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Rarible launches Polygon-based NFT marketplace builder

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

Rarible, a marketplace for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), has announced the debut of a marketplace builder. This builder gives artists and projects the ability to personalise a store for their NFT collections based on Polygon.

The Rarible team underlined the fact that the blockchain had acquired substantial popularity in the NFT industry while providing an explanation as to why the company decided to use the Polygon network for the application.

According to Alexei Falin, co-founder and CEO of Rarible, the Polygon NFT market has lately acquired “tremendous traction” in recent months.

Additionally, the team anticipates that in the near future, buying and selling NFTs will be able to take place on community markets.

Falin said: “We feel that community markets are the way of the future when it comes to buying and selling NFTs, and we think that every project ought to have its very own marketplace.

The self-service technology is very necessary in order to make this happen.”

In addition to the Polygon-based NFT projects that Rarible offers, the company also provides a marketplace builder for Ethereum ERC-721 and ERC-1155 collection tokens.

NFT initiatives have developed new methods to improve the area despite the weak market that has been going on.

On January 11, a tool that evaluates the trading performances of NFT collectors’ wallets was made available via an NFT index.

Wallets are evaluated based on their realised and unrealized profits, in addition to a number of other characteristics, by the index.

During the same time as NFT projects are developing new tools or services, other initiatives are doing all in their power to survive the crypto winter.

NFT marketplace SuperRare made the announcement not too long ago that it will be laying off thirty percent of its personnel.

The chief executive officer of the company, John Crain, said that the company “expanded in parallel with the market” and that they “over-hired” when market circumstances were favourable.

However, the CEO of the NFT marketplace pointed out that this cannot be maintained in the long run.

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US authorities are pursuing Bitzlato’s creator

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

The crypto company Bitzlato was the target of a “significant worldwide cryptocurrency enforcement operation” that was announced by the United States Department of Justice. The action also resulted in the arrest of the company’s creator, Anatoly Legkodymov.

Lisa Monaco, the Deputy Attorney General for the United States, made an announcement on January 18 stating that enforcement actions had been taken against Bizlato in coordination with France. These actions included the seizure of Bizlato’s website and the labelling of the company as a “primary money laundering concern” connected to Russian illicit finance.

According to Monaco, the United States Department of Justice, the United States Department of the Treasury, and French law enforcement collaborated to bring legal action against Bitzlato for allegedly “conducting a money transmitting business that transported and transmitted illicit funds and that failed to meet U.S. regulatory safeguards.” In other words, Bitzlato allegedly moved and transmitted illegal funds.

Legkodymov, a Russian citizen residing in China, was taken into custody by FBI agents on January 17 in Miami as part of the investigation into Bitzlato’s activities.

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida is where his arraignment is set to take place.

The United States authorities stated that the criminal complaint against Bitzlato was based on the company being a money laundering operation “crucial financial resource” for the Hydra darknet marketplace, which allowed users to launder funds, including those obtained from ransomware attacks: “Hydra Market users exchanged more than $700 million in cryptocurrency with Bitzlato, either directly or through intermediaries, until Hydra Market was shut down by U.S. and German law enforcement in April 2022.

Additionally, Bitzlato was given more than $15 million from the revenues of the malware.”

The enforcement action consisted of a concerted effort throughout Europe and the United States to confiscate a significant portion of Bitzlato’s resources, including as the company’s servers, as well as to take the company’s creator into custody.

The “most substantial enforcement endeavour” against an exchange since the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team was established in October 2021, according to Monaco, who referred to the case as “the most significant enforcement effort.”

It was stated by Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite of the criminal division of the Department of Justice that United States authorities were “just getting started” in their crackdown on similar businesses engaged in the facilitation of money laundering.

Monaco issued a warning to individuals who perpetrate crimes against the United States financial system “from a tropical island,” despite the fact that no official has explicitly commented on the current prosecution against cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

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Tagged : BITZLATO / ENFORCEMENT ACTION / Fbi / FTX / Hydra / MONACO / News

Deal Box offers $125M blockchain and Web3 venture fund

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

According to a news statement dated January 18, the capital markets advice and token offering platform Deal Box, which is located in the United States, has formed a new venture capital arm with a total of $125 million in funding targeted to blockchain and Web3 firms.

Deal Box Ventures is the name given to the fund that will be used to make investments in businesses operating in the rising growth, real estate, fintech, funtech, and social impact industries.

Thomas Carter, founder and chairman of Deal Box, issued the following statement in response to the recent development: “Deal Box Ventures is an important milestone in our journey to invest in the most promising and disruptive blockchain startups. We will provide these startups with the tools and funding ecosystem they require to be successful by simplifying and reimagining the traditional financing models.”

Deal Box has made first investments in the companies Total Network Services, Rypplzz, and Forward-Edge AI by purchasing shares in each of those companies.

Blockchain technology is used by Rypplzz in order to link digital and physical things for the purpose of creating location-based experiences.

While Total Network Services claims to have created a blockchain Universal Communication Identifier to increase supply chain security, Forward-Edge AI claims that it employs the same technology to strive to better the human condition.

Deal Box was an industry leader in offering legal, accounting, and capitalization table advisory services to startup founders before it launched its investment arm.

The issue of tokenized bonds or stock by companies as a means of gaining access to investor money is one of the aspects of its emphasis that pertain to digital securities.

The company claims to have more than 500 customers since it was established in 2005.

At the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, which was hosted in Davos, Switzerland, South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago addressed some of the difficulties that surround the adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

A panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in 2023 titled “In the Face of Fragility: Central Bank Digital Currencies” will be held. Kganyago shared his thoughts on CBDCs and questioned if there is a genuine issue that can be remedied by using this innovative technology.

Kganyago questioned whether or not this was a case of a solution seeking for a problem, or whether or not there was a genuine issue that needed to be addressed.

The governor of the central bank also brought up the fact that the nations who are looking into CBDCs and doing research on them have cited a number of different reasons for wanting to establish them.

This involves bringing the central bank up to date, improving the efficiency of national payment systems, addressing the failure of domestic markets, and ensuring that everyone has access to sufficient financial resources.

On the other hand, the official from the government brought up the issue of demand.

Before CBDCs can be implemented, there has to be a discussion on a national level, as Kganyago pointed out.

He stated that before making this available to the general public, central banks should first determine whether or not the general public is interested in using it.

In light of these arguments, Kganyago said that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is approaching the issue of CBDCs with extreme caution. According to what he had to say, ” We are going to be excellent pupils when it comes to retail CBDCs,” and ” I would rather be a follower than a first mover.”

Back in 2021, the governor of the SARB expressed his disagreement with the notion that cryptocurrencies should be classified as currencies.

The official from the government said that cryptocurrency only satisfies two of the three standards for currencies, and argued that it does not have widespread usage.

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Tagged : Central Bank / DEAL BOX / KGANYAGO / News / SARB / United States

SARB governor: CBDCs must tackle a “serious challenge” at WEF 2023.

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

At the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, which was hosted in Davos, Switzerland, South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago addressed some of the difficulties that surround the adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Kganyago shared his thoughts on CBDCs at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum 2023 titled “In the Face of Fragility: Central Bank Digital Currencies.” He questioned whether or not there is a genuine issue that can be handled by this new technology.

Kganyago questioned whether or not this was a case of a solution seeking for a problem, or whether or not there was a genuine issue that needed to be addressed.

On the other hand, the official from the government brought up the issue of demand.

Before CBDCs can be implemented, there has to be a discussion on a national level, as Kganyago pointed out.

He stated that before making this available to the general public, central banks should first determine whether or not the general public is interested in using it.

Back in 2021, the governor of the SARB expressed his disagreement with the notion that cryptocurrencies should be classified as currencies.

The official from the government said that cryptocurrency only satisfies two of the three standards for currencies, and argued that it does not have widespread usage.

Source

Tagged : Central Bank / KGANYAGO / News / SARB / SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK

On BX Swiss market, 21Shares launches crypto staking ETP

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

A cryptocurrency company by the name of 21Shares, which has its headquarters in Switzerland, is placing its bets on proof-of-stake (PoS) coins by launching a new cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP) that is solely focused on staking. This decision was made in order to increase the company’s chances of success.

The business introduced a brand new exchange-traded product (ETP) on January 18th, which was given the name 21Shares Staking Basket Index ETP. It is a crypto staking index that is intended to monitor up to ten distinct Proof-of-Stake currencies simultaneously.

As a consequence of the merger with STAKE, 21Shares and its parent company, 21.co, now provide a combined total of 47 crypto exchange-traded product offerings (ETPs) to investors in 12 different markets and 9 different countries.

Despite this, the performance of the ETPs has been strong during the first few weeks of 2023, with the performance of AXTZ gaining 38% year-to-date and the performance of ASOL climbing 78% year-to-date respectively.

Krause highlighted that assets such as Solana, which is extensively related to the previous FTX exchange, have not had any influence on the goods that 21Shares has to offer and that this is something that he has been emphasizing throughout the conversation. He said that this is something that he has been highlighting throughout the conversation. As an example of what he meant, he said that “Solana, like practically all other crypto assets, had severe price drops in 2022 but did not suffer any fundamental damage that would bar its inclusion in the index.” This was said in order to demonstrate his argument. In particular, he was alluding to the assertion that “Solana did not suffer any fundamental degradation that would bar its inclusion in the index.”

The launch of STAKE on the market comes after a number of notable authorities from all around the world voiced their worries over the staking of cryptocurrencies.

Source

Tagged : 21Shares / Etp / News / Solana / Stake

Coinbase Leaves Japan After Trade Collapse

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

Even if Bitcoin’s price has returned to where it was before the FTX crash, the sector is still being negatively affected by the contagion, which has forced the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to cease operations in Japan.

Due to the current state of the market, Coinbase made the decision on January 18 to publicly declare that the company would be closing its offices in Japan and conducting an in-depth analysis of its operations in the nation. By the 16th of February, all Coinbase Japan clients will have about one month to remove any fiat currency or cryptocurrency assets from the site.

After the 17th of February, any cryptocurrency assets that are still being held by clients of Coinbase Japan will be immediately converted to the Japanese yen (JPY).After the 20th of January, deposits in fiat money will no longer be possible.

The outlined the principles that customers would have the ability to transfer their assets to any other virtual asset service provider, a self-custodial wallet, or the Coinbase Wallet if they so want. Customers also have the option to liquidate their portfolios and transfer their assets to a bank account in their home country.

Coinbase emphasized that the platform is dedicated to make the service termination as seamless as possible, guaranteeing consumers that all users will be able to withdraw their funds at the earliest feasible convenience.

According to prior reports, Coinbase began the planning stages for its entrance into Japan in the midst of 2018’s weak market. Coinbase is the latest major cryptocurrency exchange to pull out of Japan, following in the footsteps of Kraken, which made the same decision in late 2022 to end its business activities in the nation.

The exchange said that it experienced comparable issues in Japan, noting the country’s underdeveloped cryptocurrency sector.

Kraken and Coinbase have both dramatically cut the size of their workforces, with Kraken terminating the employment of thirty percent of its workforce not long after the failure of the FTX exchange in November. Coinbase, which had already trimmed its personnel by 18% in the previous year, stated in January that it would be cutting a further 20% of its employees.

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Tagged : Coinbase Japan / Crypto / JPY / Kraken / News

Digital Currency Group Suspends Payouts To Maintain Liquidity

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

In an effort to maintain its existing level of liquidity, the venture capital company Digital Currency Group (DCG) has informed its shareholders that it would temporarily suspend the payment of its quarterly dividends until further notice.

In the letter that was sent to shareholders on January 17, the primary objective of the company is to improve the quality of our balance sheet by lowering operational expenditures and maintaining a sufficient level of liquidity.

DCG said that it was also mulling over the possibility of selling some of the assets included within its portfolio.

The company’s financial problems stem from the difficulties experienced by one of its subsidiaries, a cryptocurrency broker known as Genesis Global Trading. According to reports, Genesis Global Trading owes its creditors more than $3 billion.

Due to the fact that Genesis has disabled its customers’ ability to withdraw funds since November 16, Cameron Winklevoss, on behalf of his exchange Gemini and its users who have funds on Genesis, has written an open letter to the board of directors of DCG requesting that Barry Silbert be removed from his position as CEO of the company. The letter was published on January 10.

Winklevoss claims that Gemini is owed a total of $900 million by Genesis for money that were leased to Genesis as part of Gemini’s Earn program. This program gives clients the opportunity to earn an annual return of up to 7.4% on their investments. Winklevoss also said that DCG owed Genesis a total of $1.675 billion, although Silbert refuted this assertion.

Both companies were charged on January 12 by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for marketing unregistered securities via the Earn program. Winklevoss’s letter had only just been sent when the SEC threw gasoline on the flames by adding the charges.

The difficulties with Genesis were not discovered until after the withdrawal stop on November 16, which the company blamed on the extreme market instability that followed the collapse of FTX and was the cause of abnormally high amounts of withdrawals.

On November 10, less than a week earlier, Genesis disclosed that it had around $175 million stranded on FTX. As a direct consequence of this revelation, DCG sent Genesis an emergency equity injection of $140 million in an effort to remedy the company’s liquidity concerns.

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Tagged : DCG / Dividend / LIQUIDITY / News / Venture

Coinbase Up 69%, MicroStrategy Up 74% From Lows

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

It’s been green candles all around since the beginning of 2023, as the share price of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has increased by 69% since it hit an all-time low, and other crypto-related firms, like business analytics company MicroStrategy, have enjoyed similar rises.

On January 6, the price of a share of Coinbase reached a low of $31.95, but by the time trading was done on January 17, it had climbed all the way back up to $54.14. After a difficult year in 2022, during which Coinbase reduced its employees by 20% and wound down its activities in Japan, the increasing share price is expected to be met by a great sigh of relief from the company’s leadership.

Despite the recent increase, COIN is still trading at a price that is more than 84% lower than its all-time high. Other crypto-related companies, such as MicroStrategy and Block Inc., which is a digital payments startup, have also had significant price increases since the beginning of the year.

MicroStrategy’s share price has increased to nearly $236, representing an increase of over 74%, from a low of just over $135 on December 29; this compares to Jack Dorsey’s Block’s share price, which has seen a muted but still respectable increase of 27%, after rebounding from a low of under $59 on December 28 to over $75.

The recovery for crypto mining equities has been much more spectacular. During the first two weeks of the new year, both Bitfarms and Marathon Digital Holdings saw their share prices increase by a significant amount: 140% and 120%, respectively.

Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also returned, although to a lesser degree, with the price of the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI) more than doubling from its low point of little over $4 on December 28 to over $8 today.

The price of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) has more than doubled from the 28th of December, when it was over $10, and is now hovering around $13; this represents an increase of just under one-third.

After having traded at a discount of more than 45% on December 28, it is now resting at a discount of just over 36% at this time.

It is interesting to note that December 28 seemed to represent a market bottom for many different cryptocurrencies and stocks, despite the fact that some market analysts believe Bitcoin in particular has skyrocketed on the back of the positive inflation figures from the United States that were released on January 12. Bitcoin’s price has increased by over 17% since those positive inflation figures were released.

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Tagged : 120% / 140% / Coinbase / Etfs / Microstrategy / News

Africa Web3 Gaming Publisher Carry1st Raises $27M

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 18, 2023

Carry1st, a mobile games publisher, has just completed a fundraising round that raised $27 million. The money will be used to enhance the company’s publishing and digital content production platform in Africa, an area that Carry1st’s investors believe is ready for Web3 adoption.

Bitkraft Ventures acted as the primary investor in the investment round that totaled $27 million, while Andreessen Horowitz, better known as a16z, contributed additional capital. A number of other investors took part in the investment round, including TTV Capital, Konvoy, Alumni Ventures, Lateral Capital, and Kepple Ventures.

The most recent transaction took place a year after Carry1st successfully raised $20 million in capital backed by a16z and Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

During that time, Carry1st said that the cash will be used to increase the company’s internal capacity as well as develop its content portfolio. This includes investigating play-to-earn gaming on Web3 as well as the incorporation of non-fungible tokens into the overall game experience.

The most recent capital will be used toward expanding the capabilities of Pay1st, the monetization-as-a-service platform that the firm offers. Pay1st makes it possible for third-party publishers in Africa to generate more money.

Carry1st, which is in the business of publishing video games, offers a comprehensive solution for monetizing and administering mobile games across the African continent. The business formed a partnership with Riot Games, which is located in Los Angeles and is responsible for creating League of Legends, in 2022 in order to test out local payments for its gaming games in Africa.

Africa has emerged as one of the world’s digital asset marketplaces that is expanding at one of the quickest rates.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a study in November that highlighted increased usage in locations like Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. This attracted the attention of the IMF, which noted that the continent’s venture into cryptocurrency has even garnered the attention of the IMF.

The IMF, using data from Chainalysis, said that the highest monthly volume of cryptocurrency transactions on the continent occurred in the middle of 2021 at $20 billion.

The continent of Africa’s youthful population, the mishandling of the economy by its government, and the absence of an effective banking infrastructure are driving crypto adoption across the continent.

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Tagged : Africa / Gaming / News / RAISING / Web3