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Bitcoin’s Consolidation Continues amid Addresses Holding BTC Scaling the Heights

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

Bitcoin has consolidated between the $38K and $45K zone for the past two months, as indecisiveness continuously rocks the market.

On-chain analyst Will Clemente acknowledged:

“BTC has been in this consolidation pattern for 2 months.”

Source: TradingView

Market analyst Lex Moskovski shared similar sentiments, describing the current BTC market as “the mother of all consolidations.” He noted:

“The mother of all consolidations. On-chain volume at $39k is the largest in the entire history of Bitcoin. Record 775k BTC changed hands at around $38.7.”

Source: Glassnode

Moskovski added that Bitcoin had moved around $39,000 more than any other price in its 13-year journey based on the high on-chain volume recorded.

The leading cryptocurrency was down by 1.5% in the last 24 hours to hit $38,419 during intraday trading.

Bitcoin addresses continue soaring the heights

Despite the consolidation happening in the market, BTC addresses continue going through the roof. Data analytic firm IntoTheBlock explained:

“The number of addresses holding BTC continues setting new records. Bitcoin addresses with a balance reached a record of nearly 40 million. Even as BTC has remained on a downwards trend in 2022, the network added a total of 888,000 new addresses with a balance.”

Source: IntoTheBlock

BTC long-term holders have been leading the pack in accumulating more coins. On-chain analyst under the pseudonym Checkmate stated:

“Bitcoin long-term holders are adding to their balance at an annualized rate of 7.6x issuance. With ~900BTC in mined issuance per day, this means around 6,840 BTC is moving into LTH storage daily.”

Source: Glassnode

Meanwhile, large institutional transactions have been dominating Bitcoin volume at 99%. Institutional investments have played an instrumental role in revolutionizing the BTC ecosystem. For instance, they enabled the leading cryptocurrency breach the then all-time high of $20,000 in December 2020 after three years of waiting.

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Tagged : #BTC / Addresses / Adoption / Bitcoin / Crypto / Cryptocurrencies / HOLDING / Investment / Market Analysis / PRICE ACTION

CoinShares Acquires Additional Stake in Switzerland-Based FlowBank

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

CoinShares, a digital asset management firm based in the UK, announced that getting approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, has acquired an additional 20.8% stake in FlowBank, a fully licensed online bank headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Following the firm’s October 2021 strategic investment of a 9.02% stake in FlowBank, the latest investment brings CoinShares overall holding to 29.3%.

CoinShares strategic investment in FlowBank brings together the two trusted companies in their respective markets and indicates industry transformation, which will benefit investors in Switzerland and beyond. Following the acquisition, Jean-Marie Mognetti, the CEO of CoinShares, will join FlowBank’s board of directors to advise on FlowBank’s digital asset strategy and international development.

CoinShares built Galata, a proprietary technology platform, which acts as a gateway to the digital asset ecosystem and connects centralized finance (CeFi) platforms to digital asset protocols and markets. FlowBank will leverage CoinShares’ Galata powered technology to be able to take advantage of more advanced features and provide exposure to a variety of digital assets to its customers.

Jean-Marie Mognetti, CEO of CoinShares, talked about the investment and said: “After remarkable financial results in 2021, we continue to build an ambitious plan to make CoinShares an essential and leading player in the digital asset space. We are very excited to increase our participation in FlowBank, a key innovative player in Switzerland powered by a unique technology, allowing them to leverage our technology and digital asset expertise. This is aligned with our strategic plan to make CoinShares an integrated digital asset fintech company.”

Meanwhile, Charles Henri Sabet, the Chief Executive Officer at FlowBank, also commented about the partnership and stated: “We are delighted that CoinShares continues to recognize and support FlowBank’s great potential and accomplishments and has decided to increase its stake in our bank. Today, FlowBank’s clients can invest in CoinShares’ crypto on CFDs and gain exposure to digital currencies in this way. This is only the beginning. We look forward to collaborating further with CoinShares in the coming months and taking our product offering to the next level together.”

Bridging the Gap between Traditional Finance and Decentralized Finance

Established in 2015, London-based CoinShares continues to serve as a digital asset management firm that offers a variety of financial products and services to professional investors.

Early last year, CoinShares launched a new physically-backed ETP, CoinShares Physical Bitcoin (Ticker: BITC), amid a fierce rally for the world’s largest digital currency. The investment company launched the CoinShares Physical Bitcoin product and listed it under the SIX Swiss Exchange to provide institutional investors with passive exposure to Bitcoin and the convenience of an exchange-traded product.

Since 2014, CoinShares has provided an effective bridge between the cryptocurrency ecosystem and traditional finance through its suite of ETPs (Exchange Traded Products). The physical Bitcoin product represents the next stage of such evolution. CoinShares continues developing investment vehicles that eliminate the boundaries prohibiting institutions from actively investing in what they believe to be the future of finance.

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Tagged : Coinshares / Enterprise / FLOWBANK / STRATEGIC INVESTMENT

Binance Gets the Green Light to Operate in Bahrain

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges in terms of trading volume, makes a new milestone after being granted a crypto-asset service provider license approved by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).

This is Binance’s first license in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), and it shows the exchange’s commitment to adhere to regulatory frameworks.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance’s founder and CEO, welcomed this development and stated:

“The license from Bahrain is a milestone in our journey to being fully licensed and regulated around the world.”

Through the crypto-asset license, Binance will have the opportunity to render cryptocurrency trading, portfolio management, and custodial services to customers under Bahrain regulations.

Zhao added:

“I’m proud of the hard work of the Binance team to meet the stringent criteria of the Central Bank of Bahrain, not just locally but globally, by ensuring that we meet and exceed the requirements of regulators and protect users with strong anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing policies.”

Crypto regulation is deemed a stepping stone towards more adoption because it triggers confidence among investors.

Rasheed Al Maraj, the CBB governor, said:

“Developing regulations aligned with global trends is a key objective for us at the CBB. We continue to work with partners and industry leaders such as Binance to develop regulations that enable innovation and best practices.”

Binance has also been participating in a noble cause of supporting humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine based on its recent $10 million donations.

The funds were split between top non-profit organizations with whom Binance had prior partnerships like People in Need, UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, iSans, and UNICEF.

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Tagged : Bahrain / Binance / Crypto / Cryptocurrencies / Enterprise / Exchange / Regulation

Paypal CEO Dan Schulman Doubles Down on Crypto Future Potential

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

Paypal’s Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman is excited about the future of digital currencies and their inherent role in the payments ecosystem.

Speaking to Israeli tech-media outfit CTech, the payments giant’s boss, said the current trading activities and outlook of the nascent asset class are not to be compared with the deep utilities they present, most of which are still currently being figured out.

“I’m very excited about what crypto and digital ledger technology can do to the financial system going forward,” PayPal CEO Dan Schulman told CTech ahead of his keynote speech at Axis Tel Aviv. “I think the initial things that everyone thinks about Crypto, buying and selling it, and what the price of bitcoin is going to be tomorrow, that’s the least interesting part about digital currencies to me. That is thinking about digital currencies as an asset class. To me, the real exciting thing about digital currencies is what kind of utility can they provide in payments.”

Paypal is one of the first mainstream payment companies to dip its feet into the world of digital currencies when it rolled out support for the major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) back in 2020. Since then, the company has extended the crypto payments support services from the United States to the United Kingdom, a move that helped expose millions of its app users to the developing world of cryptocurrencies.

Paypal-owned Venmo has also rolled out support for Bitcoin. The acquisition of Curv, a crypto custody firm back in March 2021, has further ingrained the company into the diverse, decentralized digital currency world. The latest doubling down on cryptocurrencies confirms Schulman’s unwavering support for the nascent asset class he declared is fated to go mainstream as far back as October 2020.

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Tagged : Cryptocurrencies / Industry Expert / Payments / PayPal

Terra Founder Do Kwon Agrees to $1M Bet on the Future Price of LUNA

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

What better way is it for a startup’s founder to spend his money than for him to bet on the success of his project? This could be tagged as the case of Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, the blockchain startup in charge of the Terra blockchain and LUNA coin.

Do Kwon has just accepted a $1 million bet from a Twitter user named Sensei Algod, a self-proclaimed semi-retired degen who believes the price of LUNA is going to be much lower by this time next year.

Algod announced the challenge through his Twitter account saying, “Who wants to take a $1000000 bet that $luna will be lower price in 1 year than now?” and specifically tagging Do Kwon and other prominent figures in the ecosystem. Kwon simply accepted the challenge saying “Cool, I’m in.”

The daring bet has gotten tongues wagging not just because of the amount involved but also because of the Terra platform’s seemingly impressive positivity in today’s crypto ecosystem.

Terra is a blockchain protocol that uses fiat-pegged stablecoins to power price-stable global payments systems. According to its white paper, the protocol combines the price stability and wide adoption of fiat currencies with the censorship-resistance of Bitcoin (BTC) and offers fast and affordable settlements.

Based on its features and the superiority of the transactions it facilitates, the Terra ecosystem has seen over $25.33 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) hosting innovative protocols like Anchor Protocol, Lido, and Astroport, amongst others. The platform’s LUNA coin has also recorded a relatively high and astronomical growth amidst the current market drip. The coin is trading for $91.34, down by just 13.14% from its All-Time High (ATH) of $104.58 inked about 6 days ago.

The increasing demand on LUNA based on the ecosystem built around it has made many projects a more ambitious price target for the coin, and in 12 months we would find out who wins the bet the way Mike Novogratz won a bet of 0.5 BTC on President Joe Biden’s election bet back in 2020.

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Tagged : Altcoins / Do Kwon / Luna / Terra

Argo Blockchain Inks Bitcoin Mining Machine Swap Agreement with Core Scientific

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

The London-listed Bitcoin mining company Argo Blockchain has inked a partnership with Core Scientific that will see both companies swap their BTC mining machines over the next few months.

According to the announcement from the two outfits, the Argo’s Bitmain Antminer S19 series bitcoin mining fleet hosted at Core will be swapped for S19J Pro bitcoin miners previously ordered by Core to be delivered directly to Argo’s new Helios facility in Texas State. Per the details shared, this fleet swap will represent “approximately 60% of Argo’s total mining capacity and will reduce operational expenses for Argo as part of its ongoing transition to operating its own mining facilities.”

The proposed S19J Pro Bitcoin miners on track to be delivered to Argo Blockchain has the capacity for 967 PH/s with the miners capable of delivering a maximum hash rate of 110 TH/s. Based on these specifications, it implies that as many as 9,000 miners are on track to be delivered to Argo Blockchain.

On the other hand, the miners on track to become Core Scientific’s fleet has the capacity for 958 petahashes per second (PH/s), capable of delivering a total of 95 terahashes per second (TH/s), a specification that will amount to a total of 10,000 units of the S19 series.

“The agreement with Core marks the final step towards our strategic objective of owning and operating all our miners, a path which we chose to pursue in 2020,” said Peter Wall, Chief Executive Officer of Argo. “While we have been pleased with the performance of our miners hosted with Core, this agreement allows us to upgrade our existing fleet and strengthen our mining infrastructure, while greatly reducing the operational risk of relocating between facilities. Finally, we greatly appreciate the hosting services provided by Core Scientific, as well as their flexibility in supporting our strategy shift.”

It is not uncommon to find mainstream crypto mining startups paying third-party hosting service providers to manage their fleet and mine their assets. In a bid to be free from these obligations, Argo Blockchain had been building out the data center in Texas, drawing on support through a short-term loan of $20 million it secured from Galaxy Digital back in June last year.

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Tagged : Antminers / Argo Blockchain / Core Scientific / Mining

Solana to Replace Ethereum in Blockchain Gaming, Paradox Studios Founder Says

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

Compared to Ethereum’s Solidity language when developing play-to-earn (P2E) games, the ease of use of Solana’s building language- Rust will give Solana a competitive edge, according to AmioTalio- the founder of UK-based animation and game development platform Paradox Studios.

With blockchain gaming continuously accelerating the metaverse narrative, AmioTalio believes that the huge funding that Solana is offering developers is intended to woo them from the Ethereum network, and it is starting to take shape. He pointed out:

“Solana will leave Ethereum in the dust this year when it comes to gaming. They now have a huge list of games looking to launch this year on Solana, which will take them into the lead position in this area, in my opinion.”

Solana has already rolled out $400 million to enhance Web3 gaming in the last six months.

AmioTalio noted that he made these observations after meeting various specialists who disclosed the simplicity of Rust. He added:

“When you realize every product or service is made by or provided by a business, you must realize the main goal of a business is to make money and maximize profit, so with low costs and high transaction speed and massive funding for gaming developers; the growth is going parabolic.”

The blockchain gaming sector continues to gain steam, given that it attracted investments worth $1.1 billion in January, according to a recent Blockchain Game Alliance and DappRadar report. Virtual worlds, decentralized applications (dapps), and play-to-earn platforms attracted the lion’s share of these investments.

Additionally, the gaming transparency rendered by blockchain technology is also making them tick.

Meanwhile, two-time Indonesian football league champion Persib Bandung partnered with blockchain gaming platform Liberty Gaming Guild (LGG) to offer its fans an ecosystem to learn and thrive in the new gaming era.

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Tagged : Blockchain / Developers / Ethereum / Gaming / Industry / PARADOX STUDIOS / Solana / Web3

Solana to Dethrone Ethereum in Blockchain Gaming, Paradox Studios Founder Says

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

“Solana will leave Ethereum in the dust this year when it comes to gaming. They now have a huge list of games looking to launch this year on Solana, which will take them into the lead position in this area, in my opinion.”

Solana has already rolled out $400 million to enhance Web3 gaming in the last six months.

AmioTalio noted that he made these observations after meeting various specialists who disclosed the simplicity of Rust. He added:

“When you realize every product or service is made by or provided by a business, you must realize the main goal of a business is to make money and maximize profit, so with low costs and high transaction speed and massive funding for gaming developers; the growth is going parabolic.”

Additionally, the gaming transparency rendered by blockchain technology is also making them tick.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Tagged : Blockchain / Developers / Ethereum / Gaming / Industry / PARADOX STUDIOS / Solana / Web3

FTX to Open Regional HQ in Dubai after Acquiring License

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

Top-notch cryptocurrency exchange FTX is set to open a regional headquarter in Dubai after its virtual-asset license was approved.

FTX Europe, a branch operating in Europe and the Middle East, will offer “complex crypto-derivatives products with centralised counterparty clearing to the institutional market, FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried said in a statement.

FTX Europe was launched in early March after securing approval froCyprus’s’ financial regulator CySec.

Bloomberg reported that FTX’s competitor Binance has also received a crypto license in Dubai.

According to data from Chainalysis, the UAE is the third-largest crypto market in the Middle East. And it is working on attracting big crypto and fintech firms.”

“The certainty and credibility that Dubai assures in its adherence to these commitments allow FTX to safely pursue its overall strategy of scaling towards becoming the first virtual-asset service provider to enter global markets in a fully regulated manner”, Patrick Gruhn, head of FTX Europe, said in the statement.

Founded in 2019, FTX is a Bahamas-based exchange that offers derivatives products as well as spot trading.

In January, three-year-old FTX touched a $32 billion valuation after raising $400 million in a Series C round.”

“This round will support our continued mission of delivering innovative products and services to the marketplace as well as expanding our global reach with additional licenses around the world”, said Sam Bankman-Fried, Chief Executive Officer of FTX “With the ongoing support from our dedicated investors and userbase, FTX will look to continue interacting with regulators to facilitate access to digital assets in a safe and compliant manner. We look forward to working alongside our investors to achieve our mission and continue our tremendous growth throughout 2022 and beyond”.

In other recent developments, FTX launched FTX Access which focuses on serving institutional investors in digital assets.

The newly created FTX Access will be designed to provide institutional investors with a one-stop service platform, including initial provisioning advisory, trade execution and analytical tools. FTX Access will also offer institutional investors custody, derivatives, structured products, and other asset management products, Blockchain.News reported.

While in February 2022, FTX Derivatives Exchange acquired Japanese digital assets brokerage firm Liquid Group and its existing subsidiaries Quinone Corporation and Quinone Pte in Singapore.

The deal’s financial terms were not revealed, but the announcement detailed plans to wrap up the acquisition by March this year, Blockchain.News reported.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Crypto / Cryptocurrency / Enterprise / FTX

Visa Offers Crypto Development Program for College Students

by Blockchain NewsMarch 15, 2022

Payment giant Visa is offering an 18-month full-time crypto development program for undergraduates in the United States, which will focus on building a “fully fluent cryptocurrency team now and for the future”.

In its hiring post, Visa said that the Crypto Development Program will provide undergraduates with “three distinct business rotations” that focuses on “practical experience of different areas within the emerging cryptocurrency ecosystem at Visa”. The company titled the rotations as ‘Crypto Product’, ‘Crypto Solutions’, and ‘Digital Partnerships’.

As the company continues to grow its internal crypto talent, this platform aims to serve as Visa’s “entry-level pipeline of talent” with deep knowledge about the crypto space.

Visa’s hiring post also noted that the company shall provide those hired with “training & development, mentoring, networking and leadership exposure” and will build expertise in specific areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

As a world leader in digital payments, Visa’s payment transactions is more than 215 billion across more than 200 countries and territories each year.

Besides fiat transactions, Visa has also been actively engaging in the crypto sphere. In December 2021, Visa announced plans to launch a new consulting service focused on the cryptocurrency field to help customers understand cryptocurrencies better.

Blockchain.News reported that Visa had introduced a global crypto advisory practice as part of the consulting & analytics department as part of the company’s efforts to expand the cryptocurrency knowledge base of its clients and partners.

The encryption consulting business will provide financial institutions, retailers, and other companies with advice from launching encryption functions to exploring irreplaceable tokens, the report added.

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Tagged : Bitcoin / Blockchain / Crypto / Cryptocurrency / Enterprise / Hiring / Visa