Category: Crypto News

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Crypto News DeFi Ethereum

Total Value Locked on Ethereum DeFi Protocols Rose by 7,104% Since 2020

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) space on Ethereum has been gaining traction since the past year, despite some projects having left the network amid expensive fees and slow transactions.

Nonetheless, the total value of digital assets locked on the Ethereum-based DeFi protocol increased by four percent this month, according to market data from CryptoRank.

$66 Billion Was Locked in Ethereum Protocol in May

Since this month, about $66.35 billion USD worth of cryptocurrencies has been locked on Ethereum DeFi space. An all-time high of over $88 billion USD was recorded on May 12 before the market began to plummet.

This record today represents about a four percent increase compared to the $63.70 billion USD TVL recorded last month. Compared to the past months since May 2020, this is the lowest TVL percentage increase in the Ethereum DeFi space, which can be attributed to the recent massive correction of the market. Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and some other major altcoins dropped significantly in value, which affected the market capitalization of cryptos globally, including DeFi.

Meanwhile, on the year-over-year (YoY) chart, the total value locked in Ethereum-based DeFi protocols is up by over 7,104 percent, as per analysis by CryptoRank.

Gross TVL on Binance Smart Chain

Binance Smart Chain is possibly the main competitor of Ethereum for DeFi projects. As of 28 May, the total gross value locked in protocols on the Binance Smart Chain was $16.6 billion USD, according to data from The Block. PureSwap was rated as the largest protocol with over $23.69 million USD.

Value Locked by DeFi Projects on BSC [source: The Block]

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Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Institutions Investing Stablecoins

Circle Beats Crypto Financing Record

Circle, the company behind USDC (currently the second largest stablecoin) just beat the record for the investment round with the most capital received by a crypto-related company.

$18 Million More Than The Previous Record

According to Forbes, the investment round garnered a total of $440 million USD from institutional and private investors alike. It is $18 million USD more than the prior record of $422 million USD raised in 2018 by Bitmain, a company that offers custom crypto mining solutions worldwide.

Aside from setting a new record in the crypto space, this investment is also in the top 10 private fintech investments of all time. Five of the largest crypto-investments in history have been in 2021.

CompanyAmount raised (in USD)Date
Circle$440 million28 May 2021
Bitmain$422 million7 August 2018
BlockFi$350 million11 March 2021
Dapper Labs$305 million30 March 2021
Blockchain.com$300 million24 March 2021
Bakkt$300 million16 March 2020
Coinbase$300 million30 October 2018
Bitmain$292.7 million19 June 2018
Bitso$250 million5 May 2021
Hangzhou Qulian Technology$235 million4 June 2018
Bithumb$200 million19 April 2019
Ripple Labs$200 million1 October 2020

In a public statement, Circle thanked everyone for their trust and reiterated their commitment to using stablecoins in order to improve the payments landscape.

The financing, among the top 10 in private fintech investments, fuels the company’s continued growth, organizational development and market expansion opportunities. We are grateful to our colleagues, customers, strategic partners, investors, regulators and other stakeholders who are continuing to work with us in making Circle’s vision a reality.

Team Circle [source]

Overall, this has been an important year so far for institutional investments into crypto, with the public listing of Coinbase being one the highlights.

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Blockchain Crypto News Google

Polygon Blockchain Datasets Now Available on Google Cloud For Analysis

Polygon Google BigQuery
Polygon Google BigQuery

Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution Polygon, in an effort to make cryptocurrency data more transparent, has made its data freely available on Google’s BigQuery tool.

BigQuery is one of the most popular data analytics platforms worldwide. The platform makes it simple to query on-chain data in a simple, organised manner on the cloud using standard SQL syntax. The platform enables you to perform the same or similar queries on multiple blockchains at once and compare them, or track cross-chain activity on interoperable tokens.

Some of the key figures that can be determined using BigQuery:

  • Track gas costs over time
  • Monitor a smart contract’s calls and activity
  • Check the number of monthly active addresses on the Polygon Chain blockchain
  • Integrate with traditional financial record processing systems
  • Determine the most active/popular tokens, contracts, or applications on Polygon
  • Audit groups of transactions

This public dataset is included in BigQuery’s 1TB/month of free tier processing. This means that each user receives 1TB of free BigQuery processing every month, which can be used to run queries on this public blockchain dataset.

By making this data set freely available, it allows any individual to carry out specific analysis with on-chain data to derive custom insights. In the bigger picture, by having this data available it shows clear transparency to what the state of the blockchain is and the various important performance metrics that one might want to use to gain insight into the ecosystem.

Polygon Carving Out Their Spot

Formerly known as Matic, Polygon has seen explosive growth in the last six months in daily active users, transactions, and total value locked (TVL). The growth accelerated after major DeFi projects like Aave, SushiSwap, Curve, 1inch Network, and others decided to expand to Polygon – attracting plenty of Ethereum users and billions of dollars worth of liquidity. The platform was also recently the recipient of an undisclosed investment from billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

Google’s Cloud division has collaborated with other cryptocurrency projects like Chainlink and Theta Network in the past. Both projects used Google Cloud for their computing needs.

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Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrency Law Ripple

Ripple Vs SEC: Judge Denies SEC Access To Ripple’s Legal Advice

The SEC has been in a legal battle with Ripple for a while, with certain developments seeming to lean in Ripple’s favour.

Last development sees Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn denying SEC’s request for Ripple “to produce all communications constituting, transmitting, or discussing any legal advice Ripple sought or received as to whether its offers and sales of XRP were or would be subject to federal securities laws”.

The judge’s decision seems to have made Ripple’s fair notice defense stronger. About a month ago, the SEC filed a request to the court demanding to strike the “fair notice” defence from the Ripple case altogether, calling it “legally improper”. Ripple invoked that claiming that SEC failed to warn them (and other market participants) about XRP being an unregistered security.

SEC Attorney Looking At Retiring

According to a report from only a few days ago, one of the SEC’s attorneys, Dugan Bliss, asked to withdraw from the case, leaving SEC.

If Dugan Bliss’s request is granted, the case will go on with the SEC continuing to be represented by Jorge G. Tenreiro, Daphna A. Waxman, Jon A. Daniels and others. The whole operation is being led by SEC attorney Preethi Krishnamurthy.

In April, Dugan Bliss stated that – as far as he knows – the SEC had not yet taken an official position on ETH either.

So I want to make clear that this is my understanding of the current situation and I don’t want to be overly technical, but the SEC, itself, my understanding, it has not taken an official position. There is no action that it took to say Bitcoin is not a security, Ether is not a security.

Dugan Bliss
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Australia Crypto News Cryptocurrency Tax

ATO Warns Crypto Holders To Report Crypto Gains

On Friday, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) stated that they are expecting all cryptocurrency-related income to be reported for taxation purposes.

600,000 Aussies Expected To Report In

According to Tim Loh – ATO Assistant Commissioner – over 600,000 Aussies have recently invested in cryptocurrencies, and all of them are expected to report in. 300,000 taxpayers will reportedly be prompted to include crypto gains and losses on the tax sheet as they fill out their forms this year. A further 100,000 will be requested to review their previously lodged tax returns.

Tim Loh also stated that he found it strange that many people thought cryptocurrency was anonymous and couldn’t be tracked. Additionally, reporting applies to Non-Fungible Token sales, purchases and trades as well. However, keep in mind that if you’ve been HODLing for 12 months or more, you may be entitled to a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) discount, assuming you’re in the green.

The best tip to nail your cryptocurrency gains and losses is to keep accurate records including dates of transactions, the value in Australian dollars at the time of the transactions, what the transactions were for, and who the other party was, even if it’s just their wallet address.

Tim Loh, ATO Assistant Commissioner

The tracking is being done via the Financial Data Matching Protocol, which has been active for a while in conformity with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on Data Matching in the Australian Government Administration.

Cryptocurrency tax can be complex so the ATO has also made available a factsheet providing tips and information about how CGT applies to cryptos.

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Binance Crypto News Travel

You Can Now Book Your Hotel On Binance Mobile App

Binance has partnered with Travala to accept hotel bookings paying with crypto using your Binance Mobile App.

Binance is once again positioning itself as a major leader in crypto adoption, entering payment solutions for our everyday lives.

Press play below to see it in action!

Pay for Hotels with Binance Pay

Binance users can now book over 3,000,000 travel products on Travala.com, the first merchant to integrate Binance Pay. Whether you run an e-commerce business or restaurant, you can accept crypto payments with Binance Pay. Binance Pay’s Merchant APIs allow you to process online payments or in-person payments using QR codes, all while offering customers a seamless payment experience. 

From the home screen inside the Binance App, select the ‘More’ button, and you can find ‘Hotels’ in beta. Very exciting to have such a major player as Binance release a feature like this. Crypto is here to stay. Mainstream adoption is coming… it’s already here.

How To Access Hotels on your Phone

See the screenshots below on how to find the Hotels feature on your Biannce Mobile App.

Travala.com is the first company or service to integrate Binance Pay. Users can pay for bookings using Binance pay and get AVA rewards!

What is Binance Pay?

Binance Pay is currently in (beta) and can be accessed by anyone who has a Binance account and completed their identity verification.

Binance Pay currently supports more than thirty cryptocurrencies including: BTC, BNB, BUSD, ETH, ADA, ATOM, BCH, DASH, DOGE, DOT, EOS, ETC, FIL, HBAR, LINK, LTC, MATIC, NEO, PAX, QTUM, TRX, TUSD, UNI, USDC, VET, WRX, XLM, XMR, XRP, XTZ, ZEC, USDT, FRONT, STRAX, ONE, EGLD and SXP.

Binance Pay transactions are usually confirmed instantaneously. However, please note that due to compliance requirements, funds made to your Pay wallet account can only be utilized 24 hours after it has been received.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Cryptocurrencies

Best 10 Popular TV Shows Mentioning Bitcoin

Bitcoin has made some unexpected TV appearances over the years, appearing in some of our favourite mainstream shows and sitcoms.

Let’s take a look at our top 10 TV shows featuring Bitcoin.

1. The Big Bang Theory – The Bitcoin Entanglement (2017)

Sheldon and the gang talk about how the price of Bitcoin has increased significantly and suddenly remember they mined a bunch of it back in 2010. Then follows the old story – they realise they lost track of the flash drive and their dreams of being rich disappear, as usual.

2. Silicon Valley (2018) – Gilfoyle Crypto Powerpoint

The show features a PowerPoint presentation by Gilfoyle about cryptocurrencies. Outlining that Bitcoin was the first to crypto, it paved the way for more to come (just as Myspace did for Facebook and Twitter). “Crypto is out there and it’s not going away”. The plot leads to an ICO, thus welcoming PiedPiperCoin into the world of fictional digital assets.

3. The Good Wife – Bitcoin Commercial (2012)

The Good Wife watches an explainer video on the introduction of Bitcoin as digital money. Explained Bitcoin as “You can buy it from currency traders online or you can mine it like gold. One Bitcoin’s worth $3, it used to be $33”.

4. The Simpsons (2013) – Crusty The Clown on Bitcoin

Crusty the Clown breaks it down to Lisa, that he’s broke due to some “bad luck at the ponies” and the worst luck in the Bitcoin market. I wonder what crusty was trading back in 2013.

5. Crypto (2019) – The Movie

Kurt Russell stars in the movie Crypto as a father to AML (anti-money laundering) officer, played by Beau Knapp. Throw in some Russian Mafia and tens of millions in anonymous Bitcoin transactions and you’ve got yourself a blockbuster worth watching.

6. Billions (2018) – Crypto Profits

Axe from the popular show HBO Billions, hides his secret Wall Street trading profits in crypto on a Ledger USB stick. He was “Paid in crypto, of course”.

7. Family Guy (2017) – Bitcoin Mention

After a family prayer to God, asking to help save them from being poor, Peter has a brainwave: “Bitcoin!”.

8. House of Cards (2014) – Bitcoin Mention

The hidden internet – where you can go to find anything and everything including “Bitcoin laundering”.

9. Mr. Robot (2016) – Bitcoin Mention

The Ecorp villians from the Mr Robot series discuss making their own digital currency called Ecoin. They explain: “The problem here is hard cash is fading… rapidly. That’s just the way of the world right now and Bitcoin is spreading and if Bitcoin takes over we are all in a world of hell”.

10. Jeopardy (2013) – Definition of Bitcoin

Question: “A digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank?” Answer: “What is a Bitcoin!“

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFnCkxc8tCo

That’s our round up of the best TV shows mentioning so far!? What’s your favourite? leave a comment in the Twitter thread.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Nigeria

Nigeria To Allow Cryptocurrency In Country Due To 32% Adoption

Nigeria To Allow Cryptocurrency In Country Due To 32% Adoption

Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently banning local banking institutions from serving cryptocurrency users and companies in the country, the interest in crypto has been surging.

Amid the growing adoption rate of cryptocurrency in Nigeria, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, recently assured publicaly that cryptocurrency would be brought back to life in the country.

Nigeria Will Allow Cryptocurrency

The Nigerian central bank withdrew its support for cryptocurrencies in February, citing speculative risks associated with them. They also said digital currencies were used in financing illegal activities.

We have carried out our investigation and we found out that a substantial percentage of our people are getting involved in cryptocurrency which is not the best. Don’t get me wrong, some may be legitimate but most are illegitimate.

CBN governor

However, the governor assured in their 279th MPR meeting that cryptocurrencies would come back to life in the country. The governor added “We are committed in the CBN, and I can assure everybody that digital currency will come to life even in Nigeria.”.

Nigeria Records Massive Increase in Crypto Adoption

One can easily predict that the central bank of Nigeria is open to forming a framework to regulate digital currencies. This is important due to the increasing rate of crypto adoption in the country.

Nigeria is considered one of the top countries with the highest rate of cryptocurrency adoption. A recent survey conducted by Statista in different countries (1,000 to 4,000 respondents per country) showed that 32 percent used/owned cryptocurrency in 2020.

The numbers are increasing rapidly as many people are flocking to Bitcoin on P2P exchanges to hedge against the depreciating value of the national currency, Naira (NGN). This is evident as Paxful exchange recently announced Nigeria as its largest market, with over $1.5 billion in trading volume as of April.  

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Crypto News Ethereum Gaming NFTs

GameStop is Building an NFT Platform and $GME Token on Ethereum

GameStop – an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, has announced that they plan to build an NFT platform on Ethereum and introducing a new token called $GME.

What GameStock’s GME Token Could Potentially Do

GameStock’s NFT platform will use the GME token – built on Ethereum’s ERC721 standard protocol. An animated image on the GameStock webpage states: “Power to the players. Power to the creators. Power to the collectors.“.

The news of the GME token comes as the company moves from being essentially, just a brick-and-mortar store to cryptocurrency, digital collectables and e-commerce.

GameStop is Hiring

On their website they declare “We are building a team!” as they look to develop this new NFT platform and tokenomics.

“We welcome exceptional engineers (solidity, react, python), designers, gamers, marketers, and community leaders. If you want to join our team, send your profile or something you’ve built to: [email protected].”

GameStop Stock Price

It’s not just in crypto that can go bananas. Earlier this year we saw the GameStop stock almost 100x, from $4 a share to $347 on January 27, 2021. After a coordinated pump from Reddit-ers the price fell as quickly as it rose, but is now slowly and steadily climbing upwards.

Robinhood Suspend $GME Trading

Robinhood is in hot water again after suspending the ability for retail investors to trade $GME, while still allowing hedge funds to continue trading; stating that their reasons for doing so was that the price volatility posed a risk for buyers and that they were “protecting customers”. Isn’t the name “Robinhood” supposed to stand for Taking from the rich and giving to the poor? Their actions prove that they were actually protecting the rich from getting poor. Their move to stop people from buying stock, while still allowing sellers to sell; was solely in the best interests of the company’s large investors- who held short positions.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev interview on CNN over GameStop freeze

The SEC has given a statement on the matter, saying the commission will continue working to “protect investors, to maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and to facilitate capital formation.” The matter is under scrutiny from congress, with a tweet from Ocasio-Cortez saying:

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Binance Crypto News NFTs

Binance NFT Marketplace To Launch With Celebrity Creators: eStarPro, Michael Owen, Lewis Capaldi And Others

Leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance has unveiled the first batch of the “premium event” creators for its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace ahead of its June 24 launch. The list includes celebrities in diverse industries, including music, sports, and art.

The lineup of Binance NFT Content Creators

Following the announcement on Thursday, the first batch of creators includes Esports team eStarPro, two-time BRIT Award winner Lewis Capaldi, top professional football stars Michael Owen and Alphonso Davies, and visual artist.

The NFT collection by Lewis Capaldi will be made available through Bondly on Binance NFT, while Michael Owen’s NFT collection will be made available through TopGoal and eStarPro Esports club NFTs exclusively through NFKings Productions.

Binance wrote

Binance NFT Marketplace Launches Next Month

Binance NFT marketplace is coming at a time where interest in NFTs is skyrocketing. As Crypto News Australia reported in April, the exchange initially disclosed its intention to launch an NFT marketplace following the increase in interest and trading volume for NFT contents.

The marketplace is scheduled to launch on June 24 and will feature content from both celebrities and small value creators, according to Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance. At the time, the Head of Binance NFT, Helen Hai, informed that the Binance NFT marketplace would allow issuing and selling of NFT contents at minimal fees.

Our aim is to provide the largest NFT trading platform in the world with the best minting, buying, and exchanging experience by leveraging the fastest and cheapest solutions powered by Binance blockchain infrastructure and community.

Helen Hai commented