have been buying at lower levels but they have not been able to push the price above the top of the range at $10,625, which suggests that demand dries up at higher levels.”   Despite Bitcoin price finding soft support around $10,100, the price has been unable to hold above $10,500 and a number of analysts remain cautious as the CME gap at $9,900-$9,650 remains a threat.  Earlier in the day, on-chain analyst Willy Woo shared an opposing point of view, suggesting that the CME gap will not be filled this time.  BTC/USD daily chart.

Bitcoin’s $12.5K pump didn’t do much to impress Peter Brandt

He seemed to feel that Bitcoin may not be out of the trenches yet. Trader and head of proprietary trading firm Factor LLC, Peter Brandt, said Bitcoin's (BTC) recent run up past $12,000 did not excite him as much as it did the rest of the market.  "I never got super super excited about the advance in Bitcoin," Brandt told Cointelegraph in a Sept.

Crypto markets 'between a rock and a hard place,' Peter Brandt says

Both Bitcoin and Ethereum appear to be treading water. Peter Brandt, long-time trader and CEO of proprietary trading firm Factor LLC, recently gave his thoughts on the current crypto market, describing the price action stuck between two difficult giants.  "Bitcoin and Ethereum — those really, for me, is where the game is played," Brandt told Cointelegraph in a Sept.

Cointelegraph moderates CV Labs’ first ‘Blockchain in Art’ online panel

What does blockchain tech have to do with art? Find out during this upcoming panel from Cointelegraph and CV Labs. Many believe that Blockchain technology has the potential to transform the art industry.

Maker seemingly gives up on Dai peg as interest rates are raised above 0%

It seems zero interest rates were not enough to keep DAI stable. A MakerDAO (MKR) governance proposal enacted on Tuesday set interest rates on most assets, with the notable exclusion of Ether (ETH), back above 0%. According to Daistats, interest rates for the USDC-A, WBTC and other minor vaults are now back to being at 2%, meaning that the protocol is once again collecting revenue for those who borrow DAI against these assets. Lowering interest rates is generally seen as a way of stimulating DAI creation, which is supposed to lower its price to its intended $1 peg. While Cointelegraph recently reported that the price finally stabilized after a long period of overpricing, the situation was not to last.

Band Protocol denies any role in the mysterious origins of SushiSwap

Band Protocol may share hosting with SushiSwap, but so do hundreds of others. Following the sudden exit of SushiSwap’s anonymous founder, many users have begun to speculate on the identity of this controversial figure. While some focused on the current maintainer of the project Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, others saw Band Protocol’s chief technology officer, Sorawit Suriyakarn, as the person behind this project. The evidence cited primarily involved the Sushiswap.org domain, which is provably shown to be hosted on the same IP address as Band Protocol’s website.  In an email conversation with Cointelegraph, CEO of Band Soravis Srinawakoon said that this evidence is misleading, and refuted all allegations that the project is behind SushiSwap. He did concede that Suriyakarn was approached by Chef Nomi for a code review.

Cointelegraph promotes Jay Cassano to CEO, Jon Rice takes over as editor-in-chief

Cointelegraph has new leadership as the world’s largest blockchain-focused media outlet promotes from within. Jay Cassano, Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief, has accepted the role of CEO at Cointelegraph.

Binance Card still on its way to Russia despite local crypto payments ban

Russia’s law on digital assets has not affected Binance's business in any way. International cryptocurrency giant Binance is not going to give up launching the Binance Card in Russia despite the upcoming ban on crypto payments. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume, is working on the rollout of its crypto debit card in Russia, a senior executive told Cointelegraph on Sept.

Bitcoin’s plunge, Twitter hack revelation, Pornhub accepts crypto: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 31–Sept. 6

The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — one week on Cointelegraph in one link! Coming every Sunday, Hodlers Digest tracks every important crypto news story from the previous week.

DeFi experts say that Ethereum 2.0 is not the answer to high gas fees

A better solution might come up before it even exists. High gas fees for transactions on the Ethereum blockchain are at record highs amid the decentralized finance hype that has attracted many new users to get on board on the Ethereum network. DeFi experts and computer scientists got together on Sept.

Blockchain studio rep laments that ‘Not all gamers are crypto traders’

And not all crypto traders are gamers either. With the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFT), gamers and crypto enthusiasts are coming together, but gamers may not even know they’re using cryptos before they understand the decentralized nature of NFTs, an expert said.  During an interview with Cointelegraph, Mac Ocampo, head of growth at blockchain entertainment studio Virtually Human Studio (VHS), said that NFTs and gaming platforms complement each other well, as there are "good NFT products out there like Sorare and Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot which introduces more mainstream users to the world of NFTs." Ocampo summarized the concept that the NFTs industry should adopt and it’s “cryptotainment,” where both segments, crypto traders and gamers, can play – for example – a horse racing game while earning crypto at the same.

Yellow Card CEO reminisces about losing his life savings on LocalBitcoins

Early mistakes can mean big losses. In his college-aged days, Chris Maurice, the CEO of African crypto exchange Yellow Card, said he put his life savings into Bitcoin (BTC), finding it stolen shortly after.  "Bitcoin was about $200 at the time, and I decided basically I was just going to dump my entire savings account into into it," Maurice told Cointelegraph in an interview.

Blockchain can shield banks from billion-dollar trade finance scandals, says exec

Blockchain can help the trade finance industry prevent billion-dollar scandals and ease trade financing, says expert. The pressure induced by the ongoing economic crisis, obsolete trade finance systems and mounting geopolitical tensions is pushing the international trade finance industry down a rabbit hole.  To add to the already critical situation, recent trade finance scandals involving major players such as Hin Leong, ZenRock, Agritrade and Hontop Energy amounted to a loss of almost $6 billion that was mostly borne by banks.  To limit their exposure to such threats, major banks like ABN Amro, Société Générale and BNP Paribas have withdrawn completely from this sector while others have raised the bar on their funding processes, said Samir Neji, founder and CEO of blockchain-based trade finance company dltledgers. Neji told Cointelegraph, "For traders and other businesses moving goods around the world, working capital is now much harder to come by.

Cointelegraph Consulting: Ethereum’s daily transactions forecast flippining

Will there be a flipplining in transaction volume? The gap between Ether & Bitcoin’s on-chain transactions has reached an all-time low. The latest findings by Santiment, published in Cointelegraph Consulting’s biweekly newsletter, suggest that Ether is poised for gains. The amount of Ethereum transacted on the blockchain daily has grown from an average of 3.85 million in July to 4.75 million in August, recording a 5-month high of 7.74 million on Tuesday. The chasm between Bitcoin and Ethereum’s transaction volume has been growing for several months now. Eth

Maker community thanks yEarn for seemingly restoring DAI peg

A massive yield farming strategy finally provides a mechanism to push the DAI price down. A new vault launched on yearn.finance is being credited for finally restoring the peg of Dai (DAI), the algorithmic stablecoin of the MakerDAO (MKR) project. As Cointelegraph previously reported, Maker had struggled with maintaining a strict $1 peg for DAI since the start of the yield farming wars in June.  Though it’s had ups and downs, the price of DAI consistently hovered around $1.02 in the past 30 days.

ETC Labs believes regulation is the key to preventing future 51% attacks

Enacting such legislation effectively could be a major challenge, however. Responding to numerous 51% attacks on the Ethereum Classic blockchain, ETC Labs said that it's time to bring regulation to hashpower rental marketplaces, citing the fact that at least two of the attacks were perpetrated by renting hash power through NiceHash — a claim that has been confirmed by both NiceHash and ETC Labs.  ETC Labs CEO Terry Culver also shared with Cointelegraph that according to the information that was provided by CipherTrace, which was hired to investigate the attacks, the attackers used proceeds from the first attack to rent hashpower for the second attack.

YFI surges to $38K, BTC comeback predictions, Ryanair CEO’s fury: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 24–30

The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — one week on Cointelegraph in one link! Coming every Sunday, Hodlers Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week.

Cryptocurrency news from Japan: Aug. 23 - Aug. 28 in review

Another action-packed week for crypto in Japan has passed. This week’s headlines from Japan included one of country's leaders describing Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto's dream as meaningful, LayerX Labs collaborating with a Japanese university for blockchain research, the FINSUM blockchain conference hosts notable discussion on security tokens offerings, and the head of Monex Group saying Japan is falling behind the US on STOs.  Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Japanese Financial Services Agency head describes Bitcoin as impactful At the end of Tokyo's 2020 Blockchain Global Governance Conference, or BG2C, also called FINSUM, Ryozo Himino, the secretary of Japan's Financial Services Agency, said Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto's dream has aged well.  "I think Satoshi's dream is more meaningful today," Himino said on Aug.

This early Bitcoiner sold BTC on eBay for a 100% markup in 2015

Another story that helped pave Bitcoin's early road to adoption. Chris Maurice, CEO of Nigeria-based crypto exchange Yellow Card, made his first business venture into the crypto space back in 2015, selling Bitcoin (BTC) on eBay. "We did that for about a week and we did over $40,000 in sales at a 100% markup," Maurice told Cointelegraph in an interview.

Geopolitical risks prevail as new players emerge in the crypto mining space

China is not the only country that wants control of this highly coveted industry. Taras Kulyk, Senior Vice President of Blockchain Business Development at Core Scientific, says that the countries competing to become leaders in the Blockchain space vary greatly in what they can offer to crypto miners. During an interview with Cointelegraph, Kulyk stated that global diversification of hashrate has been increasing as countries around the world vie for control of the crypto mining industry. Kulyk believes that China has been a desirable hub for crypto mining due to specific factors it enjoys, specifically the low cost of labor, access to units, and decreased cost of power during the rainy season, but he clarified: “One key economic concern driving recent crackdowns by authorities is theft of power which local politicians then have to clamp down.

The Cointelegraph Talks music panel starts now, watch here!

Three entrepreneurs will discuss how innovation flourishes at the intersection of blockchain and music. Cointelegraph's head of news, Dylan Love, is hosting three guests for a livestream on our YouTube channel about blockchain technology’s impact on the music industry.

Bitcoin trader sees 6 bullish signs for BTC after Fed ‘non-event’

Bulls are still king as market signs point up, not down, says filbfilb — but Friday’s futures expiry could spell trouble. Bitcoin (BTC) can still top $13,000 and higher as a series of “non-events” still leave bulls in a powerful position. Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets showed BTC/USD climbing towards $11,500 on Aug.

Another inside job at Shapeshift cost the company nearly $1 million

An employee allegedly used his credentials at Shapeshift to steal from the company. Following the theft and repayment of $900,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), Shapeshift is now pursuing damages in court against its former senior software engineer, Azamat Mukhiddinov.  "There was significant time lost and legal costs associated with the clean-up," Shapeshift's chief legal officer, Veronica McGregor, told Cointelegraph, noting that customer funds were safe throughout the ordeal.

Non event? Why Friday’s $272M CME Bitcoin futures expiry is irrelevant

Historical data shows Bitcoin price drops by 2.3% ahead of CME futures expiry, should traders expect increased volatility? Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Bitcoin futures and options markets are set to mature this Friday, leading some traders to fear that the most recent BTC dump is a presage of weakening markets. According to a September 2019 Cointelegraph and Arcane Research report, there is typically a 2.3% drop ahead of each monthly CME expiry.

CT Talks: Join us Friday for a livestream about crypto in the music industry

Tune in to our live show about blockchain’s implications for music. What are you doing Friday afternoon? Cointelegraph is hosting the latest edition of its CT Talks series this Friday, August 28, at 3 PM Eastern / 12 PM Pacific on our YouTube channel.

Quorum’s creator says the project was going nowhere, JPMorgan wanted rid of it

He also said that nothing built on Ethereum is capable of scaling. Will Martino, the former lead engineer for JPMorgan's Quorum blockchain, shared insights into the project's acquisition by ConsenSys with Cointelegraph.

Book review of Don Tapscott’s collaborative ‘Supply Chain Revolution’

A detailed explanation of how blockchain is being applied to transform a variety of supply chains Author Don Tapscott’s latest book Supply Chain Revolution highlights opportunities for transformation that blockchain can bring to what the book calls a $50 trillion supply chain industry issue.  Tapscott, who is also co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute, told Cointelegraph that Supply Chain Revolution is the second book in the series being produced by the BRI, noting that over 100 companies agreed to make their research publicly available to interested readers.

BitMEX is not registered to operate in Ontario, says regulator

Where in Canada BitMEX is allowed to offer its services? BitMEX, one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) trading platforms, is now officially restricted to operate within at least two Canadian provinces. Following a request from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), BitMEX will be soon limiting the access to its platform by Canadian investors from Ontario province. A representative at the OSC told Cointelegraph that BitMEX held no regulatory approval to operate in Ontario.

Crypto Mass Adoption Will Be Here When… [Fill In The Blank]

“Blockchain doesn’t go mainstream until things in the real world break.” Some attention has been devoted in recent years to the matter of blockchain adoption more specifically, when will blockchain technology go mainstream and when it does, how will we even know? The question is somewhat problematic because blockchain is an infrastructure, operating in the background out of sight that runs across multiple industries and domains. In an effort to shed some light on this point at issue, Cointegraph Magazine informally surveyed industry thought leaders to complete this sentence, We will know blockchain has gone mainstream when _______ Michael Peshkam, executive in residence at European business school INSEAD, told Cointelegraph Magazine, that there were over 50 million Blockchain wallet users at the end of June 2020.

China’s Blockchain Service Network to launch stablecoin support in 2021

China’s national blockchain project BSN could be the best fit for the digital yuan. China’s nationwide blockchain project, the Blockchain Service Network, or BSN, will be integrating stablecoin support in 2021. Yifan He, CEO of Red Date Technology, a major tech company involved in the BSN development, told Cointelegraph that the project will soon start integrating stablecoins. Piloted in late 2019, China’s BSN is a state-backed initiative that intends to support medium-sized businesses in building and deploying blockchain applications.  The exec explained that stablecoins will be used as payment for various services on the BSN ecosystem, including cloud resources.

Tachyon VPN Reaches 1 Million Users in Just Six Months

The app is among the top 5 most popular DApps in the world and it is available for both Android, iOS, and macOS users. Tachyon Protocol, a blockchain-based network set up by proof-of-stake creator Sunny King, reported its decentralized virtual private network, or VPN, reached 1 million users worldwide last week after only six months. The VPN has seen tremendous growth since May when Cointelegraph reported it reached 100,000 users. According to the website, Tachyon VPN allows users to bypass internet activity restrictions.

Bitcoin Stalls, Ethereum 2.0 Outage, IRS Crypto Crackdown: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 18–24

The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — one week on Cointelegraph in one link! Coming every Sunday, Hodlers Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week.

Researcher Re-mined Satoshi's Bitcoin Blocks To Discover His Secrets

Satoshi Nakamoto used a single PC to mine 1.1M Bitcoin Lerner made a preview of his latest findings available to Cointelegraph.

Cointelegraph Consulting: A Storm Is Brewing for Ethereum

Ether’s market sentiment is spiking as long-term investors are up around 88% — is there a potential sell-off or slump in the short-term? The latest findings in Cointelegraph Consulting’s biweekly newsletter suggest that Ether won’t sustain its rally. The 365-day market-value-to-realized-value ratio of Ethereum’s native Ether (ETH) token is currently at a two-year high of 1.88.