Southampton FC, an English professional football club, has secured a new sponsorship deal with Coingaming Group, the leading operator of Sportsbet.io, which will enable the club to distribute performance bonus to players in Bitcoin (BTC).
The Saints Players to Receive Bonus in Bitcoin
According to the announcement, the football club, which is nicknamed “The Saints”, signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Coingaming Group last week. The new offer comes as an extension of a one-year sponsorship agreement between Coingaming Group and Southampton FC at the start of the season for the 2020/21 campaign.
This means Coingaming Group’s Sportsnet.io will continue to be the shirt sponsor for The Saints until 2024.
This is the biggest sponsorship deal ever secured by the English football club, according to the announcement. The interesting part of the renewed sponsorship deal is that Southampton players can choose to receive bonuses in Bitcoin. So, for the stated period of the sponsorship, Southampton FC will distribute performance bonuses to players in Bitcoin at the end of every season.
Our first season as Southampton FC’s main club partner has already exceeded all expectations. We’ve been inspired by the passion of the club and its fans, and it was an easy decision for us to extend our partnership with the Saints for another three years. [..] We can’t wait to continue this journey with the Saints, and we’ll be doing everything we can to support the team and its community into the future.
Maarja Pärt, CEO of the Coingaming Group
Soccer Teams Are Embracing Crypto
The development today is one of the things that drive more attention and adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies among football players and clubs. Moreover, some professional football teams, including Manchester City, have launched fan tokens as a medium to strengthen engagement with their supporters.
Videogame giant Ubisoft has partnered with Tezos protocol to become an official corporate validator node, as announced by Nomadic Labs, a technology research team within the Tezos ecosystem.
By becoming an official “baker”, Ubisoft will experiment with the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm, validating blocks and implementing them on the Tezos blockchain.
The company will be added to the set of 277 bakers. These validators can stake their XTZ — Tezos’ native asset — to distributing rewards and participate in the network’s governance.
Spreading Blockchain Technology With Videogames
Nomadic Labs said that blockchain can bring benefits to gamers and developers alike, and this collaboration is part of Ubisoft’s long-term research to spread and facilitate innovative technology.
Ubisoft is one of the first large companies to show interest in blockchain technology by testing several protocols through the years and we are happy to welcome them in our ecosystem. Their experience and vision will be an asset in the Tezos community.
Michel Mauny, President of Nomadic Labs
This is not the first time that Tezos works with high-profile businesses. In September 2020, one of the largest banks in France, the Société Générale, started experimenting with the Tezos network. After several months of testing, the bank issued its official security token using its public blockchain.
By now, Ubisoft is the first major corporation in the gaming industry to join the protocol, and Nomadic Labs will support other companies that want to build on Tezos, contributing to the development and spread of the protocol’s corporate baker ecosystem.
The government of the United Kingdom (UK) is launching a taskforce to explore the concept of central bank digital currency (CBDC). Following a report on Monday, the UK now adds to the list of major countries studying a potential digital currency.
We’re launching a new taskforce between the Treasury and the Bank of England to coordinate exploratory work on a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Rishi Sunak, British Finance Minister
UK Becomes Another Country Researching CBDC
The Bank of England (BoE) and the country’s Treasury will spearhead the new initiative, according to Sunak. They will drive the taskforce towards researching the benefits of launching a national digital currency. However, the UK has no immediate need to launch a digital currency, which the finance minister touted as “Britcoin”.
The Government and the Bank of England have not yet made a decision on whether to introduce a CBDC in the UK and will engage widely with stakeholders on the benefits, risks and practicalities of doing so.
Bank of England
The CBDC Taskforce also said consumers and businesses in the UK would use the digital currency alongside physical cash. This means the digital currency won’t replace the Pound Sterling and bank deposits outright.
Interest in CBDC is Rising Globally
Many central banks in the world are beginning to research the possibility of launching the digital version of their national currency in the form of CBDC. This follows the growing interest in digital currencies for payment, seemingly propelled by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Crypto News Australia recently reported that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) intended to launch a wholesale CBDC. The RBA said it didn’t see any strong case for issuing a retail CBDC.
After almost five years of harsh regulations regarding the issuance of cryptocurrencies, it appears that China has shifted the tone on Bitcoin, calling it an “investment alternative”.
China’s former Central Bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, and Li Bo, current deputy governor, shared their thoughts about the future role of cryptocurrencies in the financial system.
We regard Bitcoin and stablecoin as crypto assets… These are investment alternatives. […] They are not currency per se. And so the main role we see for crypto assets going forward, the main role is investment alternative.
China has been known for having a harsh stance against crypto assets. In 2017, local authorities closed several crypto exchanges and banned initial coin offerings, causing immediate price drops.
It seems their stance has softened, as the country is currently studying Bitcoin and other assets — while maintaining current regulations.
We believe that crypto assets should play a major role in the future, either as an investment tool or as an alternative investment. Many countries, including China, are also studying it as an investment tool.
Li Bo
China Is Studying a New Regulatory Environment
The two officials said the authorities would maintain the current legislations for crypto assets. Due to the market’s inherent volatility, China is studying what kind of regulatory body there should be to avoid financial risks.
If it is used as an investment tool, many countries, including China, are also studying what kind of regulatory environment should there be for such an investment method. Although this regulatory rule is the minimum regulatory rule, there are still regulatory rules.
Li Bo
On the other hand, Xiaochuan said people don’t need to know the technology behind digital assets or whether they are decentralised because they don’t understand it. He added that whatever the use case for cryptocurrencies, they should not be used for illicit activities such as tax evasion or money laundering.
The Market Slowly Recovers
These comments were well received by the community after the crypto market crashed on the weekend. As reported, Bitcoin and most altcoins suddenly tumbled, wiping $310 billion USD from the market, liquidating over 1,300,000 traders.
The market is currently recovering. Bitcoin managed to stay above $55,000 USD, while other currencies like Binance’s BNB and ETH recovered 20% and 10%, respectively.
For today’s trading news, we’re looking at three Altcoins that might breakout this week by showing bullish trends in the charts.
1. ICON (ICX)
ICON is a decentralized blockchain network focused on interoperability. With ICON’s “blockchain transmission protocol”, independent blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum can connect and transact with each other. This opens up cross-chain use cases that are impossible without an interoperability layer like ICON.
ICX Price Analysis
At the time of writing, ICX is ranked 79th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $2.73 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
During the weekend it swung around $2.4150 AUD as it tested support near $2.1201 AUD.
Aggressive traders expecting expansion to the upside could look for entries near possible support around $2.2762 AUD. Bids near $2.1201 AUD may be able to capitalize on an attempt to run the stops below the weekend’s swing low. A stop run below this low may reach into possible support near $1.9500 AUD.
In the short term, $2.9426 AUD may provide some resistance. The swing high near $3.2700 AUD looks like a first target, with the area just above up to $3.5500 AUD possibly creating resistance.
A break out of this zone would make the March high at $3.6170 AUD a more likely target, with further expansion possibly reaching near $5.3226 AUD.
2. IOTA (MIOTA)
IOTA is a distributed ledger with one big difference: it isn’t actually a blockchain. Instead, it relies on a technology known as Tangle, a system of nodes that confirm transactions. The foundation behind this platform says this offers far greater speeds than conventional blockchains — and an ideal footprint for the ever-expanding Internet of Things ecosystem.
IOTA Price Analysis
At the time of writing, IOTA is ranked 24th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $2.68 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
The weekend’s 31% drop was immediately bought up and closed the day bullish, suggesting strength for IOTA bulls.
Aggressive traders could look for support near $2.4215 AUD. Levels near $2.2970 AUD, $2.1851 AUD, and $1.9773 AUD also provide areas for bids during a retracement.
Little resistance rests overhead, but the area between $2.8593 AUD and the swing high at $2.9773 AUD may cap an initial move upward. Extensions seem to indicate $3.2283 AUD and $3.8425 AUD as take-profit zones.
3. WINK (WIN)
WINk is a gaming platform for users to play socialize and stake across multiple blockchain ecosystems that leverages the WIN token as the native digital asset within the platform. Through behavioural mining, innovative token economy design and other incentive mechanisms, WINk aims to build an ecosystem that provides a high-quality decentralized gaming experience. This would enable developers to build DApps that drive genuine adoption, engaging users to participate and contribute as active stakeholders in the platform.
WIN Price Analysis
At the time of writing, WINK is ranked 134th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $0.0017 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.
An impressive 463% month for WIN has retraced over 56% as the price consolidates near the weekly gap beginning near $0.001701 AUD.
The equal lows at this weekly gap might see a stop run before any further move up. The area near $0.00109 AUD at the top of a daily gap could provide support.
The bottom of the gap seems a more likely support, ranging from approximately $0.0009664 AUD to the consolidation that started the massive move upward. If this level fails, traders could look for sensitivity near the middle of the monthly gap near $0.0006308 AUD.
Impulses upward during retracement are possible, but the most substantial resistance seems just below the April swing high near $0.002971 AUD. This swing high provides a clear first target, with any targets beyond challenging to predict.
Where to Buy or Trade Altcoins?
These 3 Altcoins have the highest liquidity on Binance Exchange so that could help for trading on USDT or BTC pairs. Instead, if you’re looking at buying and HODLing cryptos, then Swyftx Exchange is a popular choice in Australia.
Following last week’s experiment that allowed tech YouTuber Stacksmashing to mine Bitcoin off of a Game Boy, yet another fun project that repurposes old recreational computing device for contemporary purposes has surfaced.
Maciej Witkowiak – a data scientist and old-school retro gaming enthusiast – has repurposed a Commodore 64 to mine Bitcoin.
Pushing the Boundaries of Old Systems
The Commodore 64 was a home computer and not a portable console like the Game Boy, its main purpose was also recreational. Named after its 64 KB of RAM, the PC holds the Guinness World Record for the best-selling desktop PC of all time.
Although the mining speed is likely too slow to actually net any profit, it’s still a very interesting project that will surely catch the eye of many nostalgic fans of the system. Its code is readily available on Github, in case you want to try it out – at 0.2 hashes per second, you may very well find your first block within… 337 years and 10 months.
According to Witkowiak, hash functions are hampered by the inefficiency with which the ancient PC handles 32-bit computations, which are crucial for hash functions.
The 6502 CPU in C64 runs at about 1MHz and it doesn’t handle 32-bit computations very efficiently. Just enjoy the experience.
Is this a joke? No, It really does the same thing that every other miner does […]
C64 Bitcoin miner [GitHub]
Although the chance of this mining method getting you any Bitcoin within your life is statistically insignificant, the nostalgia associated with these old systems isn’t.
So if you’ve got one collecting dust in your garage, now you can fire it up!
On 18 April 2021 Bitcoin experienced one of the greatest dips in its history, bringing much of the crypto market down with it. Nearly one million traders’ accounts were liquidated in about an hour due to the downward spike.
#Bitcoin I've never seen 24h liquidations in billions. It's absolutely the biggest in history. 24H $9.55B $9,552,606,731 $4.94B ≈90.62K BTC $1.08B ≈503.26K ETH pic.twitter.com/lyJpsIYFwO
According to the data on CoinMarketCap, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies around the world went down by about $310 billion in less than 24 hours, shrinking the market from more than $2.2 trillion to less than $1.9 trillion.
Xinjiang Grid Blackouts to blame?
A coal mine explosion in Xinjiang on April 10, caused blackouts and took days to tank bitcoin’s hash rate. The hashrate plummeted from an all-time high above 215 exahash per second on Wednesday to about 120 exahash per second early Sunday.
Since April 15, the Bitcoin network hashrate has dropped more than 49% after touching an all-time high at 218 exahash per second. Regional reports noted that in China the Xinjiang grid is having blackouts and “safety inspections.”
The hashrate of Bitcoin mining pools plummeted in 24 hours. Antpools fell by 24.5%, https://t.co/1YRYr58dLy fell by 18.9%, Poolin fell by 33%, Binance pools fell by 20%. The reason is that Northwest China is undergoing a complete blackout for safety inspections. pic.twitter.com/vaWgYsMEFH
Popular market analyst Willy Woo shares that the Bitcoin hashrate and its price have always been correlated. And thus, following the blackout in Xinjiang, yesterday’s price action followed the collapse in the BTC hashrate.
Following these events, some have even questioned if there isn’t an over-reliance on mining efforts from China. Since about 50% of the hashrate comes from China, if something more serious had to happen it could have serious effects on the global Bitcoin network.
An increase in global Bitcoin mining efforts will reduce the odds of such a hashrate collapse. In the U.S., mining firms are one of the targets of the new bill released in Kentucky. Lawmakers have approved a bill that proposed tax breaks for mining operations set up in the state. One of the proposals in the bill was the removal of the tax duty of electricity for Bitcoin mining.
In an effort to raise funds for the foundation’s activity, Edward Snowden sold an NFT representing “the entirety of a landmark court decision ruling the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance violated the law, with the iconic portrait of the whistleblower by Platon”. Snowden’s face is superimposed over it and his signature can also be seen in the bottom right corner.
We have a winner, internet friends. I want to extend a very special thanks to everyone who followed this over the last 24 hours, and the deepest gratitude from EVERYONE at our @FreedomofPress to those who bid on our charity event. You help us make a better world. Stay free! https://t.co/A5SJDs5Sjp
The NFT was sold to someone who goes by @pleasrdao, who purchased it for a total of 2,224.00 ETH. According to Edward Snowden, this sum exceeds the FPF’s annual budget by a sizable amount — and has exceeded it a few bids prior to it being finally sold.
The @PleasrDAO juggernaut crashes into the lead with $4,300,000. This is practically the annual budget of @FreedomOfPress, and a real monument to charity. And then immediately overtaken by @xaix2k with 2,021.1337 — $4.9M! By any measure, tonight is a landmark. https://t.co/jqVhQxXrBH
At the moment, this is the only NFT endorsed by Snowden and it is not known if any more will be released in the future.
A Brief History Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden is known worldwide for spilling the beans on the NSA’s snooping — on American citizens, as well as on people of interest worldwide — and consequently being forced to flee to Russia after being accused of violating the US 1917 Espionage Act.
A man who has been called both a hero and a traitor, Snowden stands true to his beliefs to this day, stating that “if this is treason, what they call loyalty is a crime.”
He then fled to Russia — where he was granted permanent residency in 2020 — and since 2017, he has been the president of the Freedom of Press Foundation (FPF), a non-profit organization based in San Francisco that fights for free speech.
The crypto market tanked over the weekend, losing over 300 billion USD in market capitalization, dropping to $1.9 trillion USD.
Bitcoin dropped below $70k AUD, and most altcoins also dropped in value. ETH was down -11%, falling to $2,900 AUD. Ripple’s XRP, which made significant gains over the last week, fell by -12%, while Binance’s BNB coin dropped by -10%.
China Mining Blackouts
At first, the reason behind the crash was attributed to massive blackouts in Northwest China, specifically, in the Xinjiang region, which affected the hash rate of several BTC mining pools. The hashrate dropped nearly 50%.
We just saw the single largest 1-day drop in mining hash rate since Nov 2017. The hash rate on the network essentially halved, causing mayhem in BTC price as it crashed. pic.twitter.com/zzdgDikjXt
Some others blamed the circulating rumours about the US Treasury charging financial institutions with money laundering, but there is no evidence to back this claim.
High Leveraged Liquidations
According to analyst Adam Cochran, the reason behind the crash can be attributed to a set of conditions that include ignorance of market-making combined with massive leveraged trading across exchanges like Binance.
1/22
So a lot of people think that the treasury rumor (which is painfully false) caused the crash.
While *maybe* it was a contributing factor, it certainly wasn't the cause.
My current working theory is that there could have been an exchange issue driving this.
The rumours, the power outage, combined with margin accounts trading with 100 – 150x leverage on several exchanges could have made the perfect receipt for disaster.
Binance Futures markets tanked the hardest. Exchanges with high leverages remained at lower prices, while Coinbase and other exchanges remained at average levels during the crash.
9/22
It was Binance that led the market in the dip, and specifically Binance futures.
We know this because the futures market is what tanked the hardest, fastest and furthest.
Margin accounts on Binance were building big positions using leverage up to 150x, but as price dips below certain points, some of these accounts were below maintenance limits, which liquidates them.
20/22
When you look at the usual suspects, Coinbase dips were in the average range, Kraken lacked the volume to cause a dip this big and FTX ran smooth as butter.
So that really leaves Binance, although I'm not sure we'd ever get clarity on the issue if one happened anyway.
When traders are liquidated, crypto is exchanged for Tether, which makes the crypto drop in price. Currently, the volume/market cap for Tether is 4.62, and Tether went up 1.05 USD after the crash.
This triggers other accounts to sell their positions, creating a toxic cycle that ends in the liquidation of most retailers. Over 1 million positions were liquidated, while the largest liquidation was $68 million on Binance.
13/22
That $63M position getting liquidated is what put the market in major jeopardy, but by that time there was already degraded performance issues connecting to Binance and spiking gas fees.
So there was very little way for anyone to backstop or arbitrage that liquidation.
Despite the sudden crash, the market is slowly recovering. Several cryptos rebounded quickly. Ethereum is now trading at $2,150 while Bitcoin managed to recover above $56k, after falling nearly $10k in price.
PS- Reminder this is a working theory, its impossible for us to get the data we need to know for sure, so all we can do is take educated guesses and try and interpret the market.
On Friday CI Global Asset Management, Purpose Investments Inc., and Evolve Funds have received clearance from Ontario Securities Commission to launch Ethereum exchange traded funds (ETFs) in Canada.
These ETFs will be available on Toronto’s Stock Exchange (TSX), which will allow retail investors in Canada to invest directly into the digital asset from 20 April 2021. Ethereum (ETH), which is currently the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, is the obvious next choice for institutions looking to get their feet wet in the crypto economy.
While Bitcoin tends to get a lot of attention as it was the first major cryptocurrency, what ether and the Ethereum ecosystem represent is one of the most exciting new technology visions today in society
Som Seif, founder and CEO of Purpose Investments
Three Ethereum ETFs in One Day
All three of these funds were cleared on Friday:
The CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF will trade in Canadian dollars (ETHX.B, unhedged) and in U.S. dollars (ETHX.U). CI GAM is the manager of the ETF and Galaxy Digital Asset Management (“GDAM”) will be the sub-advisor.
— CI Global Asset Management (@CIGlobalAsset) April 16, 2021
Purpose Investments is the manager of Purpose Ether ETF and Ether Capital Corporation will consult. The ETH will be kept in cold storage with Gemini acting as the sub-custodian and CIBC Mellon Global Securities acting as the fund administrator.
The approval comes a little over two months after Canada approved the Purpose Bitcoin ETF which held 10,064 BTC in the first week of trading.
Purpose ETF is designed to provide investors with exposure to ether by investing directly in physically settled ether. The ETF will offer three classes of units: Canadian dollar currency hedged units (ETHH), Canadian dollar non-currency hedged units (ETHH.B) and U.S. dollar units with ticker units (ETHH.U).
Evolve Funds stated that “similar to Bitcoin, investors will now be able to trade Ether as simple as buying shares through their bank or brokerage.” Evolve’s ETF will trade on the TSX as ETHR.
We're launching! Evolves Ether ETF will be trading Tuesday, April 20th! Stay tuned for more information and review our press release here. https://t.co/JfWLamgU9w
Earlier this year Canada had also approved Bitcoin ETFs. Two of which broke records with their trading volumes: Purpose trading $80 million in its first hour and Evolve raised $421 million in just two days. With the now soon-to-be open Ethereum ETFs, mainstream crypto adoption is warming up in Canada.
