Tag: Industry

CoinMarketCap’s proof-of-reserve tracker

by Blockchain News

The most prominent market researcher and tracker in the cryptocurrency industry, CoinMarketCap, recently made an announcement regarding the launch of a new feature on its platform. This new feature will provide users with the ability to obtain up-to-date financial insights on exchanges.

Proof of Reserves (PoR) is a tracker that examines active cryptocurrency exchanges in the market to guarantee that these exchanges are being honest about their liquidity levels at any given moment. These exchanges are audited to confirm that Proof of Reserves (PoR) is functioning properly.

The announcement states that the tracker provides information regarding the total assets held by the company as well as the public wallet addresses associated with the company, as well as the balances, current prices, and values of the wallets. In addition, the announcement states that the tracker provides information regarding the public wallet addresses associated with the company.

CoinMarketCap has said that the PoR trackers would update their data every five minutes going forward.

In addition to the exchanges that have already been listed, there are a few more, including KuCoin, Bitfinex, OKX, Bybit, Crypto.com, and Huobi, that also make PoR information accessible.

In order to spread the word, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO and co-founder of Binance, retweeted an announcement from CoinMarketCap and included a link to the company’s website in the tweet.

Members of the cryptocurrency community have voiced their support for this feature on Twitter, referring to it as a “great transparency addition.”

On November 10, it produced a proof-of-assets, which contained wallet addresses and activity. Wallet addresses and activity were provided. Wallet activity was included in the analysis as well.

A vast number of platforms operating in this market have begun publishing data on their financial reserves and liquidity in an attempt to promote transparency. This trend was started by Binance, which served as an example for the other platforms to follow.

Grayscale, on the other hand, is a firm that offers financial products connected to cryptocurrencies. It has made the decision to withhold its on-chain PoR owing to what it sees as security concerns about the network.

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Disney’s new CEO Bob Iger and crypto

by Blockchain News

A believer in the Metaverse’s promise. Bob Iger has startled the business community by stating that he would immediately resume his prior position as Disney’s CEO. Iger will succeed Bob Chapek, who has already submitted his retirement from his position.

Iger gained the most of his renown during his 15-year tenure as CEO of the international entertainment giant, which is perhaps his most notable accomplishment. However, the Disney executive rose to prominence in the cryptocurrency industry after joining Genies as a director, consultant, and investor. Genies is a blockchain technology development company. The Genies platform is a digital avatar system that is powered by Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain.

Iger remarked that he was “thrilled to be joining the Genies Board of Directors” to help Akash Nigam and his colleagues in their aim to “empower individuals to construct the mobile apps of Web3: avatar ecosystems.” This was done in order to further the objective of “enabling anybody to create mobile apps for Web3.”

When Disney submitted its metaverse patent application on December 28, Iger was still serving as CEO and chairman of the board.

The patent was for a “virtual-world simulator in a real-world venue,” and according to the application, it would allow attendees at Disney theme parks to build and project personalised 3D effects onto adjacent actual locations, such as walls and other objects, using their mobile phones. The patent was for a “virtual world simulator in a real-world setting,” thus this would be doable. This objective might be accomplished using a technology known as a “virtual world simulator in a real-world situation.”

Disney said at the time that there were “no present intentions” to use the “virtual-world simulator” patent into any of its products. Moreover, the corporation has not yet announced any items related with the patent.

According to reports, Iger’s return to Disney will be brief, and he has only committed to staying in his capacity as Disney’s CEO for the next two years. This information was collected from The Hollywood Reporter.

It has been reported that during his new tenure as CEO, Iger would seek to choose a successor and work with the board of directors to determine the company’s strategic future.

Despite his absence during the course of the year, Disney has maintained its attempts to develop initiatives involving the metaverse, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and blockchain technology. The completion of these endeavours is planned.

Disney began searching for a senior counsel in September in order to work on transactions involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the metaverse, blockchain technology, and decentralised finance. Disney is actively doing research on all of these subjects (DeFi).

They are looking for a specialised professional to give “complete product life cycle legal advise and assistance for global NFT goods” and to guarantee that the products in question conform with all applicable laws and regulations inside the United States and internationally.

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Philcoin Partners with Indacoin to Enhance Blockchain-Powered Charity

by Blockchain News

To enhance confidence and accountability in the charitable space, philanthropic blockchain ecosystem Philcoin has inked a deal with Indacoin, a British fiat-to-crypto conversion gateway.

Jerry Lopez, Philcoin’s CEO and founder, noted that the partnership would be a stepping stone toward changing how giving happens by providing credit and debit cardholders with the chance to instantly purchase its native token, PHL, in at least 180 countries.

Lopez stated:

“We have a user base of over 250,000 people across the world through our app and we expect this number to soar with our new partnership. Imagine how much potential that holds when millions of people can use Philcoin, and its donate-and-earn products, to empower themselves while empowering others.”

The agreement also prompted a seamless integration within Philcoin’s decentralized application called PHILApp, which presents a host of products and features with a donate-and-earn element meant to teach users how to give. 

Through its blockchain-based ecosystem, Philcoin seeks to instil confidence in the charity sector by boosting accountability and giving the world’s population living in disadvantaged areas have adequate internet access. 

The philanthropic blockchain movement ascertained that digital giving and global impact prompted reciprocal abundance. 

Per the report: 

“Philcoin aims to create the largest global movement of philanthropists. Indacoin’s reach and exposure will help spread the word about Philcoin which, in turn, will help to inspire millions of people to give back.”

Earlier this year, Philcoin established a staking mechanism that would enable users to donate part of their earnings to a charity of their choice within PHILApp. 

The staking mechanism was expected to help Philcoin create a global philanthropic movement by changing how giving happens, Blockchain.News reported. 

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FTX Exchange Foundation’s Future Fund Team Dismissed

by Blockchain News

After condemning the exchange’s behaviour, the team behind FTX Future Fund, a project of the FTX Foundation, has now been dismissed.

The team noted in a post on Effective Altruism Forum,

“We were shocked and immensely saddened to learn of the recent events at FTX. We are now unable to perform our work or process grants, and we have fundamental questions about the legitimacy and integrity of the business operations that were funding the FTX Foundation and the Future Fund. As a result, we resigned.”

Funded primarily by Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX Future Fund was launched in February 2022 to boost humanity’s long-term prospects. The project planned to distribute at least $100 million and up to $1 billion this year. 

According to the team, though they are still unclear about what happened, but they will follow up with the news as it unfolds. The team added condemning the behaviour of the exchange’s leadership:

‘’But to the extent that the leadership of FTX may have engaged in deception or dishonesty, we condemn that behavior in the strongest possible terms. We believe that being a good actor in the world means striving to act with honesty and integrity.’’

At the end of the note, the team stated that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will be unable to honour as they are no longer working on the project. Speaking of foundation, last month Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), an organization that supports the Terra ecosystem, revealed that its efforts toward compensating Terra holders remain futile due to the ongoing litigation.

“Our goal is to distribute LFG’s remaining assets to those impacted by the depeg, smallest holders first. Unfortunately, due to ongoing and threatened litigation, distribution is not possible at this time. While these matters are outstanding, there can be no timeline established for resolution,” LFG noted in a tweet.

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Proof-of-Reserves Becomes a Burning Issue amid FTX Crisis

by Blockchain News

The collapse of FTX, one of the leading crypto exchanges, sent shockwaves in the digital asset space.

With the liquidity issue being a primary contributor to the FTX crisis, the proof-of-reserves concept has engulfed the crypto sector, with more exchanges gearing towards showing more transparency. Crypto exchange Gate.io explained:

“What is Proof-of-Reserves? An audit by a 3rd party ensuring that a custodian holds the assets it claims to. A snapshot of all balances held is taken & aggregated into a Merkle tree, a privacy-friendly data structure encapsulating balances.”

As a data structure, a Merkle tree or Hash tree prompts data verification and synchronization. Therefore, it utilizes hash functions for data integrity and transparency purposes. 

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) prompted the proof-of-reserves trend after pointing out that it would propel the crypto exchange’s transparency about its digital asset holdings. He stated:

“All crypto exchanges should do merkle-tree proof-of-reserves. Banks run on fractional reserves. Crypto exchanges should not. Binance will start to do proof-of-reserves soon. Full transparency.”

Market analyst under the pseudonym Tajo Crypto said:

“After the incident with FTX, CZ Binance introduced proof-of-reserves to help users know exactly how exchanges are handling their funds and prevent bank runs. Many exchanges quickly embraced the proof-of-reserves concept and promised to be more transparent.”

Binance published its latest proof of assets, which includes over 125,000 Bitcoins and 9,900 Ethereum and 1,250,000,115 Tether tokens. Meanwhile, Crypot.com said its company will be publishing its audited proof of reserves, CEO Kris Marszalek said in a tweet, noting that transparency is more important than ever in this critical moment for the industry, according to Bloomberg.

The rain started beating FTX based on its lack of crypto reserve transparency. Therefore, the proof-of-reserves seeks to inform the general public, especially depositors, if deposits match user balances. 

Lucas Nuzzi, the head of research & development and CoinMetrics, acknowledged that FTX’s bailout of its research arm, Alameda, has come back to haunt the exchange. He said:

“I found evidence that FTX might have provided a massive bailout for Alameda in Q2 which now came back to haunt them. 40 days ago, 173 million FTT tokens worth over 4B USD became active on-chain. A rabbit hole appeared.”

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Source: LucasNuzzi

On his part, market insight provider Nic Carter believes proof of reserves coupled with proof of liability equates to proof of solvency. He pointed out:

“Proof of Reserves is the idea that custodial businesses holding cryptocurrency should create public facing attestations as to their reserves, matched up with a proof of user balances (liabilities). The equation is simple (in theory): Proof of Reserves + Proof of Liability = Proof of Solvency.”

Meanwhile, Binance has revealed that it will not proceed with its acquisition of FTX, Blockchain.News reported. 

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The First Crypto Bank in Puerto Rico Rolls Out Digital-Asset Custody Service

by Blockchain News

FV (Fintech Ventures) Bank, a global financial entity registered in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, has launched a digital-asset custody service for seamless safeguarding and interoperability of crypto and fiat, according to Bloomberg. 

The crypto custody feature will first support Bitcoin (BTC). Later on, Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC) will be incorporated in coming weeks, with plans to add more cryptocurrencies in the future. 

FV Bank finds itself in a rare playing field in the growing banking-meets-crypto industry, according to Steven Beattie.

The financial crime consulting and crypto risk leader at EY added:

“First movers are incredibly valuable. As a first mover you have a chance to change your competitive position across the industry. But being first creates some risk.”

Even though various cryptocurrency exchanges enable users to swap fiat for crypto, only a few US-regulated banks have this ability. 

Miles Paschini, FV Bank’s CEO, pointed out:

“Our primary goal since founding FV Bank has been to help drive blockchain technology innovation in financial services by offering institutional clients a technology solution seamlessly integrated into a regulated bank and trust model that offers traditional banking along with digital assets custody and settlement.”

FV Bank sees the digital-asset custody service as a stepping stone toward bridging the gap between the traditional financial sector and the crypto economy. Paschini added:

“We have also advanced best in class AML procedures for digital assets by combining traditional bank compliance functions with specialized blockchain analytics, to ensure we are positioned as a leader and role model for how banks can participate in the convergence of traditional financial services and the digital asset economy.”

Meanwhile, France-based BNP Paribas recently entered the crypto custody bandwagon, Blockchain.News reported.

As the second largest global bank in Europe, BNP Paribas partnered with Swiss-based crypto infrastructure firm Metaco to enable the offering of digital assets custody services to its customers. 

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MetaMask Launches Bridge Aggregator, Enabling to Move Tokens across Blockchains

by Blockchain News

Popular self-custodial wallet MetaMask has now launched a bridge aggregator allowing users to bridge across multiple blockchain networks.

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The Metamask bridge currently supports bridging limited to $10,000 per transfer of Ether and Wrapped Ether (wETH), major stablecoins, and native gas tokens. The bridge also supports major Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVM) such as Ethereum, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), and Polygon. Support for more EVM networks like Arbitrum and Optimism is said to be available in the future. 

In addition to the supported blockchain networks, the bridge feature also enables MetaMask users to move tokens from one blockchain network to another without researching to find and choose a reliable bridge. 

Out of the two layers of bridge providers: bridge aggregators, and individual aggregators, Metamask chose to integrate with two bridge aggregates, Socket and LI.FI. The crypto wallet stated that through these two bridge aggregators, it would support individual bridges starting with providers such as Connext, Hop, Celar cBridge, and Polygon Bridge.

The new bridge feature is live to all MetaMask users in the beta Portfolio dApp, a new decentralized application (DApp) launched in September. It allows users to have an overview of their cryptos and non-fungible token (NFT) in one place. 

The dApp’s feature includes  “watch any wallet” — a feature that allows users to add their offline or hardware wallet and a feature that allows users to add their friend’s ENS domain or public address to their watchlist. The Portfolio dApp currently supports assets from seven different networks: Ethereum, Optimism, BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, Fantom, Abritrum, and Avalanche. 

MetaMask has so far been introducing a handful of tools, making interactions between blockchain networks and tracking of assets more efficient. Earlier this month, the Non-custodial wallet provider launched a new Non-Fungible Token (NFT) portfolio tracking service powered by NFTBank, an NFT portfolio management tool and valuation engine.

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Crypto Market Cap Slumps Below $900B for the First Time Since Jan 2021

by Blockchain News

Many crypto investors anticipated that this month of November will re-chart similar history as last year when the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and the combined crypto market capitalization soared to its All-Time High (ATH).

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The opposite is exactly what has happened thus far as the market has retraced on its bullish part to pare off the gains it accrued from the start of the month as it went on a freefall over the past 48 hours.

For the first time since January 2021, the combined digital currency market capitalization has slumped below the $900 billion mark and is currently pegged at $874.74 billion.

The Bearish Market Trigger

The cryptocurrency industry was riled by reason of the implosion of the FTX Derivatives Exchange and the potential acquisition by its arch-rival, Binance Exchange. 

In reality, FTX had put up a very healthy facade all through the crypto winter, and is largely regarded as the lender of last resort as it came to the aid of embattled firms like BlockFi, and Voyager Digital.

The company notably earmarked billions of dollars to inject into acquisitions as unveiled earlier in the summer, and all these healthy sentiments vanished when Coindesk published a report showing a possible inflation of FTT valuation by Alameda Research. The report also highlighted how Sam Bankman-Fried has been lobbying against other industry players in the US.

Dissociating from such behavior, Binance CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said he will be selling his FTT bag, a move that fueled massive selloffs and withdrawals from the company. FTX notably requested Binance to come and buy up its assets so as to cushion the impacts of the liquidity crunch and both companies are currently conducting due diligence at this time.

Crypto Winter Part 2?

The speculations that the market has slid into another crypto winter have fueled more sell-offs in the industry than envisaged. From the current outlook, the industry cannot chart a similar growth as the past November as all focus will be hinged on preventing a cataclysmic ripple effect of the downfall of FTX at this time.

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Japanese Mobile Operator Partners with Accenture to Boost ESG Using Web3

by Blockchain News

NTT DOCOMO, the leading mobile operator in Japan, has collaborated with Accenture to propel the application and adoption of Web3 when tackling social issues. 

In a statement, the strategic partnership will promote environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, develop talent and create a secure Web3 platform. 

Comprising more than 84 million subscribers, NTT DOCOMO will avail its expertise in the telecommunication industry as well as its experience when dealing with society-wide issues.

On the other hand, Accenture, a global digital, cloud, and security services company, will develop an operational foundation for the Web3 initiatives.

Motoyuki Li, NTT DOCOMO’s president and CEO, pointed out:

“Web3 is the most impactful technological development since the Internet. DOCOMO, in collaboration with Accenture, will revolutionize social infrastructure by utilizing blockchain and building a safe and secure Web3 environment.”

Web3 is already being used for societal solutions in Japan. For instance, the government and companies are utilizing Web3 to streamline carbon credit markets meant to fight climate change.

The partnership between NTT DOCOMO and Accenture is meant to propel Japan’s quest to be a leading Web3 market. It also seeks to boost Web3 adoption globally. Li stated:

“We will build an environment where the power of creators and developers can come together. We are glad to be promoting the Japan-developed Web3, and we welcome individuals and companies to join us in the global development of Web3 services.”

Addressing societal issues touching on diversity, sustainability, and inclusion is vital. Atushi Egawa, a senior managing director at Accenture, sees Web3 as a stepping stone toward this objective.

Egawa added:

“Our collaboration with NTT DOCOMO is designed to create an industry platform leveraging blockchain and other digital technologies.”

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently established a Crypto Sustainability Coalition to investigate the capability of Web3 in tackling climate change, Blockchain.News reported.

The WEF noted that blockchain tools would propel transparency in the worldwide carbon credits market, whereas crypto mining would trigger renewable microgrids through off-peak demand and decentralization.

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Bitcoin (BTC) $ 27,147.27 1.19%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,901.17 1.74%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 94.40 0.09%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 114.43 0.80%