Category: Crypto News

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Basic Attention Token Crypto News Google

Brave Search Engine Launches to the Public: Fully Private, Anonymous, and Transparent

Brave, the company behind the popular privacy-focused web browser, has launched a public beta of its own search engine, Brave Search. The search engine promises to be fully private, anonymous, and transparent.

The Brave browser, first released in 2016, now has over 32 million active users per month and has become a popular choice for those who value privacy above everything else. Supporters of the Brave browser are excited by the release of the new search engine beta, which will become the default search engine in the browser later in the year.

The Brave New World

The Brave browser features privacy and security features such as in-built ad blocking, private windows, and password manager. The team also claims it is three times faster than Chrome out of the box. But perhaps its most innovative feature is the ability for users to earn Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) by viewing privacy-respecting ads. At this time, it is not clear whether using Brave Search will reward users with BAT.

The ‘Real Alternative’ to Google

Brave lion logo

Brave Search doesn’t track you or your queries. Ever. Private, independent, and transparent, Brave Search is the real alternative to Google. On mobile, desktop, and anywhere the web takes you. Search private. Search with confidence.

Brave [source]

Brave Search will also feature an independent index of the internet, which is a bold (or brave, if you will) move considering most new search engines merely repackage results from Google and Bing.

Comparison between Brave search and other popular search engines.

The Underdog vs Big Tech

Google has a monopoly when it comes to web browser and search engine market share. Currently, over 90% of searches go through Google. Not even Microsoft’s Bing has been able to make any meaningful inroads in the search domain, with just above 2% market share. It would be an ambitious task indeed if the Brave team were trying to overthrow the king, but it seems it is simply trying to present an appealing, private alternative to the big tech company.

Brave Team Keeping Busy

It appears that the Brave team has been very busy this year. It has also been building a Decentralised Exchange, which will feature benefits for BAT holders, such as discounts on transactions. Now could be a good time to be bullish on Brave.

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Crypto News Cryptocurrency Law NFTs

Sale of NFT Version of Jay-Z’s Debut Album Stopped by Courts

Jay-Z performing

A temporary disposition by New York legal authorities has stopped the attempted sale of an NFT version of US rapper Jay-Z’s first album, Reasonable Doubt.

The NFT auction has been reportedly interrupted after Roc-A-Fella Records filed a complaint against its co-founder Damon Dash.

Record Label Ownership Rights Unclear

The album is owned by Roc-A-Fella Records, established in 1996 by Damon Dash, Jay-Z and Kareem Burke, and released the same year.

Now, according to the record label, Damon Dash was allegedly attempting to auction off an NFT version of the album – alongside its copyright – on an NFT marketplace named SuperFarm, co-founded by crypto YouTube personality EllioTrades.

It’s unclear whether the owners of the NFT marketplace knew about any of the controversy – or even if the alleged auction attempt actually took place. However, according to Roc-A-Fella Records, another listing on a different marketplace has also been attempted.

The claims against Dash include breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, and conversion. Roc-A-Fella also stated that the album had already been minted as an NFT.

The bottom line is simple: Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own. By attempting such a sale, Dash has converted a corporate asset and has breached his fiduciary duties.

Statement from Roc-A-Fella Records

The Attempted Sale ‘Never Happened’: Dash

Dash, however, stated that the sale attempt never happened, and that he was only attempting to sell off his personal stake in the company.

There wasn’t an announcement at all. Don’t you think that if I made an announcement that I’m selling Reasonable Doubt you would’ve heard about it? What they’re accusing me of is minting a whole album. So if it’s already minted, it’s already on the blockchain, that means it’s already there. [The sale] never happened, and they know it never happened.

Damon Dash

A court hearing is set for July 1 in which Roc-A-Fella will be claiming “nominal damages, punitive damages, the cost of the lawsuit and attorney fees, and the enjoinment of Dash from selling any interest in the album”.

Jay-Z is not the first rapper to show interest in NFTs – Eminem’s “ShadyCon” was announced earlier this year.

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Crypto News Dogecoin Market Analysis

Cryptos Are Plummeting and DOGE Bulls are Being Hit the Hardest

The crypto market is plummeting once again and Doge bulls are among those suffering the most. Dogecoin has crashed all the way to US$0.16, down from an all-time high of US$0.74 on May 8.

The most recent drop in the crypto market seems to be in response to China’s most recent crackdown on trading and mining. Of course, this is not the first time China has tried to “ban Bitcoin”, but because an enormous amount of Bitcoin mining has been based there, news of regulations and restrictions always has a big impact on the market.

The Big Short

However, some analysts – such as ‘Big Short’ investor Michael Burry, who famously bet against the housing market before the Global Financial Crisis – argue that the crypto market has been due for a crash for a while.

All hype/speculation is doing is drawing in retail before the mother of all crashes … When crypto falls from trillions, or meme stocks fall from tens of billions, #MainStreet losses will approach the size of countries. History ain’t changed.

Michael Burry

Doge Bulls Among the Hardest Hit in Recent Crash

Dogecoin crashes to 16 US cents, its lowest point since April 23

It seems that the recent NASCAR Dogecar crash foreshadowed the losses that were to come for the Dogecoin Army. Dogecoin, one of the “meme stocks” that Burry refers to, plunged to 16 US cents, the lowest it has traded since April 23. Dogecoin peaked at 74 US cents on May 8, the same day Elon Musk went on Saturday Night Live to spruik the coin.

Since then, Dogecoin has steadily dropped, losing a huge portion of its former market cap.

Traders Are Frustrated

During this most recent crash, many traders have been taking their frustration out on Reddit and Twitter, where there are large and active crypto communities.

The Dogecoin community has largely remained positive (or blindly optimistic, depending on how you look at it), arguing that this drop in price is a fantastic opportunity to buy more of their favourite coin.

Praying to the Dogefather

It seems though that many within the Dogecoin domain believe that one tweet from Elon Musk is going to reverse the trend and pump Doge to the moon. The problem with “to the moon” narratives is that the price target is ambiguous and ever-changing, based on greed. Something the Dogecoin Army might soon have to consider is that perhaps the 20,000% gains Dogecoin has seen in the past six months was the moon shot they had been calling for.

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Crypto News Institutions Investing

PayPal and Visa Bet on Blockchain Capital’s US$300 Million Fund

Blockchain Capital, one of the oldest venture capital firms focused on crypto technology, has secured US$300 million in funding with high-profile partners PayPal and Visa.

Blockchain Capital announced the close of Blockchain Capital V, LP, a fund heavily oversubscribed at its US$300 million hard cap, which saw the participation of many strategic investors, pension funds and major university endowments.

Payment Giants Investing in Crypto Companies

Blockchain Capital is a leading venture firm in the crypto industry and has previously worked with several high-profile crypto companies such as Ripple, Kraken, Coinbase, and Anchorage. On June 21, the firm -together with Morgan Stanley Tactical Value – led a US$48 million Series B funding round for Securitize, a Coinbase-backed asset tokenisation platform.

We are incredibly honoured to welcome a world-class group of investors into Fund V who appreciate the value of a firm dedicated to a single industry. As founders ourselves, we know how hard it is to build companies, protocols and, indeed, a whole new industry.

Blockchain Capital co-founder and managing partner Bart Stephens

The Fund V will be focused on DeFi (Decentralised) and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) startups while avoiding the assets themselves. The firm has the decentralised NFT marketplace OpenSea as part of its portfolio.

PayPal’s Head of Crypto, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, said that investing in Blockchain Capital’s new fund allows it to connect with the entrepreneurs leading the change for the DeFi world:

PayPal is committed to fostering an ecosystem of companies making digital currencies more accessible, useful and secure. Investing in Blockchain Capital’s new fund allows us to engage with the entrepreneurs driving the future of the decentralised economy and the new wave of financial services.

Jose Fernandez da Ponte

The firm said PayPal, Visa and other Fund V investors will take part in its strategic partnership program.

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News

Michael Saylor Executes Corporate Treasury Strategy and Buys the Dip

Last week, MicroStrategy made headlines after it announced that it had closed a US$500 million offering in senior secured debt for the purpose of acquiring Bitcoin, in addition to raising $1.5 billion to buy even more. A short week later and the move has now officially been implemented.

Michael Saylor, nicknamed “Saylor Moon” by the Bitcoin community, made the announcement via Twitter:

Mixed Reactions

With MicroStrategy now holding over 0.5% of Bitcoin’s entire market capitalisation, the announcement has elicited the usual response from Bitcoin permabulls and permabears alike.

Cryptographer and Blockstream CEO Adam Back commented:

Diversification is for those without an investment thesis (paraphrasing Buffett).

Twitter

Others had a more humorous take:

Twitter

As Bitcoin’s price dropped on the news of China banning exchanges, Bitcoin sceptic Peter Schiff was quick to note:

That’s pretty bearish that you already bought all that #Bitcoin and the price kept dropping anyway.

Unsurprisingly, Bitcoin Twitter responded with a flurry of comments relating to gold’s underperformance over the past 12 months with memes ranging from the obscene to the hilarious:

Twitter

Who Else Has Been Buying Bitcoin?

Despite a drop in momentum over the past six months, the narrative in this Bitcoin cycle has been about growing institutional adoption.

If you’re interested in following the latest developments in this space, be sure to check out our Crypto Institutional Purchases List 2021, which we regularly update when new announcements are made.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Ethereum NFTs

Flawless 101-Carat Diamond to be Auctioned at Sotheby’s Accepting Crypto As Payment

perfect diamond isolated on shiny background with clipping path.

International auction house Sotheby’s will accept Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) for a rare 101.38-carat diamond, the first time cryptocurrency will be accepted as payment at auction of a diamond weighing more than 100 carats.

No other physical object with an estimate even approaching this amount has ever been publicly offered for purchase with cryptocurrency, according to the auction house.

This is a truly symbolic moment. The most ancient and emblematic denominator of value can now, for the first time, be purchased using humanity’s newest universal currency. Never was there a better moment to bring a world-class diamond such as this to the market.

Patti Wong, chair of Sotheby’s Asia

Dubbed ‘The Key 10138’, it is an example of type IIa diamonds, the most chemically pure variety of which only 10 over 100 carats have ever been sold at auction.

A Homage to the Digital World

Sotheby’s, a British-founded American multinational corporation headquartered in New York City and operating in more than 40 countries, is one of the world’s largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, real estate and collectibles.

With the name ‘The Key 10138’, we wanted to celebrate this enlightening virtue while also alluding to the crucial function of digital keys in the world of NFTs and cryptocurrency.

Wenhao Yu, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Jewellery in Asia

Along with fiat, the auction house will also accept Bitcoin and Ethereum as payment for the diamond, estimated to be worth between US$10 million and $15 million. The live single-lot auction will be held in Hong Kong on July 9, with online bidding open from June 25. Sotheby’s will host the auction using its hybrid online and live bidding process.

Advertisement for the diamond [Sotheby’s]

The Key 10138 diamond is the main attraction of Sotheby’s inaugural “Luxury Edit” sale series in Asia, bringing together a variety of luxury items that include jewels, watches, wine, handbags and rare sneakers. The auction house has not stated whether these other items will be available for purchase with crypto as well.

Increasing Interest in the Digital Space

Sotheby’s has made significant strides in the adoption of blockchain-related technologies such as NFTs. The organisation recently sold a CryptoPunk non-fungible token (NFT) for a record US$11.8 million.

Last month, Sotheby’s sold a Banksy for US$12.9 million in the first instance of a work of physical art sold by a major auction house that was bought with cryptocurrency.

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Blockchain Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Events

Key Topics at the 2021 APAC Blockchain Conference to be Held in Sydney

The APAC Blockchain Conference, an event where the industry comes together to share ideas, insights and accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology across Australia, will be held in Sydney from September 14-16 to discuss all things crypto.

Date: 14-16 September 2021
Location: Crowne Plaza, Darling Harbour, Sydney
Click here to register

The conference has been running since 2017 and has become a key event for any business or company embracing blockchain technology. In attendance at this year’s event, to be held at the Crowne Plaza in Sydney’s Darling Harbour, will be start-ups to developers, financiers to government, exchanges to blockchain platforms, and the like.

Topics Up for Discussion

  • Australian government update and policy review
  • Disrupting the status quo: Blockchain and the future of finance
  • Preparing the way for the next evolution in blockchain technology
  • Embracing emerging challenges and opportunities in cryptofinance
  • Governance, regulation and security in the blockchain industry
  • Blockchain technology and digital identity management protocols
  • Legal updates: insights into smart contracts
  • Blockchain in practice: how innovation and change are becoming a way of life for Australian businesses
  • Cross chain technology and its role in large-scale adoption
  • Bitcoin and its role in the future of day-to-day business
  • Addressing blockchain security and vulnerability issues

CoinJar CMO Will Speak About Decentralised Finance

Among the line-up of key speakers will be: Dominic Gluchowski (chief marketing officer at CoinJar, who will be speaking about DeFi), Simon Callaghan (head of OTC Markets at Celsius), Maximilian Marenbach (head of APAC Expansion/head of Banking and Payments at Kraken Digital Asset Exchange), and many more.

With the Bitcoin Conference hosted in Miami earlier this month, 2021 continues to be another exciting year for crypto. But will the APAC Blockchain Conference be as colourful, with surprise Dogecoin enthusiasts storming the stage, and hecklers interrupting speakers?

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Bitcoin Mining China Crypto News Regulation

Why China Closing Bitcoin Mining Operations is a Good Thing

Various factors have been impacting Bitcoin, some of which are due to the ripple effects caused by negative press, heavy regulation, and bans implemented by China.

Bitcoin’s hashrate is one of its most important metrics. Essentially, it is an indication of the processing power of the Bitcoin network. The higher the hashrate, the faster transactions are verified and blocks can be created.

China’s Continual Crackdowns

China currently accounts for roughly 65% of the Bitcoin hashrate. Previously many miners set up shop there because of cheap energy and hardware prices. Additionally, the ability to use excess energy from sustainable sources like hydro power in Sichuan was a positive reason to mine there.

However, during 2021 there have been multiple instances where Bitcoin (BTC) and the crypto market at large have been affected by uncertain regulatory conditions in China. Just last week, the Bitcoin hashrate dropped nearly 17% after a crackdown in Sichuan where power was cut to 26 mining farms.

In April, outages in Xinjiang cut Bitcoin’s hashrate by 30% and contributed to a US$10,000 decline in Bitcoin’s price. But since Xinjiang ordered several crypto mining farms to shut down on June 9 -one of several shutdown orders across the country – it now seems that China is intent on shooing miners out of the country.

Why Redistributed Hashrate is Good News

Firstly, mining difficulty automatically adjusts as per protocol adjustments in the code, which neutralises the effects of less (or more) mining rigs coming on/off-line. This means that the network won’t be heavily affected by the hashrate drop for long.

While there will be a rough patch as Bitcoin re-establishes the lost hashrate out of China, once that is rebuilt there will be many positives to come from this.

Bitcoin mining will become more decentralised, since China holds the majority of the hashrate. Heavily adopting South American countries like El Salvador could pick up some of the slack, along with the increase of sustainable mining operations in the US. This will also lead to Bitcoin miners in other countries becoming more profitable, as they will be able to buy mining rigs from China since there is a worldwide shortage, and because Chinese miners will no longer be using them.

Bitcoin miners around the world could get cheap mining rigs from China sellers if they decide not to relocate. If China ends up completely banning crypto, it will end the continual FUD regarding China’s centralisation of Bitcoin; China using dirty energy to mine; and China’s continual threats to ban Bitcoin, which affects the market.

Miami Enticing Banned Bitcoin Miners

As the government crackdown heats up, Chinese Bitcoin miners are looking for a new home. Places like Texas and Miami, Florida in the US have been shaping up in order to cater for Bitcoin miners by adjusting their laws and regulations around crypto.

Miners want to set up in places with zero regulatory/political uncertainty. As Wayne Lin, founder of Chinese venture capitalist Axia8 Ventures, has stated: “I wouldn’t want to spend millions of dollars setting up my facility if the policies could change suddenly.”

We want to make sure that our city has an opportunity to compete […] We’re talking to a lot of companies and just telling them, ‘Hey, we want you to be here.

Francis Suarez, Miami Mayor

Suarez is promising near-limitless supplies of cheap nuclear energy and a stable home. He told CNBC: “We understand how important this is […] miners want to get to a certain kilowatt price per hour. And so we’re working with them on that.”

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Crypto News

Market Sentiment at All-Time Low as Crypto Traders Let Out Frustrations on Reddit

Roses are red, violets are blue, when the market’s not green, you know what to do!

These past several weeks have not been an easy ride for those involved in crypto. Some who only just entered the market and bought at the very top now have first-hand experience of what it feels like to be trapped inside the belly of the beast.

Reddit is a great place for many in the crypto community to go and share their stories. For some, spirits have been crushed as their dreams to get rich quick have drowned in a bloody sea of red. Others are standing strong, optimistically keeping their chins up with humour intact. It depends if you’re a glass half empty or glass half full kind of person as to whether you see this time as an opportunity to stay in and buy the dip, or get out because it’s all too much.

Humour is the Best Medicine

This funny Redditer wrote:

Don’t get me wrong, the highs are amazing, but the lows have become too much to handle. I can no longer cling to something that is always volatile, makes me feel nervous and insecure, and may ultimately cost me 50% of my savings. So I’m leaving. Leaving my wife to spend more time studying the crypto charts.

AlreadyLiberated, Reddit user

Wild volatility is part of the parcel when it comes to dabbling in cryptocurrency. It certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted or those with weak hands. OGs know this all too well. Those who understand what goes up must come down (then usually goes back up again) are seeing these red charts as an opportunity to just buy more, dollar-cost averaging their positions to accumulate more of the coins they already hold.

It may well be that we will crash further tomorrow. But then I will just buy more next month and be happy to see [the] average cost of my coins getting lower.

ethereum88, Reddit user

Others are just panicking and taking to Reddit to unleash their frustration and disappointment. Some are a little cynical, but with a good dose of humour to help numb the pain.

Crypto Bear Market Woes

Since May, most of us have watched our portfolios get cut in half. No amount of “refreshing” is going to help. There are two main options:

  • 1) Stay in and HODL
  • 2) Get out and sell at a loss

Go find a job. Pray to your God for the bull market to return or at least for a quick death cause working for these wages when inflation is this high is pretty much slavery.

SmilkyD, Reddit user

Other than constantly refreshing your portfolio, there is also the Fear and Greed index to help us know when things are looking up again. Stay strong, crypto lovers. Whether this really is the beginning of an unpredictably premature bear market, unleashed upon us much more swiftly than anticipated, or if it’s just an extensively painful lull in what is ultimately the biggest bull market we’ve ever seen, only time will tell.

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Market Analysis

Bitcoin Returns in Q2 2021 – Worst in Eight Years

Bitcoin’s performance in 2021 has thus far been a tale of two quarters. In Q1, Bitcoin enjoyed the best start to a year in eight years, outperforming traditional asset classes with returns of over 100%. Of late, however, much of the wind has been knocked from Bitcoin’s sails as Q2 has been the worst on record in eight years.

How Does Bitcoin’s Performance Compare to Previous Years?

Relative to past performance, Q2 appears to be somewhat of an anomaly. Over the past eight years, there have only been two quarters that have recorded negative returns. Bitcoin’s returns of -40.03% in Q2 2021 are by far the worst in eight years, the next closest being -6.7% in 2018.

Data by Skew Analytics

Ethereum Has Outperformed Bitcoin in 2021

It is often stated that other cryptocurrencies, relative to Bitcoin, tend to outperform on both the upside (during bull markets) and downside (during bear markets). Thus far, 2021 doesn’t appear to be following that pattern, particularly when it comes to Ethereum.

Compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum has enjoyed a better year to date with returns of 162% in Q1 and just under -5% in Q2.

https://au.investing.com/crypto/ethereum

Bitcoin Markets Remain Uncertain

For the time being, the market appears to be on edge, despite bullish announcements such as MicroStrategy moving to acquire up to an additional US$1.5 billion in Bitcoin.

While not an exact science by any measure, the Fear & Greed Index below suggests we have a way to go before sentiment can be said to have shifted in a positive direction.

While the short-term downward moves are cause for concern among long traders, particularly those using leverage, many Bitcoiners remain undeterred.

Volatility, in their eyes, is to be expected of an emergent store of value on a price discovery path towards global adoption. In the interim, they simply #stacksats, HODL and repeat the mantra, BTFD.

There are top analysts however, that are predicting BTC will hit $160k by the end of 2021.