Messenger app LINE is considering adding cryptocurrencies to its payment options and officially launching its native LINK token (LN) in March.
Per its announcement, users can use “the LINK at some LINE Pay online merchants during a trial period from March to December 2022 in Japan.”
Although users can choose both LN for payment on the Line pay software, the token and Chainlink (LINK) are two different cryptocurrencies.
The LN was officially launched in 2018 based on its own blockchain network, LINE Blockchain. Users can pay commissions through LINK or LINE Pay accounts or bank accounts when trading crypto assets.
According to Coinmarketcap, LN was trading at $144.80 during the intraday, up over 20% in the past 7 days.
In August 2020, LINE launched a new blockchain digital wallet that can be used to manage various crypto assets.
The digital wallet, dubbed BITMAX, can be used to combine digital tokens coming from different blockchain services into a single wallet.
The company said it will connect the link token to LINE Pay as a payment solution, test the token’s in reality, and increase the convenience and number of payment options for users.
LINE Pay Corporation is the operator of FinTech services for the LINE Pay digital wallet and LINE messaging app.
As reported by Blockchain.News on October 20, LINE was developing a platform to aid Asian central banks in their pursuit of central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
Users of Japanese messaging giant LINE will soon be able to use the app’s native token for payments at select online merchants in a limited trial.
In a Tuesday announcement, the LINE Corporation said that starting on March 16, users would have the option of paying with native LINK token (LN) — not to be confused with Chainlink (LINK) — at any of LINE Pay’s online merchants. The trial period, which will run until Dec. 26, is aimed at testing real-life use cases for the tokens in addition to increasing the convenience and number of payment options for users.
Source: Mikhail Nilov, Pexels
LINE Pay said it was considering adding other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to its payments options in the future, in addition to strengthening its partnerships with blockchain firms. Data from Statista shows there were 86 million monthly active LINE users as of the third quarter of 2020 — more than 68% of the country’s population of 126 million.
Launched in August 2018, the LN token is currently trading at $142.78, having risen by roughly 22% in the last 7 days. The token has been available for trading on crypto exchange Bitmax following an August 2020 agreement. As of the end of 2021, there were 30 crypto exchange businesses operating in Japan that had been approved by the country’s Financial Services Agency.
Related:Japan’s financial regulators may propose legislation in 2022 restricting stablecoin issuance
A consortium of Japan-based financial institutions and major corporations announced in November that they planned to trial and launch a yen-based digital currency in fiscal 2022. The country’s central bank, the Bank of Japan, is still in the research phase of developing a digital yen, expecting to complete its first trials by March.
An altcoin powering a protocol to improve traditional application programming interface (API) technology for the Web 3.0 economy is buzzing after a sudden listing by top crypto exchange Binance.
In a new blog post, Binance says that the Ethereum token API3 (API3) will be available in the Bitcoin (BTC), Binance USD (BUSD) and Tether (USDT) trading pairs.
The native token governs the API3 decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and can also be added to the protocol’s insurance staking pool to earn rewards.
API3 is a decentralized oracle network competing with Chainlink (LINK). Oracles function by connecting real-world information with blockchains to execute smart contracts.
News of the Binance announcement sent API3 skyrocketing in two bursts, the first taking it from $4.20 to $4.86, and then to a peak of $5.54 after a slight pullback. The altcoin has since corrected to $4.79 but remains up over 10% on the day.
Singapore-based digital asset exchange Crypto.com (CRO) has also added two new altcoins to its growing roster.
First up is decentralized finance yield optimizer Beefy Finance (BIFI). Crypto.com says that users can purchase BIFI using USD, EUR, GBP and nearly two dozen other fiat currencies.
Beefy Finance went on a rally earlier in the week, rising 23.6% from $1,445.75 to $1,787.89 in just two days before witnessing a cascade of price drops. BIFI is currently down 17.02% on the day and is exchanging hands at $1,487.42.
Also getting the green light from CRO is Keep3rV1 (KP3R), the native token of the Keep3r Network.
Blockchain keepers are external sources that provide development or task execution for projects. KP3R seeks to bring together people in need of keepers with those who provide them.
Keep3rV1 started 2022 on an uptrend, working its way from under $1000 to as high as $1,881.20 on January 16th. The altcoin is currently on its second leg lower this week and is trading for $1,211.70, down 18.45% on the day.
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The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has taken a beating over the past day, with several blue-chip tokens suffering significant losses.
UNI, the governance token of decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap is down 11.8%, slipping to an intraday low of $15.29, according to CoinGecko.
The token lost 16% of its value in the past two weeks and is currently 65.9% off its all-time high of $44.9 seen in May last year.
LINK, the native token of DeFi’s leading oracle project Chainlink, has meanwhile slipped to a two-week low, losing 7.1% over the day and almost 20% in the past week.
Speaking to Decrypt earlier this month, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov revealed that the project is planning to add a staking option for LINK holders later this year.
However, the initial enthusiasm, which took LINK above $28 last week, is seemingly cooling off, with the token trading at $21.56 by press time.
CRV, the token powering Curve Finance, a decentralized trading platform focused on stablecoins and like-valued assets, is similarly down 7% since Tuesday, changing hands at $4.32 at press time.
CRV surged above $6.50 at the start of the year; however, the token’s price retraced since then significantly, losing almost 30% in the past two weeks, as data from CoinGecko shows.
Loopring bucks DeFi downtrend
Elsewhere, LRC, the native token of the Layer 2-based crypto exchange Loopring, seems to be defying the downtrend, going up 3.7% over the day to a daily high of $1.19.
However, this will come as little consolation to longer-term LRC holders as the token is down 20.2% over the last seven days and as much as 42.5% down in the past two weeks.
Looking at the bigger picture, data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols has sunk by roughly $25 billion since the start of the year, currently standing at $226.92 billion.
One crypto whale just embarked on an altcoin shopping spree to the tune of $14.1 million.
The blockchain-transaction tracker WhaleStats reveals that the Ethereum whale wallet named Light bought 642,999 Decentraland (MANA) for $1,845,409.
Decentraland is a 3D virtual reality world that runs on Ethereum. The 43rd-ranked crypto asset is priced at $2.81.
The 3rd-richest whale wallet also made two purchases of virtual world The Sandbox, the first for 426,000 SAND tokens at $2,044,800.
Light’s second foray into The Sandbox gobbled up 1,703,978 coins for a jaw-dropping $8,179,094.
At time of writing, The Sandbox is the 42nd-ranked cryptocurrency and trading for $4.41.
The whale wallet also loaded up on Covalent (CQT), buying 3,090,000 tokens for $2,039,319.
Covalent offers an application programming interface suite that allows developers to pull data from different blockchains. CQT is currently valued at $0.63.
Light is continuing a shopping spree that began last week when it scooped up over $1.1 million worth of another gaming token, the play-to-earn blockchain platform Gala (GALA).
WhaleStats reported that Light made a large purchase of layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution OMG Foundation (OMG), formerly OMG Network, shelling out over $2.45 million for 399,999 OMG tokens.
The whale wallet also spent a whopping $25,170,000 for a million LINK, the native token of decentralized oracle network Chainlink.
But Light’s biggest catch of all was 2,000 of the Bitcoin-pegged token Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), worth a heart-stopping $86.4 million at the time.
Currently, the Light wallet has a total combined value exceeding $4.3 billion.
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One mega-whale just went on an altcoin shopping spree to the tune of $30.6 million.
The blockchain-transaction tracker WhaleStats reveals that the Ethereum whale wallet named Light bought 399,999 OMG for $2,451,999.
The OMG Foundation, formerly known as OMG Network, is layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution that integrates with mainstream wallets. The 122nd-ranked crypto asset, OMG, is priced at $5.95.
The 4th-richest whale wallet also purchased a cool million worth of decentralized oracle network Chainlink (LINK) for a total of $25,170,000.
At time of writing, Chainlink is the 17th-ranked cryptocurrency and trading for $25.19.
The wallet also loaded up on popular meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB), buying a staggering 58.9 billion tokens for $1,906,592.
Shiba Inu has been fighting its way back from monthly lows on January 9th and is currently valued at $0.00003.
The last altcoin on Light’s to-do list was play-to-earn blockchain gaming platform Gala (GALA). The whale tucked away 3,260,000 GALA tokens for $1,137,691.
Gala is having a rough start to the new year, having fallen from $0.45 to its current valuation of $0.32.
WhaleStats reports that Light also made a huge purchase of the Bitcoin-pegged token Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), dropping a mind-boggling $86,428,000 on 2,000 WBTC.
Wrapped Bitcoin is currently worth $42,849, the same as top crypto Bitcoin (BTC).
Finally, WhaleStats tweeted that SHIB has become the most popular token among the leading Ethereum wallets with 15.75% of all holdings.
“Just in: SHIB Shibtoken had come back to be [the] biggest token position by dollar value among the top 1000 ETH whale wallets.”
Source: WhaleStats
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The richest Ethereum whales across the globe are gobbling up two surging altcoins at a rapid rate as most of the crypto market continues to sputter.
WhaleStats reports that in the past week the top 1000-largest Ethereum addresses have purchased Polygon (MATIC) and Chainlink (LINK) more than any other crypto assets after Ethereum (ETH) and the stablecoins USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT).
Polygon is a blockchain scaling solution designed to enable the widescale adoption of decentralized apps on the Ethereum blockchain. Its native token, MATIC, is currently trading at $2.33, up more than 17% from where it was priced one month ago.
In one particularly large Polygon transaction, an Ethereum whale purchased more than $15.2 million worth of MATIC in a single trade. The average MATIC purchase among the top 1000 ETH whales is about $530,000, according to WhaleStats.
This week, LINK also flipped Litecoin (LTC) as the most traded token among the top 1000 ETH wallets, according to WhaleStats.
Chainlink is a decentralized oracle service connecting smart contracts and allowing any blockchain to access real-world data. The network’s native token, LINK, is trading at $26.45 at time of writing, up more than 34.7% from where it was priced one month ago.
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Popular crypto strategist and trader Benjamin Cowen is looking at the state of Chainlink (LINK) to see whether the decentralized oracle network is ready to ignite its uptrend.
In a new strategy session, Cowen tells his 685,000 YouTube subscribers that Chainlink is the “light” when the crypto markets are bearish.
According to Cowen, Chainlink’s performance is inversely correlated to the price action of Bitcoin (BTC).
“One of the things that we asked ourselves back in 2019 and 2020 was that we know LINK does well when Bitcoin is bearish and when Bitcoin is going sideways. But we do not know what LINK will do when Bitcoin is bullish. We now have the question answered. If we didn’t know before, all questions are put aside now. If Bitcoin is bullish, LINK/Bitcoin is most likely going to bleed.”
Cowen also says that with Bitcoin pulling back over 40% from its all-time high around $69,000, Chainlink is now in a position to start its bull cycle against the leading cryptocurrency (LINK/BTC).
“You can see that we actually have broken out (LINK/BTC). We have broken out to the upside. If we look at it on a log scale, that’s what it looks like… So even if you looked at the market like that, you could argue that we’ve still broken out even on a log scale. Now, of course, we would like to see weekly closes. We don’t want it to just be a wick.”
Source: Benjamin Cowen/YouTube
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Chainlink, which securely brings real-world data to the world of smart contracts, has come a long way sinceOctober 2018, whenDecryptfirst came across the decentralized oracle network provider at Berlin’s annualWeb Summit.
With smart contracts being a foundation of DeFi (decentralized finance), oracles that enable them to securely execute based on verifiable real-world events—such as a cryptocurrency reaching a certain value, or a measured lack of rainfall affecting an insurance payout—are crucial.
Chainlink started out by providing cryptocurrency price data, from a handful of sources, to DeFi protocols like lending platformAave. But these days, it consists of a lot more.
The ecosystem now boasts over1,000 project integrations, with700 oracle networkssecuringover $75 billion in value—up tenfold from 2020—and accessing over one billion data points. Chainlink also saw athreefold increasein hackathon participants, and a doubling in public usage of Chainlink Github software repositories—often cited as a metric of adoption.
All that growth has helped LINK rise 52% over the past 12 months. During that time,AccuWeatherand theAssociated Pressboth partnered with Chainlink for data verification, and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt joined as anadvisor, just the latest signs of big tech and media taking note of Chainlink’s growing applications.
In an exclusive interview withDecrypt,Chainlink CEO Sergey Nazarov shared what’s coming next. Most notable for DeFi degens: staking is coming, something Chainlink had not confirmed elsewhere beyond a mention in its January 1roadmap video.
Staking LINK
Chainlink will launch staking in the first half of 2022, allowing LINK holders to secure the network by locking up some of their LINK into the protocol, and earning rewards.
It’s a feature the “LINK marines,” as Chainlink fans are called, have clamored for: “‘Just give us staking man, like, just fork it like the other people do,’” says Nazarov in imitation. But oracle networks, he explains, “are a new type of consensus, so it’s not as simple as just copying somebody else’s staking and launching it. The real challenge is coming up with a staking system for a completely new type of consensus.”
Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, oracle networks are a unique form of decentralized computing. An oracle network is not a blockchain. “We don’t make blocks,” Nazarov says. “We make consensus on hundreds of oracle networks about price data, weather data, and computations.”
Chainlink has been working on a staking solution for years, and it’sApril 2021 white paperlaid out how it would work. Nazarov says the team is now finally satisfied with the security and scalability of the system they’ve designed, which has been audited and is currently in test mode. But he declines to specify when in 2022 it might launch.
Branching out beyond data
While Chainlink’s data capabilities formed the focus of its scaling efforts in 2021, the past year has also seen the oracle provider launch additional capabilities for its networks—most notably random number generation (in cryptography, virtual randomness function orVRF) and its smart contract serviceKeepers, which enables the automation of increasingly complex instructions.
VRF has already received over 2.5 million randomness requests. Throughout 2021, oracle networks have been adopted not only in DeFi, but in centralized finance, gaming, insurance, and NFTs. Hot NFT projects likeBored Ape Yacht ClubandAxie Infinityuse VRF; DeFi staking servicePooltogetheremploys both Keepers and VRF—both are part of the startup’s burgeoning network computation abilities, which the team plans to build out in the coming year.
Chainlink is also set to launchCCIP, its global standard for messaging and communication between blockchains. CCIP seeks to do what TCP/IP did for the internet: connect all the blockchains into one “internet of blockchains,” Nazarov says, via cross-chain smart contracts.
“There are no secure systems and secure ways that people have so far done that at scale,” Nazarov says. The project has collaborators includingCelsius, and tens of billions of dollars have already been pledged, according to Chainlink. But although CCIP will launch in 2022, it will take another year to fully build out—a strategy that’s becoming a pattern for Chainlink.
Chainlink and Google, and growth in 2022
Chainlink is no stranger to integrating with big-name projects, beginning with FedEx, FlightStats, and Swift in 2018.
But industry insiders view securing Eric Schmidt as an advisor as its biggest coup yet. The relationship with Chainlink came about when Nazarov heard through mutual friends that Schmidt, who served as chairman and CEO of Google for 10 years, was interested in oracles, and viewed them as a potential “truth machine”— a way to provide definitive guarantees about an event.
Schmidt is acting as a technical advisor and helping to build the startup out in “a highly scalable way,” said Nazarov, alongside other Chainlink advisors including DocuSign co-founder Tom Gonser and former LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner.
Chainlink’s plan in the next year is to “continue to scale at this kind of insane vertical rate that we’ve had,” Nazarov says. In 2021, the Chainlink team grew from 70 to 350. Next year will see that total more than double.
In 2022,Nazarov predictsmany more banks, insurance providers, and other institutions will embrace DeFi, but also build out their own systems to launch their own smart contracts. Chainlink can offer those enterprises an on-ramp into DeFi without them having to integrate with protocols.
“Enterprises don’t want to make tokens,” Nazarov declares. “They want to make derivatives contracts, insurance contracts, supply chain contracts—and without oracles, you can’t do that.”
If he’s right, then Chainlink is on course for another growth spurt in 2022, even if its future as Schmidt’s ambitious “truth machine” remains a work in progress.
Chainlink (LINK) is starting to regain important levels it needs to recover after a rough 2021, according to crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen.
Cowen tells his 680,000 YouTube subscribers that traders should pay attention to whether LINK is above or below its “bull market support band,” a technical indicator that’s a combination of the 20-week simple moving average (SMA) and the 21-week exponential moving average (EMA).
Chainlink’s bull market support band on Tuesday ranged from $25 to $26.40, according to the analyst. LINK surpassed that level on Wednesday and is trading at $26.43 at time of writing.
LINK is a cryptocurrency designed to incentivize the use of Chainlink’s oracle network which connects smart contracts and allows any blockchain to access real-world data.
Cowen notes that LINK’s valuation against Ethereum (ETH) has tanked since August 2020. The analyst predicts Chainlink can “claw its way out of this brutal downtrend” against ETH, as long as it cracks the LINK/ETH bull market support band.
“The key thing to watch is can it break the bull market support band?
Can it break that and at least stop the bleeding?I mean go sideways at the very least.
Just stop the bleeding and show that the opportunity cost of it is not too high.”
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