Bitget Launches Blockchain4Youth Initiative

Bitget, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, has announced a new corporate social responsibility project, Blockchain4Youth, aimed at promoting cryptocurrency education among the younger generation. The initiative will allocate $10 million over five years towards providing blockchain courses and certifications through Bitget Academy and hosting campus lectures in partnership with universities worldwide. Bitget will also collaborate with other leading blockchain firms to incubate innovative projects by young entrepreneurs and host U30 (Under the age of 30) hackathons to identify the most promising ones.

Blockchain4Youth will commence this month with a series of campus lectures on Web3 held in universities across Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand. Bitget Academy courses will also be available around the same time. The exchange is open to partnerships with educators for this novel initiative.

Bitget has around 8 million users across more than 100 countries. According to a recent Bitget survey involving more than 250,000 respondents, 46% of millennials across major economies such as the United States, China, Japan, Germany, Nigeria, and Indonesia currently own cryptocurrencies compared to 25% of Gen X, 21% of Gen Z, and 8% of baby boomers. Furthermore, 27% of millennials and 36% of Gen Z respondents said they considered cryptocurrency regulation an important factor when voting for political candidates.

This initiative comes as Binance Charity pledged to provide over 30,000 scholarships in 2023. The organization says it has committed $23 million to 32 Web3 social projects since its inception in 2018. At the time of the announcement, over 82,000 applicants were interested in joining the next cohort, equating to an acceptance rate of about 37%. The success of such initiatives highlights the growing interest and importance of cryptocurrency education and innovation in the blockchain industry.

As cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology continue to gain mainstream adoption, Bitget’s Blockchain4Youth initiative seeks to address the need for greater understanding and knowledge among young people. The project aims to provide a platform for the next generation of entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions and drive the growth of the industry forward. With its commitment to corporate social responsibility, Bitget is setting an example for other blockchain firms to follow, and this initiative could pave the way for further investment in cryptocurrency education and innovation.

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Paxos Identifies Key Opportunities During Crypto Winter

Blockchain infrastructure provider Paxos has published a report aimed at helping the cryptocurrency community navigate the current market conditions during the crypto winter. The Paxos Crypto Winter Report 2023 identifies several key opportunities for crypto projects, including seeking solutions and partnerships.

According to the report, those who view the crypto winter as a “season for bridge-building” will come out ahead of the others. This means partnering with businesses that implement technologies that aim to meet the “real-world needs of the financial sector.” By doing so, projects can position themselves for success once the market recovers.

The report also emphasizes the usefulness of stablecoins, one of the crypto use cases that have “consistently proven itself over time.” Clara Medalie, the director of research at the digital asset data provider Kaiko, explains that stablecoins have been very useful for the entire industry. However, there is still room for improvement in terms of transparency over the reserves of these stablecoins.

Medalie believes that greater transparency is coming: “We need more transparency over the reserves of these stablecoins, which I think we’re going to see.” This will help to ensure that stablecoins remain a viable option for the industry moving forward.

While stablecoins may be an important tool for the industry, there are differing opinions on their regulation. The CEO and executive director of the Stellar Development Foundation, Denelle Dixon, believes that regulating stablecoins may be necessary to maintain a strong dollar globally. Dixon argues that a USD stablecoin is the “way to see that happen.”

On the other hand, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) recently published a working paper that deems stablecoins a less preferable form of tokenized money. The report likens stablecoins to bearer instruments that were prevalent during the era of “free banking” in the United States. While the BIS recognizes the potential benefits of stablecoins, it ultimately concludes that they pose significant risks to financial stability.

Despite differing opinions on stablecoins, the Paxos Crypto Winter Report 2023 emphasizes the importance of seeking solutions and partnerships during the current market conditions. By doing so, projects can position themselves for success once the market recovers.

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Algorand Foundation Expands its Presence in India

In India, the Algorand Foundation has announced a number of new partnerships, one of which is a cooperation with educational institutions to establish instructional programs that would assist in the expansion of Web3 in the nation.

According to Anil Kakani, who was recently appointed to the position of Algorand’s national head for India, the collaborations seek to generate a sustained effect. He elaborated as follows: “We are poised to take center stage in India and throughout the globe to power world-changing solutions to increase access to financial services, healthcare, education, and so many other essential applications.” This statement was made in reference to the country of India.

In addition to the educational market, the organization is actively pursuing opportunities inside the country’s newly established businesses. A relationship between Algorand and T-Hub, an innovation hub with headquarters in Hyderabad, was also revealed. According to Srinivas Rao Mahankali, the Chief Executive Officer of T-Hub, the cooperation would assist local businesses in gaining access to finance from all around the globe and in scaling their initiatives on a global level.

Additionally, the Algorand Foundation has joined forces with the Clinton Foundation to become a technology partner for their recently established Global Climate Resilience Fund. Local companies will get assistance in connecting with carbon markets and monetizing carbon credits thanks to the fund’s contribution. Seed funding and business acceleration programs will be provided by the company to female-owned and -operated companies in an effort to expand access to financial markets. “I am pleased to be back in India, and particularly to witness the acceptance and excitement by people throughout the nation for technology that can so drastically and positively improve their quality of life,” said Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation. “I am thrilled to be back in India.”

Warden said that the collaborations would assist in bringing blockchain closer to its full potential and will assist the local ecosystem in creating an economy that is more welcoming to everybody.

The Algorand Foundation has been working hard to significantly expand its influence around the world. The business made the announcement on the 13th of December 2022 that it had been selected to provide assistance for a bank and insurance guarantees platform in Italy.

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StarkWare partners with Chainlink

An impending agreement between the blockchain scaling technology firm StarkWare and Chainlink Labs will result in the addition of Oracle services, data feeds, and price feeds to the StarkNet ecosystem. This relationship will be established in the near future.

Because of the relationship, StarkWare will take part in Chainlink’s Scale programme, and the price feeds for StarkNet’s testnet will come from Chainlink. In addition, StarkNet tokens will be used to fund some operating expenditures for Chainlink oracle nodes. This access to Chainlink oracle services and data feeds will be provided to Starket developers via the usage of StarkNet tokens.

Chainlink is a decentralised oracle network that enables smart contracts to access off-chain data sources, application programming interfaces (APIs), and payment systems in a secure manner. It makes it possible for smart contracts to interact with data and events that take place in the real world, which in turn makes it possible for them to be triggered by data that originates from outside sources.

The network makes use of decentralised nodes, which are entrusted with the responsibility of delivering smart contracts with data that can be relied on and is secure. In exchange, these nodes are rewarded with payments in Chainlink’s native LINK currency. The data that is supplied to smart contracts by node operators has been checked and calculated by those node operators before being submitted to smart contracts. This verifies that the information is accurate and may be relied upon.

According to a statement that was released by StarWare, an economically feasible framework has been built between StarkNet and Chainlink. It is also hoped that the integration would provide developers working on StarkNet with the basic infrastructure needed to build “highly performant, more sophisticated, and secure smart contract applications.”

Oracles are an important part of the system, and their value can be seen in a wide range of applications because to the flexibility they provide. Knowledge about the current value of assets or NFTs is required for a significant number of applications. Oracles are often compared to extensive toolkits due to their breadth of functionality.

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Unstoppable Domains Partners with Fantom to Make Crypto Transactions Easier

To eliminate the pain points associated with cryptos like misunderstanding, trepidation, and fear, Unstoppable Domains has collaborated with Fantom to make transactions simpler and easier.

Fantom, a layer-1 blockchain platform, expects the strategic partnership to trigger a frictionless and unified crypto ecosystem. Per the announcement:

“Unstoppable Domains will support the Fantom network, and allow Fantom’s more than 3.5 million users to benefit from the simplified movement of digital assets via human-readable wallet addresses.”

Unstoppable Domains is a top platform for Web3 digital identity whose NFT domains act as a payment hub comprising human-readable addresses.

 

Through the partnership, the Fantom network will benefit from simplified crypto transactions, user verification, and identity ownership. 

 

Michael Kong, Fantom CEO, noted:

“Unstoppable Domains has been at the forefront of decentralized domains for years, and is a pioneer in the Web3 space. We are thrilled to work alongside Unstoppable Domains to bring these domain names to the Fantom Network, and to further simplify the movement of digital assets for our users.”

On his part, Sandy Carter, SVP and channel chief of Unstoppable Domains stated:

“The number of use cases for NFT domains continues to grow. We are excited to work with Fantom Foundation to help improve crypto payments, and bolster the wider Web3 landscape.”

The Fantom network recently incorporated automatic audits into decentralized applications (dApps).

 

Meanwhile, Unstoppable Domains recently introduced an easier way for users to purchase cryptocurrencies on MoonPay, Blockchain.News reported. 

 

The partnership between MoonPay and Unstoppable Domains is intended to resolve the loss of crypto funds once sent to the wrong addresses because it is nearly impossible to recover. Furthermore, the collaboration also intended to make the onboarding of mass users into the Web3.0 space more realistic.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Major crypto firms and groups form coalition aimed at promoting ‘market integrity’

Several cryptocurrency exchanges and advocacy groups across different countries have banded together to form a coalition intended to fight market manipulation.

In a Monday announcement, market surveillance firm Solidus Labs and exchanges including Bitstamp, Coinbase, BitMEX, and CrossTower said they would be launching the Crypto Market Integrity Coalition, or CMIC, asking all other companies involved in the crypto space to follow their example. According to the CMIC, members must pledge to encourage “a fair digital asset marketplace to combat market abuse and manipulation and promote public and regulatory confidence” in crypto.

The group’s 17 founding members includes U.S.-based crypto advocacy group Chamber of Digital Commerce, United Kingdom-based self-regulatory trade association CryptoUK, and international think tank Global Digital Finance. In addition, crypto data provider CryptoCompare, Anchorage Digital, the first crypto firm to receive a charter from the national bank regulator in the United States, and Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, have joined the coalition.

CMIC’s pledge includes a commitment to “maintain fair and orderly digital asset markets and prevent market abuse.” The group said it planned to eventually share its own research into crypto as well as establish a dialogue with regulators and consider a data-sharing and shared-surveillance framework.

“Harmonizing a broad global approach to digital assets and competition in the digital currency space race, can improve U.S. competitiveness, security and lower fundamental costs for basic financial access,” said Circle chief strategy officer and head of global policy Dante Disparte. “CMIC’s pledge brings leading industry participants together to advance market integrity standards.”

According to the CMIC website, the pledge asks that members agree to the following:

“Regardless of regulatory requirements, market activity should be reviewed and monitored on a reasonable ongoing basis for purposes of detecting and eliminating Market Manipulation and unfair market abuses. Clear instances of fraud and manipulation are illegal, and we will commit to preventing these activities to the best of our ability.”

Related: Binance denies allegations of market manipulation

Crypto firms and industry leaders have formed other groups aimed at addressing challenges in mainstream adoption and between regulators. In September 2020, Square — now Block — started a consortium aimed at pooling crypto- and blockchain-related patents to “defend against patent aggressors and trolls.” In February 2021, Chainlink, Aave, Messari and others launched the GoodFi alliance to focus on furthering education and research into decentralized finance.