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Chinese-based BSN to Launch First International Expansion in August: CNBC

by Blockchain NewsMay 23, 2022

Chinese state-backed blockchain company Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) is reportedly to launch an international project within serval months, according to CNBC, citing people with the matter.

The project for the expansion will be named” BSN Spartan Network”, which is expected to begin in August, according to a CNBC report, citing Hong Kong-based startup Red Date Technology’s CEO Yifan He, one of the founding members of the BSN.

The official website introduces the BSN as a “one-stop-shop” for DApp developers to deploy and manage any permissions or permissionless blockchain applications. Aiming to help businesses adopt this top-notch technology by connecting with various blockchains.

According to a report, the Spartan Network will “eventually be made up of half a dozen public blockchains that do not operate with cryptocurrencies.” One of those will be a non-crypto version of the Ethereum blockchain when the project is ready to launch.

Yet, no official announcement can be confirmed at the time of writing.

The BSN is co-founded by the State Information Center (SIC), which sits under China’s powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company.

As the organization is considered highly connected with the Chinese government, the data access is concerned could be in breach of privacy. He admitted the background of the organization would be a challenge. Still, he emphasized that users are able to examine the code behind the project, making sure that no backdoor access for the Communist party-led government:

“People will say BSN is from China, it is dangerous. Let me emphasize, BSN Spartan will be open source … we will not access anything from our end.”

China continues crackdown on crypto trading and mining activities

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to explore blockchain technology to “optimize the digital economy” in 2019. However, China also implemented the strongest crackdown measures against crypto mining and trading activities last year.

The BSN, therefore, do not adopt crypto but uses fiat money in US Dollar to pay for transaction fees instead, He added.

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Crypto Market Crash Leaves Investors Counting Losses

by Blockchain NewsMay 23, 2022

Over the previous two years, a boom in crypto prices minted a generation of millionaires and billionaires. Some industry executives and even regular investors acquired extraordinary wealth out of cryptocurrency trading.

But of late, the crypto market has crashed. Last week, central bank interest rates tightening reports, inflation concerns, and the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and its LUNA token, helped ignite a wider meltdown, plunging Bitcoin price and wiping $300 billion in value from the wider crypto economy. The recent crypto market crisis has not only hurt investors but also erased billions of dollars from their fortunes.

Lost opportunities

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is one of the heavyweight investors who faced the wrath. After Ethereum’s price surpassed $3,000 and hit a high of over $4,800 in November last year, Vitalik possessed a digital wallet whose ETH contents were valued at about $1.5 billion.

But on Friday last week, Buterin revealed on social media that he is no longer a billionaire. Due to the ongoing market sell-off, Ether has lost 60 % of its value, trading at around $2,028 during the intraday on Monday Asia section, according to Coinmarketcap.

Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance – the world’s largest crypto exchange – also has seen more than $80 billion, or 84% of his wealth, evaporate this year.

A few days ago, Mr. Zhao tweeted that Luna’s collapse made him “poor again” after losing billions of dollars in crypto following a market crash, which has wiped out the fortunes of several investors.

On Monday last week, Zhao mentioned that Binance held 15 million Luna tokens. In early April, Binance’s Luna holdings were worth $1.6 billion when the token hit its peak price. But its recent crash saw that value fall to about $2,200 the previous week.

Managing a down cycle

There are many ways for crypto investors to prepare for a market crash. The golden rule of investing in a risky asset class like crypto is to only invest money that an investor can afford to lose. It is advisable to ensure that crypto only represents a small percentage of overall investments. High-risk investments like cryptocurrency should only make up a small portion of a total portfolio.

There are various ways an investor can calculate how much he or she wants to allocate, depending on their risk tolerance, crypto knowledge, and the degree to which they believe cryptocurrency could outperform stocks. The crucial thing is diversification.

Investing in cryptocurrencies with long-term potential is a great way to guard against panic selling when prices fall. Research can help identify crypto coins with the best chance of long-term survival.

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Tagged : CRYPTO LOSSES / Investors / Market Crash / Opinion

UK Financial Regulator FCA Takes Conservative Approach on Crypto Regulation

by Blockchain NewsMay 23, 2022

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is not in a rush to add digital currencies to the list of industries or markets that fall within its jurisdiction.

While all agencies are working to be in tune with the Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s plans to make the UK an attractive crypto hub, the FCA believes stakeholders in the industry have a lot of adjustments to make in order to make them fit to be governed, according to the Financial Times report.

Charles Randell, the head of the FCA, cautioned the market would become over-optimistic about regulating “purely speculative crypto tokens.” Randell made a reference that crypto service offering firms seeking approval or licensing have enormous work to do, a statement that implies the agency’s backing will not be handed down on a platter.

The United Kingdom, as well as other developed economies, are torn between embracing crypto, especially for the innovative technology backing them, or banning them for how speculative and susceptible they are to manipulations or for being used for money laundering.

While every country, the UK, inclusive, wants to take a lead role in financial evolution, reconciling the work of every watchdog can be a major drawback. According to Randell, the FCA has independence regarding its approach to regulatory affairs, a direct response to calls from key crypto figures to ask the government to press the FCA into becoming more acceptable to crypto entities.

Randell is also concerned about the funding the agency will need to be able to exert its full supervision of the crypto space. This resource is currently not necessarily abundant.

Regulators worldwide are exploring avenues to tame the cryptocurrency ecosystem and make it safe for the average investor. While other countries, including Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have defined their paths in crypto, the UK is trying to get it right when it comes to space, a move that may take time to mature.

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Tagged : Crypto / FCA / Regulation

Wormhole DeFi Bridge Rewards $10m Bug Bounty

by Blockchain NewsMay 23, 2022

WormHole, a Decentralized Finance (DeFi) bridge protocol, has paid out $10 million in Whitehat bounty.

As announced by ImmuneFi, the platform that helped organize the bounty program, the cash reward was paid out to a programmer known as satya0x as he was able to identify a bug that would have or resulting in the exploitation of the Wormhole Bridge.

“A whitehat who goes by the pseudonym satya0x responsibly disclosed a critical bug in the Wormhole core bridge contract on Ethereum. This bug was an upgradeable proxy implementation self-destruct bug that helped prevent a potential lockup of user funds,” ImmuneFi said in its update about the entire event.

DeFi protocols have been at the mercy of hackers recently, and Wormhole as a bridge has suffered a massive exploit that led to the loss of over $320 million.

Besides Wormhole, the Ronin Bridge, solely used by the Axie Infinity protocol, has also been exploited by what is suspected to be a group of North Korea-backed Lazarus Group. The Ronin hack drew $625 million away from the protocol, a sum that has notably impacted the bridge’s operations.

In a bid to wade off these attacks, the first required caution is to eliminate any inherent bugs that can be a gateway for cybercriminals. While bugs are notably ubiquitous and difficult to detect, the bug bounty organized by ImmuneFi on behalf of Wormhole has notably achieved its goal.

Immunefi said no funds were lost before the bug was flagged, verified, and fixed. The stakeholders involved believe related bug bounties of this nature with the whitehat community could help prevent many more attacks on DeFi protocols across the board.

“Wormhole paid satya0x a record bug bounty of $10 million for the find. It’s one thing to create a program with a really high top payout, but Wormhole has proven that they are very serious about paying top-dollar to help mitigate security issues in partnership with the whitehat community,” the ImmuneFi statement reads.

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Tagged : Bug Bounty / Cybersecurity / DeFi / Immunefi / Wormhole

Sam Bankman-Fried Donates $16m to Democratic Super PACs in April: Bloomberg

by Blockchain NewsMay 23, 2022

FTX Derivatives Exchange’s Chief Executive Officer Sam Bankman-Fried has doubled down in his donations to Super Political Action Committees (PACs), with a total donation of $16 million in April.

As reported by Bloomberg, the donations were made in two tranches of $10 million and $6 million respectively.

The $10 million donations were given to Protect Our Future, a Super PAC that has a commitment to super candidates that have promises to help prevent the next pandemic.

As the mid-term elections are approaching, the PAC has spent as much as $19 million to back Democratic candidates, including Carrick Flynn. Flynn ran for an open seat in Oregon’s 6th Congressional District but lost the primaries to Andrea Salinas, a state lawmaker who, according to Bloomberg could be Oregon’s first Latino woman elected to Congress should she win the seat in November.

The donated $6 million were given to a PAC connected to House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi dubbed The House Majority PAC. The donated funds have earned Bankman-Fried the highest donor to the PAC in April. This election season, Sam Bankman-Fried who has seen his net worth slashed by almost half to $11.3 billion in the wake of the current crypto market onslaught has donated a total of $31.5 million thus far.

Back in 2020, the FTX boss was the VIP amongst the biggest donors to President Joe Biden’s campaign and earned him his reputation as one of the top crypto investors with active engagement in American politics.

The mid-term elections, as with other mid-terms are a very pivotal one in the United States, and this time around, the Democrats will be looking to either maintain or extend the majority leader in the House. With a crypto representation joining hands to fund candidates, it is indicative of the role of crypto in seeking the common societal good.

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Tagged : Ftx Exchange / Industry Expert / Sam Bankman-Fried / SUPER PACS / US ELECTIONS

LUNA Charts a Bullish Course as Crypto Markets Opens Monday With Gains

by Blockchain NewsMay 23, 2022

Over the past few weeks, the crypto market has been filled with one form of turmoil or the other, pushing a far bigger onslaught in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

The plunge in price across the board has dragged off the combined crypto market cap gains, which slumped below $1.15 trillion in the trailing 7-day period.

At the time of writing, the crypto industry is seeing a massive rejuvenation as traders gear up for what the week holds, especially for retail investors. Amidst this re-awakening, here is an insight into what the coming week may hold for LUNA ahead of the likely protocol forking.

Hopes for a Broad-Based Terra (LUNA) Rebound

LUNA and its associated stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST), were single-handedly responsible for the crash the market experienced in the past days. While both coins have erased more than 99% of their price valuation earlier, there seems to be some recovery for LUNA.

The coin was trading at $0.0001987 on Monday Asia trading section, an almost negligible price compared with its previous all-time high of $119. The coin has added over 70% gains as of the time of writing. While the hope for the recovery to $1 is not why investors seem energized, the news that Do Kwon’s proposal to fork the current chain will eventually pass is driving the accumulation of the devalued tokens.

LUNA holders after the crash are entitled to 10% of the new total supply, and with the snapshots scheduled for Friday, May 27, a lot of people want to get their hands on the coin. This demand is not just driving the coin price at this time but is projected to create a more bullish influence before the week runs out.

Despite the current legal woes surrounding CEO Do Kwon and the Terraform Labs, the community seems to want some form of succour in order to recoup parts of their lost capital when the Terra protocol as we have it now collapsed.

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Tagged : Altcoins / Analysis / Crypto / Luna / Ust