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Showing posts from April, 2022

Swiss National Bank: ‘Buying Bitcoin Is Not a Problem for Us’

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Switzerland’s central bank, the Swiss National Bank, says buying and holding bitcoin as a reserve currency is not a problem for the bank. “We can arrange the technical and operative conditions relatively quickly, when we are convinced we must have bitcoin in our balance sheet,” the chairman of the Swiss central bank reportedly explained. Switzerland’s Central Bank on Buying and Holding Bitcoin as a Reserve Currency The Swiss National Bank could buy and hold bitcoin as a reserve currency if the cryptocurrency meets the bank’s currency reserves requirements, Chairman Thomas Jordan reportedly said at the central bank’s annual general meeting Friday. The Swiss central bank chief was quoted by Reuters as saying: Buying bitcoin is not a problem for us. We can do that either directly or can buy investment products which are based on bitcoin. However, he noted: “But from the current perspective we do not believe bitcoin meets the requirements of currency reserves. That’s why we have un

NFTs In A Nutshell: A Weekly Review

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While NFTs are currently in a somewhat bearish cycle, the cryptocurrency market as large has held impressively strong relative to many other public markets. NFTs are no exception. So while many prices slowly seem to slide, there’s also still strong growth in transaction volumes and new users. In this week’s Nutshell , we’re closing out April on a high note with less corporate dialogue than usual, and more community discussion than we typically dive into. Let’s review the past week of action in all things NFTs. This Week’s Non-Fungible Token News A $34M Contract Flaw Aku Dreams was a highly anticipated NFT project that was expected to hit the market over the course of the past week, but a minor contract flaw ended up having major implications for the project’s release. A fault piece of coding in the contract resulted in $34M worth of locked tokens that were inaccessible to both individuals and the project devs. The NFT community lives and dies by the smart contract; a hard-earned l

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Skeptical of Crypto but Says ‘Not All of It Is Bad’

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Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, says that he does not particularly like crypto but will defend your right to invest in it. However, he sees benefits in some aspects of digital currency. JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon on Crypto, Digital Currency JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon talked about cryptocurrency in an interview with KMTV 3 News Now in Omaha Friday ahead of the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting this weekend. Commenting on cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, the JPMorgan boss said: I always say I don’t particularly like it. I defend your right to do it. I’d say be very, very careful how much money you put into it. However, Dimon sees benefits in some aspects of crypto, such as its technology, admitting that the banking industry has its inefficiencies. The executive opined: Not all of it is bad. If you said to me ‘I want to send $200 to a friend in a foreign country,’ that could take you two weeks and cost you $40. You could do it through a digital currency an

Is Web3 like playing Minecraft?

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Web3 is coming. Are you ready for it? Use the newest version of the internet and expand your whole online experience. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/7e80zth via IFTTT

4-digit ENS domains spike in demand this week and continue soaring

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Ethereum users rushing to purchase scarce three- and four-digit names have been driving NFT market sales activity. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/yJ5sFzk via IFTTT

Goldman Sachs Is Bringing bitcoin-Backed Loans To Traditional Finance

Lending and borrowing have become words that are associated with Bitcoin. This is the same with traditional finance where lending and borrowing remain a big part of the ecosystem. However, there has not been an intersection of these three. This has mostly stemmed from the distrust of traditional finance toward bitcoin. The digital asset which remains largely unregulated did not provide the kind of backing tradfi wanted. That is until now. Bitcoin-Backed Loans In Tradfi Investment bank Goldman Sachs has announced the introduction of Bitcoin-backed loans. In what is a first for a major U.S. bank, Goldman Sachs has expanded its crypto offerings to include these bitcoin-backed loans. It is the first secured lending facility of its kind which will lend out cash that is collateralized by BTC.  Related Reading | Number Of Bitcoin Millionaires On The Rise As Accumulation Continues Mostly, banks have shied away from the cryptocurrency due to its highly volatile and unregulated nature. Nevert

Grayscale Investments Plans European Expansion

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Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital asset manager, is expanding into Europe. “We’re going to be very thoughtful, very methodical about each of the financial centers and financial hubs that we ultimately launch in,” said the CEO. Grayscale Entering Europe The world’s largest digital asset manager, Grayscale Investments, is getting ready to expand into Europe, CEO Michael Sonnenshein told Bloomberg Tuesday. He explained that decisions have yet to be made regarding which exchanges, which products, and which countries Grayscale will target first. The executive revealed that he has been meeting with various local partners to discuss the launch timeline, adding that the company plans to run a series of pilot tests in different markets. “Although the EU is unified, we don’t view the entire European market as in fact one market,” Sonnenshein described, elaborating: Instead we’re going to be very thoughtful, very methodical about each of the financial centers and financial

CropBytes Games Celebrates a Milestone Unheard of, ‘4 Years of Sustainable Web3 Gaming’

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PRESS RELEASE. For a gaming community to complete 4 years in the crypto gaming industry is a remarkable achievement to say the least. CropBytes was launched during the 2018 bull run, and the team’s strategy and agility towards changing market scenarios and needs of the community have enabled the game to sustain and grow over the years. What started out as a NFT based game with initial flash sale, is now a game with a sustainable economy with a mix of FTs and NFTs with over 550k downloads and adequate liquidity is the market. With the first few months fo launching the assets in erly 2018, the initial version of the game was launched which was a big hit and it drew attention of the early adopters of crypto-based games. As the players grew, so did the demand for game assets and goods in the game. This set the ball rolling for the expansive game economy we see today. B uilding a web3 games for the Bulls & the Bears When the game’s acceptance grew and more players began to hold ass

Internet Computer's ORIGYN is watching the watches using NFT authentication

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ICP-powered ORIGYN is leveraging blockchain and biometric technology to tackle the issue of counterfeit watches. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/7ep0sfh via IFTTT

Deutsche Bank Predicts Major US Recession Next Year

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Deutsche Bank’s economists have warned that the U.S. will suffer a major recession next year. However, several other major investment banks, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, are less pessimistic about the future outlook for the U.S. economy. Major US Recession Incoming, According to Deutsche Bank’s Economists Deutsche Bank has predicted a deeper downturn than its previous forecast for the U.S. economy in a report to clients, published Tuesday. The bank’s economists, including David Folkerts-Landau, group chief economist and head of research, explained in the report why the coming recession will be worse than expected. They described: We will get a major recession, but our strongly held view is that the sooner and the more aggressively the Fed acts, the less longer-term damage to the economy there will be. The report explains that it will take a long time before inflation falls back to the Fed’s goal of 2%. The authors warned that the central bank will likely engage in the

New Report: Blockchain Hackers Stole $1.3 Billion In Q1 2022

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Despite the drop in bitcoin prices at the beginning of the year, thieves did not take a break. Hackers and scammers made millions of dollars from attacks on numerous crypto projects and ecosystems. According to the Atlas VPN team’s new research, blockchain hackers stole approximately $1.3 billion in 78 hack events in the first quarter of 2022. Furthermore, hacks on the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems resulted in over $1 billion in losses in this quarter alone. Blockchain Hackers Eating Good The figures come from Slowmist Hacked, which compiles information about publicly acknowledged attacks on blockchain projects. The conversion rate of a particular cryptocurrency at the time of a hack or scam occurrence was used to quantify monetary losses     During the first quarter of 2022, the Ethereum ecosystem was hacked 18 times, resulting in a loss of almost $636 million. The most significant attack of the quarter occurred at the end of March, when the Axie Infinity sidechain Ronin Netw

Will The Ethereum Merge Skyrocket ETH?

The Ethereum Merge is the most critical aspect of the ETH 2.0 upgrade, since it will convert from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake system. The move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus is the focus of the upgrade. The improvement, as previously reported, has been postponed until the end of 2022, with no specific deadline in sight. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency was meant to be weeks away from the “merge” a June upgrade of its blockchain Ethereum that would make it faster, cheaper, and less power demanding, promising a meaner and cleaner crypto future. Ethereum Merge Will Help ETH Messari’s senior research analyst Tom Dunleavy believes in a report titled “The Decoupling Thesis” that the Ethereum merger will likely be a major turning point in investors’ economic outlook. He points out that in the past, the crypto market leaders, Bitcoin and Ethereum, had a high positive association with the broader US stock market. For longer durations, the correlation between

Bitcoin Beneath Key Support Level; What’s Next?

Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency has remained below $40,000 over the past few days. The broader market correction has pushed altcoins to trade below their key support levels. Ethereum was priced below $3000 as the coin was rejected from the aforementioned price level. Bitcoin’s tough resistance stands at $40,000 as traders continue to exit the market over the last week. In the last 24 hours, BTC had fallen by 3% and in the past week, the coin registered a 6% depreciation. The crypto market continues to be in an accumulation phase. Increased accumulation is often tied to bullish pressure in the market, however, the market paints a different picture. Higher accumulation is also tied with increased risk/ratio which is basically a bullish indicator for the coin. Other Metrics To Reinforce That Bitcoin Could Pick Up A Bullish Price Direction Data from Kaiko display that trade volumes have gone down for both BTC and ETH. The image below depicts the dip in trade volumes seen on major c

Why Elon Musk’s Twitter Acquisition Is Good For Dogecoin

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Elon Musk is now officially the owner of Twitter after the board accepted his $54 billion offer to buy the social media giant. The vast implications of this acquisition remain to be seen but the impact of the decision has already been felt across the market. The most notable of these has been the value of Dogecoin. This meme coin which Elon Musk has relentlessly pushed to the mainstream in the past may stand to gain more than every other digital asset. Dogecoin Surges On Twitter News Once news of ‘Dogefather’ Elon Musk buying Twitter broke, the price of Dogecoin had quickly reacted to it. The meme coin had jumped 30% off the news alone which had helped it break out of the low momentum that had trapped it at in the $0.12 level for the better part of last week.   Related Reading |  Elon Musk Says A Dogecoin-Ethereum Bridge Is Not Needed Dogecoin is often closely associated with Elon Musk who has declared his support for the meme coin at various times. The surge in the price of the d

Nifty News: OpenSea acquires Gem, and Chess.com makes a move into NFTs

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OpenSea's NFT empire just got bigger with its latest acquisition, while virtual influencer Rae creates an NFT collection to advance girls' education, and online chess players can now turn memorable matches into NFTs with chess.com. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/kVK1FEW via IFTTT

TA: Bitcoin Overcomes Hurdles, Why BTC Could Regain Momentum

Bitcoin extended decline and tested the $38,200 zone against the US Dollar. BTC started a major recovery wave and climbed above the $40,000 resistance. Bitcoin extended decline, but it remained stable above the $38,000 level. The price is now back above below $40,000 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There was a break above a major bearish trend line with resistance near $39,550 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair is eyeing more upsides above the $40,500 and $40,950 resistance levels. Bitcoin Price Recovers Sharply Bitcoin price remained in a bearish zone after it broke the $39,200 support. BTC extended decline below the $38,500 level, but the bulls were active near the $38,200 level. A low was formed near $38,200 and the price started a major increase. The price climbed higher above the $39,200 and $39,500 resistance levels. There was a move above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the key decline from the $42,950 swing high to $38

Increased adoption of Metaverse NFTs will power the next NFT growth cycle

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Virtual events, land and financial services in the Metaverse will unlock a trillion-dollar deal that will drive the next NFT investing boom. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/BHDSxby via IFTTT

How much entropy is lost alphabetising your mnemonics?

Yes I know this is not BIP39 compliant and a horrible idea, but please help satisfy my curiosity with this thought experiment / maths exercise. Two questions, one for 12 words, the other for 24. Assuming "perfectly" random entropy to start, and the final checksum word adapted to the new order, likely not itself the last alphabetically. Just how much entropy is lost re-sorting the words compared to the original random sort? I don't need the "show your work" maths, more like practically speaking about current brute-forcing capabilities, "you would lose 70% of your entropy, and 40% respectively" If not too inconvenient, something ELI5 like, how many years of effort difference? from Recent Questions - Bitcoin Stack Exchange https://ift.tt/f8emQ9A via IFTTT

How Does The Bitcoin Network 'Tie' Bitcoins Together To Form UTXO's. Also, why doesn't the Bitcoin Network just remember everyone's balance

Also, what even is a Bitcoin, is it a string of code that can be divided. from Recent Questions - Bitcoin Stack Exchange https://ift.tt/Bog1b4K via IFTTT

Found 2015 seed phrase - NOT bip32 or common format! Cant open it!

Found lost seed phrase from 2015 behind picture frame... Actually two of them. BUT I have no idea what wallet it goes to. 12 word phrase. The words are not recognized as part of the bip32 word set. Importing to electrum and scanning for old accounts yields nothing. I went to length to make sure I didnt lose the phrase.. Nobody warned that something like this could be an issue. Maybe to start if anyone knows where I could find an archive of old word lists from outdated wallets to see if I can match some of the non bip3 words with another format? Of course I will be generous if anyone is able to help!!! from Recent Questions - Bitcoin Stack Exchange https://ift.tt/TkRuraJ via IFTTT

Why does Ethereum have an intrinsic value?

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Ethereum’s rise means it has an intrinsic value. This article explores the cryptocurrency’s main features that add value to its offering. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/mAHgsnM via IFTTT

Game Space: One of the First GaaS “GameFi as a Service” Platform

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On April 22nd Michael Cameron the CEO and Co-founder of Game Space announced that it has released one of the first GaaS “GameFi as a Service” Platform. Game Space also announced that it had received more than US $7 million in financing. This round of financing is jointly led by top-tier VCs, Listed Gaming companies and top-tier Exchanges. Game Space provides a one-stop GameFi as a Service for large gaming companies and AAA titles, one line of code SDK integration, as well as an NFT exchange engine that can be embedded in games, helping the GameFi project shorten the launch time by up to half a year and greatly reducing the threshold for game companies to enter into Web3. Game Space focuses on being a one-stand solution for AAA gaming studios, making sure there are no limitations for the Gaming companies Game Space works with. Game Space ensures this by having a flexible Tech Stack and compatibility with both EVM and non-EVM Public chains. Also, the Game Space system allows SDK inte

The Top 5 Most Valuable NFT Collections And A Tool To Track Them Down

Some of these NFT collections are so ever-present that they are already part of the collective unconscious. Others, the general public has not even heard about.  What makes an NFT collection valuable? Market capitalization is the potential value of the whole collection, based on its size and the value of the individual pieces. In the case of NFTs, it’s hard to pinpoint, because it’s a volatile market with lots of action all-day-every-day. Agreeing on which are the most valuable #NFTs collections is certainly hard. We created a matrix called "Most Valuable NFTs Collections" and it shows the 20 most valuable collections, sorted by their market capitalization. Access this data for free here: https://t.co/wXJyMCmRBD pic.twitter.com/PyzbPMDKCk — IntoTheBlock (@intotheblock) April 21, 2022 When IntoTheBlock announced their list, they presented it by saying, “Agreeing on which are the most valuable NFTs collections is certainly hard.” Besides market capitalization, the “Most Va

Why A “Boring” Bitcoin Could Be A Good Thing

The current bitcoin trend can be described as “boring” by a lot of folks in the market. However, it is good to look at what this would mean in a space like the crypto industry that is used to fast-moving prices and quick-changing momentum. While the word “boring” may sound bad to investors who are used to these characteristics, Director of Global Macro at Fidelity, Jurrien Timmer, explains why this could inherently be a good thing for the digital asset. Draw In Institutional Investors The need for institutional investors in bitcoin cannot be overstated. For the digital asset to get to some of the forecasted values, institutional investors moving into the market has become a necessity. But will these institutional investors want to move into a highly unpredictable asset such as bitcoin? Related Reading | Halfway To The Halving: What This Means For Bitcoin In his recent Twitter thread, Timmer explained that a “boring” bitcoin is important if institutional adoption is to be expected. P

Meaningless and weak: Debunking the ‘Bitcoiners are psychopaths’ study

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An expert psychologist has said the way the results were gathered were “pretty much uninformative” and the connection between psychopathy and buying crypto was “very weak”. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/1EQS6hA via IFTTT

More volatile than Bitcoin? Netflix shares plunge 25%

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The streaming service’s stock price took a major hit after releasing disappointing user numbers, making some in the crypto community cry foul at the volatility. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/9mhNufw via IFTTT

400 new projects and 100K new wallets in a month on Cardano

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The number of ADA wallets has increased by 100,000 since March 22, with the total figure standing at 3.268 million as of April 19. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/BX9rmj4 via IFTTT

US Lawmaker Urges Biden Administration to Develop ‘Robust Strategy’ to Prevent Crypto Use to Evade Sanctions

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A U.S. lawmaker has urged the Biden administration to develop a “robust strategy” to prevent cryptocurrency from being used to evade sanctions. “Emerging technologies like cryptocurrency offer many positive applications like humanitarian relief, but the administration has not kept pace in ensuring this novel form of currency is not used to the detriment of U.S. national security,” he said. Congressman McCaul Wants a ‘Robust Strategy’ to Prevent Crypto Use to Evade Sanctions A senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX), has made a number of efforts to prevent cryptocurrency’s use to evade U.S. sanctions. He issued a statement Thursday urging the Biden Administration to create a “robust strategy” to stop crypto from being used to circumvent sanctions. “Emerging technologies like cryptocurrency offer many positive applications like humanitarian relief, but the administration has not kept pace in ensuring this novel form of currency

BitLicensed Crypto Firms Ordered to Pay Annual Assessment Fees in New York

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The fees will bring virtual currency companies on par with those paid by banking and insurance institutions as a way for the state to recoup operating expense costs and “best support” the industry. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/04DIENv via IFTTT

FBI and CSIA issue alert over North Korean cyberattacks on crypto targets

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The cybersecurity agency believes that the threat from North Korean hackers will not go away unless crypto firms take necessary but simple steps to ensure their security. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/Q5FNXhr via IFTTT

Beanstalk Farms loses $182M in DeFi governance exploit

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The stablecoin protocol saw its own governance proposal system exploited enabling the malicious actors to extract all of its $182 million in collateral. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/5eOoBlu via IFTTT

MetaMask warns Apple users over iCloud phishing attacks

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The firm warned that If an Apple user has enabled automatic iCloud backups of their MetaMask wallet data, their seed phrase is being stored online. from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/KbMdEWX via IFTTT

Does running a node benefit the network?

There is a 10-year old question asking this. The sole answer to that question at the time was essentially a yes, and I've seen people say that running a node makes the network more "secure" and "decentralized". However, I've also seen prominent Bitcoin developers [1] [2] say that a full node that isn't actually used by its user to verify the chain is basically useless. So how is it really? To expand on the original question, assuming some nodes do actually contribute to the network, not all nodes obviously contribute the same. I would like to know how some factors might play into this: running a pruned vs unpruned node running over clearnet, Tor or both whether incoming connections are allowed available bandwidth and hardware from Recent Questions - Bitcoin Stack Exchange https://ift.tt/ej2pERf via IFTTT

Fidelity Investments Launches Crypto, Metaverse ETFs — Says ‘We Continue to See Demand’

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Fidelity Investments, one of the largest financial services firms with more than $11 trillion under administration, is launching exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focusing on the crypto ecosystem and the metaverse. “We continue to see demand, particularly from young investors, for access to the rapidly growing industries,” said Fidelity. Fidelity Sees Demand for Crypto, Metaverse Investments Fidelity Investments announced the launch of a couple of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this week to offer investors exposure to the crypto industry and the metaverse. The first is called “Fidelity Crypto Industry and Digital Payments ETF (FDIG).” It invests in companies that “support the broader digital assets ecosystem, including those involved in crypto mining and trading, blockchain technology, and digital payments processing,” the firm described. However, this crypto ETF will not offer direct exposure to cryptocurrency. The second is called “Fidelity Metaverse ETF (FMET).” It invests in companie

CoinSwitch Kuber And WazirX Temporarily Block INR Deposits

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CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX , the two leading Indian crypto exchanges have currently disabled rupee deposits for the purchase of cryptocurrencies using the United Payments Interface (UPI). Among constant regulatory concerns in India, this particular news has brought fresh worry for Indian crypto investors. Not only through UPI, but CoinSwitch Kuber has blocked deposits through bank transfers via NEFT, RTGS and IMPS. This move by CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX has spurred concerns regarding the clarity surrounding the crypto regulatory framework in concern. India has always been apprehensive about cryptocurrencies and had pushed for a ban backed by the Central Government for several months, however, recently, the decision to tax income from crypto points towards a state of acceptance by central authorities. CoinSwitch is yet to make a statement about the newest development but a lot of users have been asking for answers on social media such as Twitter. “Unaware Of Any Crypto Exchange

Crypto Firm MoonPay Receive Investments From Justin Beiber, Bruce Willis and Maria Sharapova Among Others

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Crypto payment platform MoonPay recently announced that it raised $87 million from about 60 A-list celebrities. The investors include singers like Justin Beiber and Snoop Dogg, tennis player Maria Sharapova and actors such as Bruce Willis, Ashton Kutcher, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Through raising funds, MoonPay has attempted to expand the role of Non-fungible tokens by increasing fan engagement through content creation. MoonPay has secured 16% of the funding from just celebrities alone. MoonPay has raised a total of $555 million in Series A funding which was led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management, last year November. At the current moment, the crypto startup is valued at $3.4 Billion after the conclusion of the recent funding round. Other Celebrities On The MoonPay Investment Roster Other investors of the crypto company include names such as Drake, Eva Longoria, Jason Derulo, Kate Hudson, Paris Hilton, Matthew McConaughey, Mindy Kaling, Questlove and Shawn Mendes, The Cha

How often does target hash change and how to find it?

So basically I was researching target hash and trying to figure out how I can find it. I know there are posts out there that have said that Bitcoins target hash is a 256 bit number with 32 bits of leading zeros. But, where can I find this information. Basically is there an equation I can use to find how many leading zeros are currently in the target hash or a direct source where I can find this? Also, how often and by how much does this target change? from Recent Questions - Bitcoin Stack Exchange https://ift.tt/uVvsLzd via IFTTT

The Nightly Mint: Daily NFT Recap

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It was a quiet Tuesday for a fresh mint. Each weekday, we cover the daily dose of NFT action – and while today was a slower day, there’s still plenty of action to quickly recap. In sports NFTs, Candy Digital – the arguable leader within the world of baseball NFTs – is unrolling dynamic NFTs. Meanwhile, Crabada is blowing up on the Avalanche network, and one of the biggest financial credit and debit card providers and payment processors is filing new trademark applications around NFTs. Let’s review it all in a bite-sized daily recap: The Nightly Mint Latest Mint: Dynamic NFTs On Candy Digital Dynamic NFTs have been largely under-the-radar, certainly amongst legacy projects that have become the biggest and brightest. Candy Digital, who carries a partnership with Major League Baseball, is working on dynamic NFTs according to reports today, kicking off with a series titled the ‘MLB ICON Leadoff.’ It could lead to the early iterations of fantasy sports intertwining with NFTs (though ind