Panda DAO to Refund Investors as it Explores Protocol Dissolution

Panda DAO, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, is proposing to dissolve its treasury and repay its investors if the proposal is passed.

DAO2.jpg

One of the core developers, who goes by the name Panda on Twitter, revealed the move, noting that its one year of existence has been marred with internal strife between the developers and the protocol’s users.

“Panda DAO has been online for nearly one year. We’ve managed to sidestep numerous market downfalls during that time. Yet, the real crisis we faced was dealing with management issues within our DAO.”

According to him, the project’s management through the DAO became difficult, considering some users wanted a focus on short-term gains while others wanted longer-term sustainability. With the dissenting interests, the developer noted that not much could be done since the core team’s powers are limited.

It is not uncommon for protocols to have internal strife, which is often times showcased as bankruptcy, as in the case of Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, and Babel Finance. That Panda DAO operates decentralised has made handling its affairs more complicated. However, the developer team said they are proud of what the crypto protocol has achieved through the power of its smart contracts.

“The project succeeded, however briefly, because of smart contracts protecting community agreements. We had one for ERC-721, we have one now for the return of PANDA funds, etc. Without smart contracts, we would have never been able to sidestep so much market turmoil while guaranteeing the surety of our users’ funds,” Panda tweeted.

Should the proposal to dissolve the project fly, the protocol will distribute 500 to 700 million PANDA tokens out of the 1.292 billion in circulation to its users. About 50 million tokens will be burnt, while approximately 44.56 million tokens will be used to reward 8 out of the core developers in the project.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / /

US SEC Files Lawsuit against Crypto Influencer Ian Balina

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has brought an enforcement action against Ian Balina, a popular crypto influencer, for his involvement in the promotion of SPRK tokens back in 2017.

SEC2.jpg

According to the regulator, the SPRK token was marketed by Ian and the Sparkster team as an unregistered security. The Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of the SPRK token generated $30 million in 2018, and the gains were in part attributed to the promotional efforts of Ian Balina.

The SPRK token did not last the test of time as the token crashed by over 90%, just as was the case with Terra (LUNA), which shed away the bulk of its valuation earlier this year. The investors of the SPRK token did not let sleeping dogs lie as they sued Sparkster at the time.

On the part of the SEC, the regulator claimed Balina did not fully disclose the amount he was paid for the promotions of the tokens. The regulator placed the amount around $5 million. Notably, the SEC said Balina violated several securities laws based on the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933.

With the latest charges brought on Balina, the SEC wants the court, the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, to restrict Balina from further promotional activities. Additionally, the regulator wants the crypto influencer to relinquish all his gains from the SPRK promotion.

Enforcement actions in the digital currency ecosystem are becoming a major trend as the SEC, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have been cracking down on individuals and organizations violating extant laws guiding the market.

The enforcement actions are not just limited to digital currencies, as the SEC has extended its crackdown to insider trading offenses on the prominent Non-Fungible Token (NFT) platform- OpenSea.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / /

South Korean Watchdogs Request Interpol’s Red Notice against Do Kwon

The controversy surrounding Do Kwon’s whereabouts continues to grow, given that South Korean prosecutors asked Interpol to issue a red notice against the Terraform Labs’ founder. 

DOKWON.jpeg

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office had aired its tribulations about Kwon’s noncooperative nature and that he did not intend to show up for questioning. 

“Prosecutors have made a request to Interpol for their assistance to locate Kwon, whose whereabouts remain unknown and to have him handed over to Korea,” the Prosecutors office said, adding that “Currently, we are in the process to locate the whereabouts of suspect Do Kwon and apprehend him,” a prosecution official added.

Over the weekend, Do Kwon insisted that he was not on the run and tweeted:

“I am not ‘on the run’ or anything similar – (from) any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation, and we don’t have anything to hide.”

Following the collapse of Terraform Labs’ native tokens UST and Luna in May, the crash triggered a $60 billion crypto meltdown. As a result, South Korean authorities have been pursuing him to get to the bottom line of the matter.

Recently, Seoul Court issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon and five others for violating the nation’s capital markets law, Blockchain.News reported. 

Furthermore, various lawsuits against Kwon have emerged from investors in different countries.

A red notice issued by Interpol requires law enforcers globally to restrict persons from undertaking cross-border travels and being issued with visas. Moreover, it guarantees the provisional arrest of an individual pending surrender or extradition.

Kwon had initially travelled from South Korea to Singapore, given that Terraform Labs had a base at the latter. Nevertheless, his whereabouts remain scanty because the Singapore Police force hinted that Kwon was not in the nation.

LUNA sent shockwaves to the crypto market after collapsing to near-zero overnight despite it being among the top ten cryptocurrencies in May. 

Things started going south when the algorithmic UST stablecoin on the Terra network experienced a free fall to the extent that leading crypto exchange Binance temporarily halted its withdrawals together with that of LUNA.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / / / / /

Pakistan Eyes Educating 1 Million Youths on Crypto and Web3

To expand the knowledge base of 1 million youths on blockchain-based technologies, crypto and web3, the Pakistan administration has partnered with Fasset and JazzCash through the Prime Minister’s Youth Program (PMYP).

Based on Pakistan’s Vision 2025 of propelling domestic digitization among its young population, the PMYP is seen as a stepping stone toward this objective. 

Shaza Khwaja, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs of Pakistan, stated:

“It is the Prime Minister’s vision to work on areas with great economic impact – like digital skills for the future. This forms the basis of PMYP’s partnership with Fasset. I hope our youth utilize this opportunity to learn from qualified industry practitioners & the world of opportunities that unfold.”

Fasset intends to enhance awareness and web3 education as a global digital asset gateway. Therefore, the partnership will be pivotal in propelling the financial literacy of youths in Pakistan through digital mediums. 

Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Fasset CEO, noted:

“We believe that with the right building blocks the talented youth of Pakistan can unlock $100bn of potential economic growth.” 

JazzCash is the biggest telco in Pakistan, comprising more than 75 million customers. Therefore, it will be instrumental in pushing the Skills for Future Agency agenda as the financial enabler.

Murtaza Ali, the acting CEO of JazzCash, stated:

“JazzCash is proud to be the financial enabler for any transactions required to be carried out for upcoming phases of the programme. We are keenly interested in forging alliances with like-minded organizations to further our mission of a financially-included Pakistan.”

Since Pakistan is one of the biggest communities of freelancers worldwide, Fasset believes equipping the nation’s youth with in-demand skills will enhance the freelancing economy.

Hossain added:

“Pakistan is amongst the top 3 Web3 adopting nations in the world. In addition to that, Pakistan is home to some of the world’s best and brightest developers, researchers and scientists when it comes to tokenization, digital assets and blockchain technology.”

Meanwhile, Fasset recently launched a peer-to-peer platform in the nation to drive financial inclusion, Blockchain.News reported. 

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / /

Pan-African Crypto Exchange Yellow Card raises $40M in Series B Funding Round

Yellow Card Financial, a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Nigeria, announced on Monday that it has raised $40 million in a Series B funding round.

Yellow Card said the fresh funding will enable the firm to drive rapid business growth, continue its successful expansion across Africa, develop new product innovations, and advance strategic partnerships across the continent.

Chris Maurice, the CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card, said the fundraise is the product of relentless hard work towards a common goal. “This fundraise in this market not only showcases the resilience of our team but also reiterates the appetite and necessity for cryptocurrency in Africa,” the executive said.

The round was led by Polychain Capital, with other participants including Valar Ventures, Third Prime Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fabric Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, The Raba Partnership, Jon Weiner, Alex Wilson, Pat Duffy, among others.

Since launched in Nigeria in 2019, Yellow Card’s team, based across 21 countries, has sought to make Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies, and stablecoins accessible to anyone in Africa.

In August 2021, Yellow Card raised $15 million in its Series A funding raise. Since then, the firm has achieved significant milestones including, growing its footprints from 12 to African 16 countries; making significant hires; granting stock options to every full-time employee; launching Yellow Pay, a crypto-powered way to send value across borders; and surpassing 1 million customers in March.

Crypto Wave Attracting Funding on the Continent  

Fundraising boom in Africa’s crypto space shows no sign of slowing down. Funds worth $91 million were raised in the first quarter of this year alone. The fundraising streak spilt over into the second quarter, which saw four fundraising rounds deliver another $213 million.

As reported by Blockchain.News in May, Mara, a pan-African crypto exchange platform, raised $23 million with plans to invest in a suite of products targeting Nigeria, Kenya, and other African nations.

Likewise, Jambo, a crypto startup based in Congo, also raised $30 million in May to expand its business. In April, Afriex, a Nigerian-based fintech startup that operates a blockchain money transfer platform, raised $10 million for its cash transfer platform. In March, VALR, a South Africa-based crypto exchange, secured a $50 million Series B round led by Pantera Capital.

According to data from blockchain data platform Chainalysis, cryptocurrency payment value in Africa surged by 1200% to $105.6 billion in June last year from July 2020.

Despite the continued investment in the crypto ecosystem in Africa, the continent’s blockchain and crypto funding numbers are still small compared to other regions. The continent accounted for just 0.5% of total global blockchain funding but offers plenty more upside to potential investors.

Last year, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt were the big “four” startup ecosystems that bagged most of the venture dollar inflows in the crypto space.

The high crypto adoption rates in Africa are fueled by increased interest in regulated digital currencies from central banks and the urgent need to include unbanked populations. Other factors also include peer-to-peer payments facilitating trade in informal and small business ventures as well as opportunities to lower the considerable costs of logistics and remittances on the continent.

All these factors are responsible for making blockchain startups attractive to investors. In short, Africa is embracing blockchain to revolutionize trade and finance and bolster financial inclusivity.

 

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / /

Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Starts Production in Argentina

Bitfarms Ltd, a Bitcoin mining company, headquartered in Quebec, Canada, announced on Monday that it has started mining production in its new facility based in Argentina.

The Canadian miner said its hashrate has exceeded the 4 exahash per second (EH/s) milestone as it began production at the first of its two 50-megawatt (MW) warehouses under development in Argentina. Bitfarms said the initial start-up adds 10 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to its portfolio, thus increasing total corporate capacity to 176 MW.

By deploying new facilities, the mining farm has begun the construction of its second 50 MW warehouse in Argentina, which is expected to be completed at the beginning of the second quarter of 2023.

Based on current foreign currency exchange rates and natural gas prices in Argentina, Bitfarms expects the energy cost at its newly operating 50 MW production facility in Rio Cuarto, Argentina, to be the lowest across the 10 sites in its portfolio.

Geoff Morphy, the President and COO of Bitfarms, talked about the development: “We are proud to start production ahead of plan at our first 50 MW warehouse in Rio Cuarto, marking our 10th mining facility and 4th country now in production. Executing our diversified global growth strategy to increase portfolio stability and reduce geographic and climatic risks, Argentina marks our fourth country in production.”

Currently, Bitfarms operations in Argentina hire 28 workers, which is expected to increase as production is added.

In October last year, Bitfarms signed contracts and started constructing a 210-megawatt farm in Argentina.

Why Argentina?

BTC miners consider Argentina a perfect environment for their production to thrive. Low/subsidized electricity and consumer bills to income ratio are some of the factors known to go in hand with such rapid growth.

Low energy costs mean the profit margin for miners is going to increase while electricity bills cost 3% maximum of households’ monthly income, far lower than regional neighbours. These make Argentina stand out more as an attractive target for crypto miners.

Argentina could become a crypto mining hub just like Texas. Bitcoin experts consider Texas as the world’s newest Bitcoin mining capital. The jurisdiction has been taking up China’s missed opportunity following China’s ban on crypto mining last year.

Since July last year, many Bitcoin miners found new ground in Texas and hailed that state as a new cryptocurrency hub.

To be profitable, mining cryptocurrency requires lots of cheap energy. China was once the main hub for mining because its electricity was relatively cheap. But that changed last summer when the local government imposed a shutdown on Bitcoin miners as the country heightened efforts to develop its own, better-controlled digital currency.

Since then, miners have been moving across the world, looking for places where electricity is cheap, and many have settled on Texas as their destination.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / /

Bitcoin Miner Bitfarms Starts Building First Warehouse in Argentina, Expected to Run in Q2 of 2023

Bitfarms Ltd, a Bitcoin mining company, headquartered in Quebec, Canada, announced on Monday that it has started mining production in its new facility based in Argentina.

The Canadian miner said its hashrate has exceeded the 4 exahash per second (EH/s) milestone as it began production at the first of its two 50-megawatt (MW) warehouses under development in Argentina. Bitfarms said the initial start-up adds 10 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to its portfolio, thus increasing total corporate capacity to 176 MW.

By deploying new facilities, the mining farm has begun the construction of its second 50 MW warehouse in Argentina, which is expected to be completed at the beginning of the second quarter of 2023.

Based on current foreign currency exchange rates and natural gas prices in Argentina, Bitfarms expects the energy cost at its newly operating 50 MW production facility in Rio Cuarto, Argentina, to be the lowest across the 10 sites in its portfolio.

Geoff Morphy, the President and COO of Bitfarms, talked about the development: “We are proud to start production ahead of plan at our first 50 MW warehouse in Rio Cuarto, marking our 10th mining facility and 4th country now in production. Executing our diversified global growth strategy to increase portfolio stability and reduce geographic and climatic risks, Argentina marks our fourth country in production.”

Currently, Bitfarms operations in Argentina hire 28 workers, which is expected to increase as production is added.

In October last year, Bitfarms signed contracts and started constructing a 210-megawatt farm in Argentina.

Why Argentina?

BTC miners consider Argentina a perfect environment for their production to thrive. Low/subsidized electricity and consumer bills to income ratio are some of the factors known to go in hand with such rapid growth.

Low energy costs mean the profit margin for miners is going to increase while electricity bills cost 3% maximum of households’ monthly income, far lower than regional neighbours. These make Argentina stand out more as an attractive target for crypto miners.

Argentina could become a crypto mining hub just like Texas. Bitcoin experts consider Texas as the world’s newest Bitcoin mining capital. The jurisdiction has been taking up China’s missed opportunity following China’s ban on crypto mining last year.

Since July last year, many Bitcoin miners found new ground in Texas and hailed that state as a new cryptocurrency hub.

To be profitable, mining cryptocurrency requires lots of cheap energy. China was once the main hub for mining because its electricity was relatively cheap. But that changed last summer when the local government imposed a shutdown on Bitcoin miners as the country heightened efforts to develop its own, better-controlled digital currency.

Since then, miners have been moving across the world, looking for places where electricity is cheap, and many have settled on Texas as their destination.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / /

Binance-Backed WazirX Exchange to Delist USDC, USDP & TUSD

Indian cryptocurrency trading platform WazirX has announced it will be delisting USD Coin (USDC), USDP, and TUSD in a move that is similar to its so-called parent company, Binance Exchange.

USDC2.jpg

In a Monday update, WazirX said the deposit support for these tokens has already been halted, and that withdrawal support will run from now until 5 p.m, IST on September 23rd.

The exchange said the tokens will automatically be converted to Binance USD (BUSD) and the conversion will run until October 5. 

The conversion from USDC, USDP, and TUSD will be on the ratio of 1:1. While the delisting process is billed to continue until September 26, the trading platform said users will still be able to view “their USDC, USDP, and TUSD balances under the BUSD-denominated account balance when the conversion is complete.”

The delisting of the three tokens comes off as regulatory scrutiny mounts, as well as Binance exchange made a similar move in the past month. 

The move has been welcomed with dissenting views by industry stakeholders, however, veterans like Jeremy Allaire, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officier of USDC issuer, Circle have backed the exchange, noting among many things that the delisting of USDC may push the stablecoin to become the standard stablecoin rail between centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

With WazirX making a similar move from Binance, it is not clear at this time whether the two trading platforms have set aside their differences especially as it concerns the ownership of the Indian offshoot. 

During the probe of WazirX over fraud-related cases by the Indian Enforcement Directorate (ED), dust was raised as to the ownership status of the exchange. While there is an understanding that Binance had earlier acquired WazirX based on an announcement dating back to 2019, the trading platform’s CEO Changpeng Zhao in a spat with WazirX’s Nischal Shetty said the acquisition did not pull through.

While the ownership status is yet to be cleared, that WazirX is delisting the top stablecoins on its platform in favor of BUSD shows there is a connection between both entities.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 41,781.19 4.63%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,224.08 5.31%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 72.86 5.80%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 230.48 9.25%