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Visa Launches a Special NFT Auction Ahead of FIFA World Cup in Qatar

by Blockchain NewsNovember 1, 2022

Financial services giant and the official payment partner of FIFA at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar has announced the launch of Visa Masters of Movement Non-Fungible Token (NFT) pre-event auction.

According to the firm, the NFT is inspired by unique goals from 5 football legends including Jared Borgetti, Tim Cahill, Carli Lloyd, Michael Owen, and Maxi Rodriguez.

The movements from these football stars were turned into an NFT by award-winning XK Studio and as revealed, the bidding for the NFTs has been opened on Crypto.com, the official crypto exchange partner of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Visa said collectors who throw in the winning bid for the Masters of the Movement NFTs will receive the artwork in their Crypto.com wallets alongside a high-quality printable file. The NFTs will be signed by the footballers featured, adding to their authenticity.

“As FIFA World Cup 2022™ approaches, we want to celebrate football, art, and technology through the lens of what makes the FIFA World Cup™ so special – wildly impassioned fans, legendary athletes, and for a few short weeks, the ability to bring the world together in a uniquely connected way,” said Andrea Fairchild, senior vice president and head of sponsorships, Visa.

FIFA has made a lot o partnerships ahead of the World Cup scheduled to hold in Qatar. While the event remains one of the most anticipated sporting tournaments this decade, the brands partnering with FIFA are notably pushing forth the avenues to register the historic moments on the blockchain.

Besides its partnership with Visa and Crypto.com, FIFA also has an active partnership with Algorand, a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain protocol.

The pre-event NFT auction is just a sequel to the FIFA Fan Festival that will take place live in Doha. Per its design, fans will be able to create their own Masters of the Movement moves, some of which will get to be minted as NFTs to commemorate the history that is bound to be made.

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PBOC Governor Says Digital Yuan Will Prioritize Privacy Protection

by Blockchain NewsNovember 1, 2022

Yi Gang, the Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has reiterated that discussions on its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) dubbed the Digital Yuan (e-CNY) are more centered on the privacy aspects of its operations to users.

Speaking at the Hong Kong Fintech Week, Yi said privacy protection is top on its list.

Coming off as one of the Central Banks with a vested interest in CBDCs, the PBoC said its e-CNY is mostly focused on retail domestic transactions as a major complement to cash in the digital world. It said in a bid to protect consumer privacy, that it has employed a 2-tier system.

In the first tier, Yi Gang acknowledged that the PBoC facilitates inter-institutional transfers with banks under its jurisdiction. At this stage, no customer information is collected. In tier 2, the banks distribute the e-CNY directly to consumers but obtain only the information that will enable them to stand right by the law.

Yi Gang noted that no entity will be able to probe a transaction without any rigorous legal permission, granting most users the safety they need to embrace the e-CNY.

“The PBOC ensures personal information security through advanced technology and strict management, with full adherence to consumer privacy protection laws and regulations. Transaction-related data is encrypted for storage,” Yi Gang said in the speech further assuring that “Sensitive consumer information is de-identified to non-transacting parties. Entities and individuals are prohibited from arbitrary inquiry or information usage without rigorous legal authorization.”

China comes off as the world’s most advanced economy with a functional CBDC in circulation. While the digital legal tender has not been officially launched for everyone in the country to use yet, its retail pilot tests have been robust, with a presence in top cities including Suzhou, and Shenzhen amongst others.

Yi Gang said the PBoC has an active collaboration with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) as regards CBDC interrelationship and he said the bank is interested in creating other such relationships with other Central Banks around the world.

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Tagged : CBDC / Digital Yuan / E-CNY / PBoC

US DOJ Revises Probe into Tether Regarding Bank Fraud – Report

by Blockchain NewsNovember 1, 2022

The United States Department of Justice has reopened a probe into Tether Holdings according to a report from Bloomberg citing anonymous sources close to the probe.

Per the report, the probe is into allegations seeking to know if Tether violated any form of bank rules with respect to the movement of cash under false pretenses.

The sources said the case has been transferred to the District Office in the Southern District of New York where attornies like Damian Williams, renowned for investigating the highest profile cases in the digital currency ecosystem operate from.

While Federal Prosecutors had informed Tether’s executives over a year ago that they may be probed in relation to some banking violations, the investigation report, if confirmed, will be the first proactive move to probe the regulators will be making in that regard in a while.

The transfer of the cases between DoJ Departments is an unusual move and this showcases the dynamics of the legal loopholes in the digital currency ecosystem that is still evolving. The current probe is centered on the partnership between Tether and Crypto Capital after the stablecoin issuer lost its banking relationships in the US, preventing its ability to access US to process its transactions.

One of Crypto Capital’s executives, Reginald Fowler had already pleaded guilty to offenses relating to false representations to obtain USD for its business activities. It is not clear whether the current investigation will involve Crypto Capital at this time.

Tether has issued a statement refuting claims that it is currently under investigation, saying that no officials have gotten in touch in more than a year.

“Tether executives have had no interactions with the DOJ in connection with any investigation for well over a year and the DOJ does not appear to be actively investigating Tether,” it wrote in the statement.

With Tether known to resolve some of its past probes through settlement with the New York Attorney General’s (NYAGs) office, the firm said it will continue to foster transparency in its product offerings.

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Tagged : Nyag / Regulation / Tether / US DOJ

Musk’s Halloween Tweet Leads to DOGE, SHIB Uptrend

by Blockchain NewsNovember 1, 2022

Elon Musk, the new boss of Twitter, has again made a crypto-realted headline that has shot up prices.

Musk tweeted a photo of a Shiba Inu dog dressed in a shirt with a Twitter logo and a pumpkin with a Twitter logo on Halloween day, accompanied by a wink emoji as a caption.

As expected, the prices of Musks’ favourite crypto Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu shot up.

DOGE shot up 14% within minutes following his tweet. However, the crypto shrank down to 12% at press time.

While Shiba Inu also showed a big uptrend but not as much as DOGE, it rallied by around 5% to create a local high of $0.00001032. However, Shiba Inu’s uptrend also fell after the hype died down, and at press time, the pump was down to 4%. It was trading at $0.00001287.

Besides the tweet, the two cryptocurrencies were already hot as Musk had already hinted that DOGE would soon be incorporated with the Twitter platform.

Musk’s latest tweet post comes after his completion of the acquisition of Twitter with $44 billion.

Musk has been a vocal supporter of DOGE for years now. He also believes that DOGE is better than bitcoin for executing daily crypto payments.

Musk’s crypto-related tweets have always been market movers.

DOGE also previously shot up in May when Musk tweeted that in the near future, his space venture company SpaceX would introduce payments with DOGE.

Bloomberg media on Saturday suggested several ways that Musk, who is one of the most significant crypto influencers globally, might bring more cryptocurrency into Twitter.

According to Bloomberg, if Musk decided to play a bigger crypto role on Twitter, there are some ways he could do it.

Bots and spam on Twitter have been a huge concern for Musk and helped trigger a contentious legal battle that put his acquisition of the firm at risk. The issue is particularly important in cryptocurrency, where spam accounts impersonate famous personalities like Musk in order to promote scams involving fake crypto giveaways.

According to Bloomberg, some crypto enthusiasts believe that Musk may advocate for the use of blockchain to help reduce bots on Twitter and authenticate all real humans on social media.

Freedom of speech is a priority for Musk, and he intends to lift the company’s lifelong bans on users. Those values align with those of most crypto believers dedicated to the ethos of the decentralization promoted by blockchain.

As per Bloomberg, Musk could potentially implement a token-based voting system that allows users to have more say over what occurs on Twitter. He also could add more crypto elements on Twitter to expand decentralization aspects and mainstream usage of digital assets.

Musk has already expressed ambitions of turning Twitter into a “super app.” In the past, he expressed admiration for China’s WeChat platform, which can handle things like messaging, games, payments, and video streaming.

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Tagged : Altcoins / Blockchain / Crypto / Doge / Elonmusk / Halloween / Shib / Twitter

Is Bitcoin Gearing Up to Exit the Current Bottom?

by Blockchain NewsNovember 1, 2022

Since Bitcoin (BTC) has been trading above the psychological price of $20K, Glassnode has released its weekly on-chain report titled “Hammering Out The Bottom,” scrutinizing the stakes and the risks that may lay on the road ahead.

The market insight provider stated:

“Bitcoin has rallied back above the $20k level this week, pushing off a low of $19,215, and trading as high as $20,961. After consolidating in an increasingly tight range since early September, this is the first relief rally in many months.”

Source: Glassnode

Bitcoin was up by 6.6% in the last seven days to hit $20,626 during intraday trading, according to CoinMarketCap.

With the realized price being the average acquisition price per coin, Bitcoin is presently approaching the underside of the realized price set at $21,111. A break above it would signify notable strength.

Source: Glassnode

Redistribution of wealth continues to happen

During the Bottom Discovery phase, diminishing investor profitability usually triggers the redistribution of coin wealth because weaker hands capitulate into severe financial pain.

Using the UTXO Realized Price Distribution (URPD) indicator, Glassnode noted that more consolidation and duration may still be required in the current bear market because coins changing hands are lower than the 2018-2019 bottom discovery phase where 22.7% of total supply was redistributed.

The market insight provider pointed out:

“Performing the same analysis in 2022, we can see that around 14.0% of supply has been redistributed since the price fell below the Realized Price in July, with a total of 20.1% of supply now having been acquired in this price range.”

Even though Bitcoin is getting ready to exit the bottom, the bear-to-bull transition has not completely formed because of the lack of a convincing influx of new demand.

Meanwhile, crypto trading firm Cumberland recently highlighted that Bitcoin volume remained absolutely massive given that BTC derivatives worth approximately $50 billion were being cleared on crypto exchanges daily, Blockchain.News reported.

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Tagged : #BTC / Analysis / Bitcoin / Crypto / Glassnode / Investment / Market / PRICE ACTION

HUSD Stablecoin Drops 56% From Dollar Peg Following Huobi Delisting

by Blockchain NewsNovember 1, 2022

Fresh data according to CoinMarketCap shows that HUSD stablecoin has fallen massively from its $1 peg, dropping to a low of $0.32 following delisting from crypto exchange Huobi on Friday last week.

At the time of writing, HUSD price is trading at $0.323073 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $1,424,702 USD. HUSD stablecoin is down 56.59% in the last 24 hours, ranked #292, with a live market cap of $71,913,967 USD, according to CoinMarketCap.

The once-popular stablecoin was trading below the peg since October 28 and maintained its value around $0.76 over the weekend. On Monday, October 31, morning at 4 a.m., the stablecoin sharply plummeted to a low of $0.28 before bouncing slightly.

Huobi delisted HUSD on Friday, October 28 and subsequently converted users’ assets to the stablecoin Tether (USDT), according to an announcement passed across by the exchange on Thursday, October 27. Huobi stated that users can still exchange HUSD tokens for tether (USDT), the industry’s largest stablecoin by market cap.

It is unclear why Huobi decided to abandon its preferred stablecoin, but it appears that the exchange is simply not prioritizing the stablecoin anymore. According to an update on Thursday, Huobi detailed that it is “delisting HUSD in compliance with Article 11 of Huobi Global Token Management Rules.”

The termination and delisting period began on Friday amid the delisting period running up until Friday, November 4, 2022. Huobi’s customers will see their HUSD auto-converted into tether (USDT) at a 1:1 ratio, the trading platform said.

Huobi is not the issuer of HUSD stablecoin but has been active in marketing the token since its launch in 2018. HUSD was first introduced by Huobi on October 19, 2018, though the Hong Kong-based firm Stable Universal has been in charge of the issuance and management of the stablecoin.

The HUSD delisting and auto-conversions to USDT follow Binance’s move to auto-convert three different stablecoins into BUSD.

In early September, Binance announced that its users would undergo a conversion of balances in three stablecoins USDC, USDP, TUSD into its own BUSD coin. The exchange said the move was designed to improve liquidity and capital efficiency for users.

Auto-conversion started on September 29, and now users’ balances are automatically converted into BUSD. The action effectively removed the USDC stablecoin, which is the second largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $43.9 billion (against the $69.10 billion of the first USDT) from the tradable assets on Binance’s platform. Wazirx also opted for auto-conversion of its users’ stablecoin assets into BUSD.

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Tagged : Crypto / HOUBIDELISTING / HUSDSTABLECOIN / News / Price Analysis