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XRP, Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) See Institutional Capital Flows As Altcoin Sentiment Brightens: CoinShares
Digital assets manager CoinShares says institutional investors are becoming more optimistic on altcoins despite Bitcoin (BTC) and the overall markets suffering outflows for the second week in a row.
In its latest Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report, CoinShares finds that halfway through 2023, digital assets have seen almost half a billion in inflows.
“Digital asset investment products saw minor outflows totaling US$21m last week. Trading volumes for digital asset investment products were low at US$915m for the week, compared to the US$1.5bn weekly average this year so far.
This was reflected in the broader Bitcoin market, which saw a total of US$16bn traded last week on trusted exchanges, compared to the weekly average this year of US$52bn. At the half year mark, digital assets have seen just under US$0.5bn of inflows.” Read More
CZ Sheds Light on Binance’s Plans About Launching its Own Stablecoin
Zhao said that there is another partnership between Binance and a stablecoin issuer on the horizon.
The Chief Executive Officer of Binance – Changpeng Zhao (CZ) – said one reason why his company recently introduced the stablecoin FDUSD is the terminated partnership with Paxos. While the two entities teamed up in 2019 to launch the USD-denominated BUSD, the New York state regulators told Paxos to stop minting new tokens earlier this year.
CZ said that, as of the moment, Binance has no intention to list its own stablecoin but rather collaborate with other companies focusing on that product.
‘Given That Everything is a Risk, Let’s Diversify’
Zhao shared some of Binance’s plans regarding stablecoins during a Twitter space from this week. The crypto exchange recently added its support to FDUSD – a stablecoin issued by a Hong Kong custodian called First Digital Trust.
CZ said many other deals could follow this partnership since the marketplace has been cooperating with stablecoin projects from different regions. One of those should see the light of day in the near future, the CEO stated:
“We also have another partnership based on stablecoins that is coming up. I wouldn’t quite announce it just yet, but there is another one coming up.” Read More
Researchers bet on blockchain to help protect cultural artefacts
A new project has launched which aims to use blockchain technologies and NFTs to help verify the provenance of cultural artefacts.
The project, called Salsal – or AGUR – is the brainchild of Adel Khalifi, professor of computer science at the University of Abu Dhabi, and Mark Altaweel, professor at the UCL Institute of Archaeology.
Salsal is aimed at cultural heritage collectors, such as museums. They, the ‘collector’, uploads a collection and submits it for verification as the first step. The collection is then evaluated by multiple experts who submit their evaluation to a central verification board. If the latter decides the collection is legitimate, then the collector can turn it into an NFT.
“We store all collection data, expert votes and verification on the blockchain,” a note on the AGUR website reads. “Since the blockchain is immutable, it provides us with a factual history of an object’s owners.” NFTs are also used for ownership transfer, the researchers added, again owing to NFT data being stored on the blockchain providing an immutable, permanent record. Read More
Litecoin Just Had Its Third Halving—Here's What That Means for LTC
So far, it isn’t looking too good for the Bitcoin fork which recently experienced a resurgence.
The rate of newly issued Litecoin, the 12th largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has today shrunk in an event called “the halving.”
Just like Bitcoin, every four years or so, the supply of Litecoin rewards given out as mining rewards gets cut in half, meaning fewer of the digital coins are created.
The idea is to lower the rate of inflation on the network—fewer coins mean a higher value per coin. In theory, this should drive up the price, if everything else about the network stays the same.
“Like gold, the premise is that over time, the issuance of litecoins will decrease and thus become scarcer over time,” a website dedicated to the event reads. Read More
A democratic society values a free-flowing media ecosystem. A healthy media ecosystem is one of the characteristics of a democratic society. Mass media outlets such as newspapers and cable TV networks were prominent in the past. Today, the internet and social media platforms allow for greater communication across society.
Journalism, investigative correspondents, and even freelance writers are essential to that ecosystem. High-quality reporting revealing brutal truths and users' scope and exposure on social media to either create or access information are forces that can drive genuine societal change. And even keep the power structures in check.
Despite the positive aspects mentioned above, harmful practices and negative external forces related to the media ecosystem often eclipse them. These issues are usually easy to recognize once they’re identified. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge them and spread awareness about their potential risks.
Doing so will help you make informed decisions about how you use media and how it can impact your life and the lives of others. The following are a few issues pervasive in many digital news sites, forums, and social media platforms. Read More
Markethive Media has embraced blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, building an ecosystem that belongs to “we the people,” eliminating many of the issues plagued by media outlets today. With its meritocratic culture, dynamic social media interface, and growing community, Markethive is enhancing and bringing the platform into the future internet with new technology and interfaces, but still in keeping with the human touch.
BlackBerry reveals top crypto-focused malware amid rising cyber threats
SmokeLoader, RaccoonStealer (also known as RecordBreaker) and Vidar top the charts, according to BlackBerry’s list.
In the process of stopping over 1.5 million cyberattacks between March and May, the cybersecurity arm of the former smartphone goliath BlackBerry identified malware families that actively try to hijack computers to mine or steal cryptocurrencies.
The three industries most affected by cyberattacks are finance, healthcare and government, according to the BlackBerry report. A commodity malware named RedLine is one of the long-standing financial threats tasked with harvesting cryptocurrency and banking information.
Clop ransomware — a variant of the CryptoMix ransomware family — was a common threat targeting banking and financial institutions. This malware was responsible for the data breach of the fintech banking platform Hatch Bank.
When it comes to Blackberry’s list of the most prevalent malware families, SmokeLoader, RaccoonStealer (also known as RecordBreaker) and Vidar top the charts. SmokeLoader is one of the oldest rogue financial tools from 2011, which Russian-based threat actors have primarily used to load crypto miners, among other malware. Read More
What is Metcalfe’s Law, and why does it matter?
Metcalfe’s Law is a fundamental principle used to comprehend the network effect of communication systems such as cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks.
Metcalfe’s Law was first used in the telecommunications industry, and has subsequently been applied to several social and technological networks. Metcalfe’s Law was created by Robert Metcalfe, the co-inventor of Ethernet, and is used to assess the importance and influence of networks based on the number of connections between its users.
According to the law, a network’s value is directly inversely proportional to the square of its users or nodes:
In the context of cryptocurrencies, Metcalfe’s Law indicates that as a network’s users or players expand in number, so do the network’s value and utility. This is because, in a decentralized network, more users mean more potential for transactions, interactions, and network effects, which in turn can lead to greater adoption and value appreciation of the cryptocurrency. According to this law, the value of a cryptocurrency network increases not linearly with the number of users but quadratically. Read More
How Far Can Decentralized Sequencers for Rollup Networks Go
Sequencers are a core component of rollup networks, responsible for crucial operations including receiving, sorting and executing transactions, as well as submitting transaction data.
If the only sequencer in a network fails or becomes unavailable, the whole network will stop processing transactions.
However, many of the existing rollup solutions only have a single sequencer, making them far less decentralized than some centralized layer-one alternatives.
Therefore, the importance of decentralized sequencers is self-evident, and promising decentralized sequencers should effectively increase the decentralization of a network with optimized design and implementation. Read More
Space and Time launches Proof-of-SQL for blockchain and AI data verification
The product can be used to verify that queried data is accurate and unmodified.
Space and Time, a firm that describes itself as an AI-powered data warehouse, announced the launch of its Proof-of-SQL product on Aug. 2.
Proof-of-SQL is capable of proving that the data returned in applicable queries is accurate and has not been tampered with. This verification is accomplished through zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, which generate a SNARK cryptographic proof-of-query execution within Space and Time’s decentralized data network.
Jay White, Co-Founder and Head of Research at Space and Time, said:
“We believe that data will enhance the interoperability between the on-chain and off-chain ecosystems, fostering greater collaboration between decentralized and traditional systems.” Read More
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
