Category: Crypto News

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News DAO DeFi Immutable X Maple NFTs Synthetix

Australian Web3 Ecosystem Is Growing Fast, Driven By Crypto and Blockchain Technology

The Australian Web3 ecosystem has grown immensely over the past couple of years and is driven by cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

The emergence of NFTs, DeFi, and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) has expanded the space. The days of ICO token raises have been superseded by building meaningful communities. Notable communities/projects in the space include Immutable, Synthetix, Sigma Prime, Maple Finance, and DAOunder, all of which have helped garner increasing interest in the ecosystem.

Australia web3 economy. Source: crypblizz

The branding surrounding Web3 has made the space more inviting than the nuanced word ‘crypto’ would have suggested a few years ago.

Aussie Blockchain History in Brief

  • pre-bitcoin 1970 -2000s: cypherpunk movement;
  • 2009 – 2013: the birth of Bitcoin and underground knowledge of the space;
  • 2014 – 2016: Ethereum launches and early adopters spring up;
  • 2017 – 2018: ICO boom and an influx of capital and interest;
  • 2018 – 2020: ‘DeFi Summer’, where projects started to build the foundations for decentralised finance;
  • 2021: NFTs, DeFi and DAO boom interest; and
  • 2022: who knows?

The following categories summarise the activities within the Australian Web3 ecosystem:

Communities/DAOs

These form the backbone that brings people together, and with recent events, many communities have moved online to Discord. In-person events such as Blockchain Week show that people are willing to meet in real life again. By bringing it all together, people feel a sense of community and the ecosystem grows accordingly.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)/Gaming

NFTs took 2021 by storm and a lot of people are forking out vast amounts of money for expensive JPEGs. However, a lot of great Aussie projects such as Immutable, which was recently valued at US$3.5 billion, and Illuvium have also been making waves in the Web3 ecosystem.

Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

DeFi is such a vast category that it can be been broken down into the following:

  • Layer 1 blockchains: Fantom, Algorand, ThorChain;
  • Finance layer: Synthetix, Ren Protocol, Maple Finance, Zeta Markets and Drift;
  • Infrastructure: Rocket Pool, Chainflip, Sigma Prime; and
  • Identity: ArcX and BronID.

Venture Capital

Over the past two years, traditional Web2 funds have been spinning off an extra allocation into the space. Airtree, for example, launched a US$50 million Web3 fund, which is a very healthy sign for the growth of this sector.

Media

The right kind of media is essential in this growing space, with click-bait schemes popping up left, right and centre. Influencers who are voicing their opinions in this space can be invaluable.

Legal/Regulatory/Government

Bodies like Blockchain Australia are helping form relationships and policies within the ecosystem. Collaboration between these associations and regulatory bodies will accelerate the adoption process.

Exchanges and Retail Investors

Retail investors use these exchange platforms to enter the Web3 markets. BTC Markets, Independent Reserves, Coinjar and Coinstop are some of the first Australian native exchanges.

Categories
Crypto Art Crypto News NFTs Payments

Visa Launches Program to Invest in NFT Creators

Payments giant Visa has launched the Visa Creator Program, a one-year product strategy and mentorship course for entrepreneurs from the art, music, fashion and film worlds who seek to augment their work with non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The program had its beginnings in October 2021 when Visa announced former major league baseballer Micah Johnson as its first official creator. Johnson’s art has since sold for a total value of almost US$21 million. His best-known piece is Aku, a young black astronaut who digitally “travels” to the International Space Station.

Roughly 50 million artists, musicians, fashion designers and filmmakers already publish content as a source of income, with the global creator economy worth an estimated US$100 billion. Visa’s inaugural class of content creators are already engaging with NFTs, and prospective candidates who intend to join them must apply and be selected.

Program Also Offers Web3 Engagement

The Visa Creator Program offers participants opportunities to engage with Visa’s network of clients and partners, as well as providing access to “thought leaders” in the Web3 space.

Visa’s immersion in the NFT space began last August when it bought a CryptoPunk for almost US$150,000. At the time, the company’s head of crypto Cuy Sheffield said that Visa wanted to “signal [its] support” for people involved in the NFT market.

Six months later, you could say it’s a case of mission accomplished.

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Blockchain Crypto News Markets Tokens Waves

WAVES Protocol is Making Waves, Surging 70% Amid News of US Launch

The price of the Waves blockchain’s token (WAVES) has surged over 70 percent following the March 28 launch of Waves Labs, a US-based organisation tasked with supercharging Waves ecosystem’s growth globally.

According to CoinGecko, WAVES’ value jumped from US$31.80 to US$54 in the 24 hours following the announcement. Since then it’s continued to increase, at the time of writing sitting at US$57.14 – a new all-time high.

Waves Labs to Boost Awareness and Adoption

Waves Labs, which will be headquartered in Miami, US, will spearhead expansion of the Waves ecosystem by pursuing aggressive marketing and hiring strategies and by supporting Waves-based projects with mentoring and funding grants.

Waves founder Sasha Ivanov was optimistic that Waves Labs would further boost the ecosystem despite the network having recently seen record growth, stating:

Waves Labs is a key component of the Waves plan to grow exponentially in 2022. Despite a period of record growth of our ecosystem, Waves remains relatively unknown in the US crypto space. With the founding of Waves Labs, the ecosystem fund, and the extremely talented team in place, I do not doubt that Waves will reach mass adoption in 2022 and beyond. 

Sasha Ivanov, founder, Waves

New Team Brings Crypto Experience

Waves Labs also announced its newly hired senior leadership team, which includes:

  • Aleks Rubin as head of US Operations;
  • Coleman Maher, who previously led business development at Origin Protocol, as head of Ecosystem;
  • Jack Booth, former product marketing lead at Oasis Protocol, as Marketing Lead; and
  • Tiffany Phan as VP of Finance and Operations. 

US head Rubin said: “I am excited to lead this dynamic team as we expand visibility and enhance the utilisation of Waves protocol in the North American market.”

US Launch Follows Bullish Period 

The launch of Waves Labs follows a recent run of bullish news for the network, starting in February of this year: the migration to Waves 2.0; the launch of a US$150 million fund to support Waves-based dApps; and its partnership with Allbridge to facilitate cross-chain interoperability. 

In addition, the total value locked in the Waves ecosystem has boomed recently. In particular, Neutrino – a Waves-based multi-assetisation protocol – has exploded, seeing its total value locked increase over 300 percent in the past month to a new all-time high of US$4.36 billion, including inflows of almost US$450 million in a single day.

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Australia Banking Crypto Exchange Crypto News

Mastercard Partners with Aussie Crypto Exchange in Effort to Tackle Debanking

Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets has entered a partnership with Mastercard, allowing it to accept card payments. This will mean more options for users and a positive step toward tackling debanking on Mastercard’s behalf.

Wider Range of Banking Options

Under the terms of the agreement, Aussies will be able to deposit and withdraw Australian dollars without fees via a broad range of means. Prepaid, direct debit and credit card payments will now be available on the exchange, whereas previously BTC Markets only permitted bank transfers:

The strategic merchant partnership is also about solving the issue of debanking, where a financial institution terminates, or denies, services to a client. While the practice is not illegal, a reason must be given for the termination. Typically, a bank will claim it seeks to mitigate risk by debanking a client, particularly in cryptocurrency-related cases.

Integrating traditional financial services with blockchain technology may be a remedy to this issue.

Past Debanking Cases in Australia

Allan Flynn, the owner of Australian exchange BitcoinCanberra, managed to settle a complaint against ANZ bank in October 2021 after being suddenly debanked. It took 20 months for Flynn to reach this outcome and appeared to be a turning point in the crypto industry’s fight against the practice.

Following this case, AUSTRAC – Australia’s anti-money laundering regulator – issued a warning to banks closing unsuspecting accounts. The financial watchdog stated that “businesses vulnerable to exploitation should not automatically have their accounts closed simply to avoid managing risk”.

Banks are expected to assess risks on a case-by-case basis, without bias towards crypto-related businesses.

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Aave Chiliz Crypto News Market Analysis Trading VeChain

Top 3 Coins to Watch Today: CHZ, VET, AAVE – March 31 Trading Analysis

Let’s take a closer look at today’s altcoins showing breakout signals. We’ll explain what the coin is, then dive into the trading charts and provide some analysis to help you decide.

1. Chiliz (CHZ)

Chiliz CHZ is the leading digital currency for sports and entertainment, powering the world’s first blockchain-based fan engagement and rewards platform, Socios.com. Here, fans can purchase and trade branded fan tokens as well as having the ability to participate, influence, and vote in club-focused surveys and polls. Founded in Malta in 2018, the company’s vision is to bridge the gap between active and passive fans, providing millions of sports fanatics with a fan token that acts as a tokenised share of influence.

CHZ Price Analysis

At the time of writing, CHZ is ranked the 64th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.3092. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

CHZ‘s stunning rally to $0.5350 plummeted over 70% after December to sweep consolidation lows at $0.2155. This could set the stage for a new bullish cycle to begin. 

The price is currently balancing around the January monthly open. A quick stop run into support beginning near $0.2732 could set the stage for a move into the daily gap beginning near $0.2605, potentially reaching resistance near $0.2437.

A sweep of the highs near $0.3258, followed by a sharp sell-off, could hint that bulls are preparing to run the swing high near $0.3547. This run could find the next resistance around $0.3836 in the candle wick that created the monthly high. If the market remains bullish, the price will likely reach into possible resistance near $0.4128.

2. VeChain (VET)

VeChain VET is a blockchain-powered supply chain platform. VeChain aims to use distributed governance and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to create an ecosystem that solves some of the major problems with supply chain management. The platform uses two in-house tokens, VET and VTHO, to manage and create value based on its VeChainThor public blockchain. The idea is to boost the efficiency, traceability, and transparency of supply chains while reducing costs and placing more control in the hands of individual users.

VET Price Analysis

At the time of writing, VET is ranked the 34th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$0.08355. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

VET‘s 45% move during last week ran into resistance near $0.08420, at the 27% extension of the Q1 swing.

An old high and the 18 EMA have provided support near $0.06833 and might give support again on a retest. This area also has confluence with the 50% and 62.8% retracements of November’s swing.

Just below, near $0.06493, the 55.8% retracement of the current Q4 swing might also mark an area of support. 

If the market turns bearish, $0.06172 is unlikely to be revisited but could see interest from bulls during any deeper retracement.

An area near $0.09018, at the 50% extension of the summer’s swing, could see some profit-taking if bulls break the current resistance near $0.09378. Above, old consolidations near $0.09525 and $0.09872 may also provide some resistance before another round of price discovery.

3. Aave (AAVE)

AAVE is a decentralised finance protocol that allows people to lend and borrow crypto. Lenders earn interest by depositing digital assets into specially created liquidity pools. Borrowers can then use their crypto as collateral to take out a flash loan using this liquidity. AAVE provides holders with discounted fees on the platform, and it also serves as a governance token – giving owners a say in the future development of the protocol.

AAVE Price Analysis

At the time of writing, AAVE is ranked the 48th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is US$229.86. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis:

Source: TradingView

AAVE‘s strong downtrend that began during mid-January has retraced most of its Q1 move, recently sweeping lows near $160.

A sweep of the relatively equal lows near $217 into possible support around $210, combined with bullish market conditions, could be the catalyst that begins to form a bottom. If this level fails, bulls might buy the monthly gap’s low near $198.

The swing high near $248 may form resistance to any sudden pumps as holders unload some of their position. A more substantial move might sweep relatively swing highs into probable resistance near $256, potentially reaching up to the new monthly high near $265 and $280.

Learn How to Trade Live!

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Where to Buy or Trade Altcoins?

These coins have high liquidity on Binance Exchange, so that could help with trading on AUD/USDT/BTC pairs. And if you’re looking at buying and HODLing cryptos, then Swyftx Exchange is an easy-to-use popular choice in Australia.

Categories
Axie Infinity Crypto News Hackers NFTs

Axie Infinity Loses $625 Million in Biggest DeFi Hack on Record

Ronin, the Ethereum sidechain specifically designed for popular NFT game Axie Infinity, has been the victim of a major hack, draining approximately US$625 million worth of WETH and USDC from its bridge.

Attack Started One Week Ago

Sky Mavis – the studio behind Axie Infinity – said the attack started on March 23, almost a week before being noticed yesterday, when a user was unable to withdraw 5k ETH from the bridge. The company is now reportedly in talks with several government agencies to identify the exploiter.

The attack occurred after four Ronin validators and one Axie DAO third-party validator were compromised:

Sky Mavis’s Ronin chain currently consists of nine validator nodes. In order to recognise a Deposit event or a Withdrawal event, five out of the nine validator signatures are needed. The attacker managed to get control over Sky Mavis’s four Ronin validators and a third-party validator run by Axie DAO. 

Ronin Network statement

The attacker drained US$25 million USDC and 173.600 ETH (nearly US$600 million) from the bridge that connects Ronin with the Ethereum mainnet by using “hacked private keys” to execute the exploit. In doing so, they were able to forge two fake withdrawals (transactions 1 and 2) and steal the funds.

Biggest Hack in Crypto History by Now

This is now the largest hack in crypto history, narrowly exceeding last year’s US$600 million Poly Network hack, but still significantly larger than the US$326 million Solana wormhole hack earlier this year.

Sky Mavis is said to be working with Chainalysis to monitor the stolen funds, most of which are still in the hacker’s wallet. Additionally, the company stated that it would migrate its entire node infrastructure, so it might take a while for things to get up and start running again. Also, as a result of the attack, both Ronin and Katana DEX are temporarily halted to avoid further attack vectors.

Jeff Zirlin, co-founder of Sky Mavis, described the hack as “one of the biggest in history” at the recent NFT LA conference:

Categories
Bitcoin Crypto News Ethereum Investing Markets Solana

Crypto Sees Biggest Institutional Inflows This Year Driven By BTC, ETH and SOL

A report released by crypto asset management firm CoinShares shows that institutional crypto funds have seen their biggest capital inflows since December 2021, with over US$193 million pouring into the funds during the week ending March 25.

This new wave of interest in crypto investment products follows two weeks of outflows from crypto funds and coincides with a 15 percent increase in Bitcoin’s price over the past week.

European Funds, Bitcoin Lead the Way

Of the total inflows, European-based funds saw US$147 million, or around 76 percent, while a relatively paltry US$45 million went into US-based funds.

Bitcoin-focused funds were by far the most popular investment product, seeing US$97.8 in inflows, bringing total inflows since the start of 2022 to US$162 million.

Solana Funds Had Their Best Week, Most Altcoins Did Well

This was the single best week ever for Solana funds, with over US$87 million pouring in – representing 36 percent of assets under management, which now stand at a total of US$241 million. This makes Solana the fifth-largest investment product and the second-largest altcoin behind Ethereum.

Ethereum-focused funds were the second most popular altcoin, with US$10.2 million in inflows; Cardano-focused funds saw US$1.8 million; Polkadot-focused US$1.2 million, and ATOM-focused funds saw around US$800,000.

Flows by asset. Source: CoinShare

Multi-asset funds bucked the trend and recorded US$5.5 million in outflows, which was a surprise since they’ve been relatively popular recently – this being only the second week this year they’ve seen net outflows.

Categories
Blockchain BNB Crypto News GameFi Gaming Metaverse

BNB Chain to Launch Application-Specific Sidechains to Reduce Network Strain 

BNB Chain is on the move to add application-specific sidechains to the blockchain to help with scalability and streamline data-heavy applications like gaming and the metaverse.

BNB Chain, formerly known as Binance Smart Chain (BSC), the Layer 1 solution developed by Binance, will start including sidechains to improve its scalability. Similar to Polkadot’s (DOT) parachains, these BNB Chain Application Sidechains (BAS) aim to cut costs and increase the speed of transactions for resource-intense applications such as gaming, SocialFi, and the metaverse.

Binance Labs – the core development team of BNB Chain – has yet to reveal all the technical details. However, the possibility has been ruled out that these sidechains become equal layer 1 blockchains, which is the case with parachains.

A BNB Chain spokesperson told The Block:

The BAS is an infrastructure introduced to help developers and node operators build and run their own blockchain as their internal value system for a massive number of users while still maintaining a close connection with BNB Chain.

BNB spokesperson

It’s All About the Use Case

The point of application-specific sidechains is to allow each chain to focus on a specific use case. According to the BNB spokesperson, the sidechains will host BNB-compatible dApps and will be able to operate independently of the mainnet – allowing teams to customise for their own security needs, instead of relying on the mainnet.

Sidechains to Open Doors for Large-Scale Applications

A valid comparison to BAS is Ronin, a sidechain on Ethereum dedicated solely to Axie Infinity’s play-to-earn game. Similarly, the very first BAS testnet will focus on GameFi, according to the BNB spokesperson.

BNB Chain ecosystem coordinator Samy Karim has mentioned previously that “BNB Chain will embrace large-scale applications, including GameFi, SocialFi and the Metaverse. In particular, scaling from one chain to multi-chain, improving scaling solutions and expanding the validator set of BSC from 21 to 41 (with 20 validators functioning as candidate block producers).”

Binance has been making various moves as of late, from acquiring traditional businesses and bringing them into the crypto space to now adding sidechains to facilitate specific use cases. The centralised giant may still have a big role to play in the crypto space.

Categories
Crypto News Crypto Wallets Privacy

EU Set to Vote on Prohibiting Transactions to Unhosted Wallets

The global crypto community is up in arms over proposed new European Union rules that would sanction the invasion of personal privacy and treat new technologies less fairly than cash or traditional bank transfers.

The EU Parliament seeks to extend checks to cover privately managed unhosted wallets that store crypto, despite fears that such rules could prove unenforceable:

Examples of an unhosted, or non-custodial, wallet include MetaMask, WalletConnect, or hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor. 

“Money going to unhosted wallets may end up in the wrong place, for example with terrorist groups,” according to Paul Tang, one of the members of the European Parliament on the Economic Affairs Committee that will vote on the matter later this week.

Data Collection an Impossible Task

Tang, a Dutch socialist, tweeted earlier this week that wallet owners would need to be identified in the same manner as bank customers are. The draft regulation would require crypto service providers not only to collect personal data related to transfers made to and from unhosted wallets (as they are already obliged to do) but also to “verify the accuracy of information with respect to the originator or beneficiary behind the unhosted wallet”. Such verification would prove problematic, if not impossible, say those service providers.

‘Travel Rule’ Another Data Harvesting Scheme in Disguise

The likes of Coinbase are already objecting to the EU’s so-called travel rule, which proposes to extend anti-money-laundering identity checks to payments made in digital currencies, even if they fall under an existing threshold of 1,000 euros (US$1,098).

“The travel rule … is really a massive and indiscriminate personal data collection and transfer scheme,” said Mikołaj Barczentewicz, associate professor at the University of Surrey in the UK and Fellow of Stanford Law School (US).

Proponents of the new rules, Barczentewicz added, are “saying that it is necessary for all crypto service providers to report sensitive data of their clients, even when there is not even the slightest suspicion of a criminal connection”.

Even if the 1,000 euro threshold were maintained, he said, such a privacy restriction would “very likely not be as effective as less rights-restricting alternatives” because those with nefarious aims could simply circumvent them.

What we seem to be dealing with here is an attempt to do ‘something about crypto and crime’ without a serious, evidence-based reflection on how best to do it.

Mikołaj Barczentewicz, associate professor, University of Surrey (UK), and Fellow of Stanford Law School (US)

In more encouraging news earlier this month, the EU Parliament voted against a proof-of-work ban, allowing BTC holders at least to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Categories
Australia Blockchain Crypto News

ASX Blockchain Upgrade Delayed for the Fourth Time

The Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX) Clearing House Electronic Sub-Register System (CHESS) has been delayed yet again. The fourth setback for the blockchain-based upgrade is being blamed on the firm building the software, and is believed to have already cost A$187 million.

https://www2.asx.com.au/markets/clearing-and-settlement-services/chess-replacement
An updated clearing and settlement system is planned for CHESS. Source: ASX

Another Delayed ASX Upgrade

Thanks to this latest setback, the ASX’s data warehouse is reportedly facing “several months of delay”. It was initially scheduled to go live in 2023, but this latest news is placing a lot of doubt on the timeline.  

https://www2.asx.com.au/about/our-board-and-management/our-executive-team

We recognise the impact these changes will have on our customers’ programming activities and apologise for the inconvenience.

Tim Hogben, ASX group executive

It is unlikely that accreditation schedules can begin until July or August of this year at the earliest. The ASX is shifting the blame for the delay to Digital Asset, the company developing the world’s first industrial-scale use of this technology.

Past ASX Blockchain Developments

In August 2020, the ASX looked to upgrade CHESS sooner than originally expected due to an increase in market pressure. However, in July of 2021, it was reported that ASX brokers were spending millions to adapt to the new blockchain-based upgrade, with CHESS making it difficult for SAFAA (Stockbrokers and Financial Advisors Association) members to interact.

Finally, the first of the Industry Test Environments (ITE1) for CHESS opened in December 2021. At the time it was a major step toward the final version of the system, which was set to go live next year.