The failure in Microsoft's systems did not affect the crypto sector

The large-scale failure of Microsoft system applications, which disrupted the work of many critical sectors of the world economy, including the London Stock Exchange, did not affect the crypto sector and the work of Web3 applications.

On Friday, July 19, there was a global failure of the international technology infrastructure built on Microsoft products. The disruption caused significant chaos in traditional financial systems, paralyzing many airlines, airports, banks, utilities, as well as affecting the telecommunications and communications area.

However, major crypto exchanges and DeFi projects continued their operations without interruption. Cryptocurrency executives and industry insiders have commented that the decentralized nature of blockchain is less prone to single points of failure compared to traditional financial systems, which rely heavily on centralized technology and infrastructure.

Earlier, analysts at Swiss blockchain firm CV VC published a research report on the African blockchain market that reported a 74% year-over-year decline in venture capitalists' interest in funding the industry.

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White-hat hackers ready to return $7.6 million worth of stablecoins to DeFi Rho Markets minutes

More than $7.6 million worth of USDC and USDT steiblecoins have been withdrawn from Rho Markets' blockchain-based Scroll lending protocol. White hackers are ready to return the funds under certain conditions.

Cyvers, a cybersecurity company, named the cause of the exploit: third parties gained access to the protocol oracle. Rho Markets confirmed the discovery of unusual activity on its platform and suspended its operations.

As “blockchain sleuth” ZachXBT later reported, the hackers claim they did not steal funds and are ready to return them in full. Their MEV bot profited from the Rho Markets price oracle configuration error. The so-called “hackers” are ready to return the stolen funds in full, but they need an admission from Rho Markets that it was not an exploit or hack, but a configuration error on the protocol side. They also demanded to know the measures the protocol will take to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The loss of assets on Rho Markets comes just days after Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX suffered a hacking attack. The hackers stole $230 million worth of cryptocurrencies, making it the second largest cryptocurrency heist in 2024. The largest hack in June occurred on Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk, which lost $100.25 million.

The Li.Fi protocol was also attacked this week, as a result of which attackers misappropriated $10 million worth of cryptocurrencies using a smart contract exploit. The project team later reported that the vulnerability had already been fixed.

Recently, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) reported that users of the Hamster Kombat clicker game have been the target of phishing attacks, with attackers stealing users' credentials and robbing them of their savings.

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Analyst: switch from gold to bitcoin will raise BTC price to $750,000

Joe Burnett is convinced that the market does not fully assess the potential of bitcoin in this cycle and misses the possibility of its impact on the global financial system. According to the expert, after 2020, the first cryptocurrency entered a new phase of development, which is characterized by a decrease in the supply of liquid coins.

Burnett points out that gold, which is considered a reliable means of saving, is losing its attractiveness as the best investment instrument, and its place can be taken by cryptocurrency.

According to the analyst, the halving of bitcoin serves as a catalyst for the value of the asset and encourages its adoption in everyday life. Joe Burnett claims that bitcoin is ready to significantly expand its presence in the global market.

According to the expert's forecast, the bitcoin rate may reach $750,000 in the medium term and even overcome this level as the investment attractiveness of gold declines.

It is worth recalling that there are plenty of forecasts indicating that the BTC rate will grow. However, bitcoin has so far failed to overcome even the $70,000 level. Perhaps, after some period of time, the first cryptocurrency will really demonstrate a rally in the market, and its price will exceed hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars.

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Ryan Selkis announced his resignation as CEO of Messari

On July 19, Ryan Selkis announced that he is stepping down as CEO of Messari.

“A leader's primary responsibility is to his team. This week was the first time in 6.5 years that my policies and rhetoric hurt the team. As such, I have decided to step down as CEO,” Selkis wrote.

The reason was likely due to statements made by Messari's founder regarding the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which are not in the public domain at the time of writing. According to CoinDesk, he reacted emotionally to the incident in a number of posts, as well as echoed the anti-immigration policies of the US presidential candidate's movement.

The position of CEO of the company will be taken by Eric Turner. He previously worked in the position of chief revenue officer. Selkis will move to the status of senior advisor.

Company officials said he will focus “on cryptopolitics and national issues important to him.”

Messari closed a $21 million Series A funding round in August 2021, with the startup backed by billionaire Steve Cohen via Point72 Ventures, Galaxy Digital, crypto funds CMS Holdings, Nascent, Underscore VC and early investors.

The analytics company raised $35 million in its next round of fundraising in September 2022. It was led by billionaire Alan Howard's Brevan Howard Digital unit.

Recall that in early July, Selkis announced the start of Messari's war “against the illegitimate and corrupt” SEC.

Earlier he said that the industry has no future in the United States in case of re-election of Joe Biden for a second term.

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Esther Pierce: “SEC open to dialog on possible approval of staking in ether ETFs”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce, known in the crypto community as “cryptomama,” has expressed openness to a potential dialog about the possible approval of steaking in future ETH-ETF filings.

Hester Peirce said that regulatory pressure from the Commission has led issuers of ether ETFs, particularly ARK21 Shares and Fidelity, to exclude steaking from their offerings in order to comply with the SEC's strict requirements.

As a reminder, the regulator views cryptostaking as an investment contract in which investors invest their assets with the expectation of receiving a return as a result of the efforts of the network's validators.

Pearce noted that banning steaking amid the launch of an ETF on ether could result in a significant portion of ETH supply being withdrawn from the Efirium steaking pool, which could negatively impact the stability and security of the network.

“Cryptomama” added that if there are objective prerequisites, the regulator may return to discuss the concept of staking, which ETF issuers have been forced to exclude from their applications.

Earlier, Esther Pearce proposed that the Bank of England and the UK Financial Services Authority create a “unified cross-border sandbox” to regulate innovation in digital assets.

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An underground miner from Khakassia owes 28 million rubles to energy companies

According to the ruling of the Arbitration Court of Khakassia, an underground miner who paid for energy at residential tariffs will have to pay an additional 28 million rubles for electricity.

The underground miner owned five land plots in different towns and villages of the republic. There he installed equipment for cryptocurrency mining. At the same time, there were no residential houses or other outbuildings on the plots.

The court ordered the miner to recalculate from the tariff for the population to the tariff for entrepreneurs. Given the scale of cryptocurrency mining, the underground miner now has to pay 28 million rubles.

“The average monthly consumption at one of the miner's sites in Belaya Yar exceeded the electricity consumption in an ordinary residential house by 115 times. In Chernogorsk, the mining farm consumed 336 times more electricity per month than an average family living in the private sector. In total, at five sites, electricity consumption for 10 months exceeded 3.9 million kWh,” reported the local sales organization AtomEnergoSbyt.

As emphasized the head of the State Committee for Tariffs of Khakassia Natalia Mikhailenko, the authorities of the region are not against the mining of cryptocurrencies, but it is necessary to pay for energy at the rates for entrepreneurs.

Earlier in Khakassia, the court ordered the miner to pay 3.8 million rubles to the energy sector.

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Ripple: SEC may withdraw its complaint against the company

Ripple management expects that after a series of unsuccessful lawsuits, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will drop further investigations and withdraw its claims against the company.

Yesterday, July 18, Ripple expected to receive a final verdict drawing a line under the SEC's multi-year investigation into the company for possible violations of securities laws and selling digital assets without registration.

However, the Commission abruptly canceled a closed-door meeting that was supposed to discuss the ongoing litigation against Ripple. The company believes that this could be a signal of the SEC's impending dismissal of additional lawsuits and demand for payment of fines.

Ripple attributes its positive expectations to the fact that the SEC has recently suffered serious reputational losses due to poor evidence gathering and unsubstantiated claims. As a result, judicial authorities have been denying the regulator's claims.

For example, the SEC recently dropped its investigation into the Hiro project, formerly known as Blockstacks, and in July it withdrew its lawsuit and dropped its investigation into the Paxos steblecoin issuer.

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Italy's leading banks participate in a €25 million digital BOND issue on Polygon in ECB litigation

Italy's state-owned development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA (CDP) and Intesa Sanpaolo, the country's largest lender with more than $1 trillion in assets, on Thursday completed the issuance of digital BONDs using blockchain technology, marking the first such transaction under the country's new law. digital asset rules.

According to a press release, the €25 million BOND with a maturity of four months was issued by CDP on the Ethereum-based Polygon (MATIC) network, with Intesa Sanpaolo acting as underwriter and sole investor. The cash Flow was settled in euros on the same day (T+0) using the Bank of Italy's “TIPS Hash LINK” tool, which enables interoperability between blockchains and traditional payment systems.

According to the banks, the transaction was the first issuance of digital BONDs under the country's so-called “FinTech” decree-law, which regulates the issuance and circulation of digital versions of certain financial instruments.

The issuance was part of an initiative by the European Central Bank (ECB) to test ways to settle paper money wholesale on blockchains.

Global banks and asset managers are increasingly exploring ways to put traditional financial instruments such as bonds, loans and funds on blockchains, which is also known as real asset tokenization . They are doing so to achieve operational benefits such as faster and more transparent transaction settlement, lower costs and increased efficiency.

Read more : TradFi Giant State Street is mulling the creation of stablecoins and tokenized deposits

“This transaction demonstrates that public blockchains are a powerful Technology for financial institutions, making transactions faster and safer,” Niccolo Bardosha, Head of Digital Asset Trading and Investment at Intesa Sanpaolo, said in a LinkedIn post .

“Tokenization is setting a new standard of efficiency and automation in financial Markets and I believe this technological change will impact not only bonds but every asset class in the coming years,” he added.

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Zivoe announces the launch of the RWA protocol core network

Zivoe, a real asset lending (RWA) protocol, will launch its core network on July 31 as the protocol aims to democratize access to credit.

The announcement was made in conjunction with Zivoe's successful raising of $8.35 million from investors and coincides with the platform's initial tranche offering (ITO), a liquidity-enhancing mechanism aimed at raising initial total blocked value (TVL).

Zivoe will use the funds and the upcoming launch of its core network to bring its lending functions to more people in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. This goal will be achieved by connecting liquidity in the blockchain to borrowers in the RWA marketplace, the minutes said.

Commenting on the launch of the core network and funding round, Zivoe founder and general counsel Crystal Gruevski said the protocol's solution will transform the traditional lending market.

“Our ITO will give DeFi users (accredited US investors and non-US citizens) unprecedented access to the consumer lending market. This is just the beginning of a new era where blockchain technology and real-world lending are coming together. We are very excited to help millions of underserved people around the world while introducing a new RWA product at DeFi,” he added.

Zivoe will be issuing loans over blockchain

With the launch of its core network, Zivoe plans to extend its network-based lending function to a key lending partner. This strategic partner will use them as capital to issue fiat loans to its consumers. However, the long-term plan is for the platform to enter the RWA market through direct-to-consumer interactions.

Zivoe's initial tranche offering (ITO) allows liquidity providers (LPs) to deposit stablecoins to receive tranche tokens that can be used to access the protocol's loan portfolio. Holders can also bid on tokens to generate revenue.

ZVE's own token

Zivoe will launch its own ZVE token after an ITO that will last 30 days from July 31. Participants in the offer will be eligible for a free ZVE giveaway that will begin at the end of the 30-day ITO.

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CryptoRank analysts have named potential Layer1 airdrops

CryptoRank researchers noted that in 2024 there is a significant excitement around airdrops of digital currencies from the Layer 1 (Layer 1) blockchain sector. The main reasons for this trend are related to high yield potential and significant investor interest in new opportunities in the cryptocurrency space.

According to CryptoRank, Layer 1 blockchains traditionally provide the most generous airdrops, which attracts the attention of both new and experienced market participants. Among the most potentially promising projects that offer hopes of significant free giveaways, a platform such as Monad stands out. Previously, its developers raised $244 million in several rounds of funding from well-known venture capitalists.

In addition, Berachain with $142 million, Aleo with $298 million and XION with $36 million have also attracted attention. These startups have also managed to receive large investments, which indicates a high interest in them from venture capitalists. Airdrops from such projects as Toncoin ($24 million), Initia ($7.5 million), Particle Network ($23 million), Shrderium ($23 million) OG Labs ($35 million) have also already been confirmed. They are fueling investor expectations of receiving free tokens in exchange for participating in these blockchain ecosystems.

The excitement is explained not only by the generous rewards, but also by the fact that airdrops serve as a powerful marketing tool for new networks.

They help attract attention, expand the user base, and incentivize user activity on the network. In a highly competitive cryptocurrency market, free giveaways become an important means for launching and developing new projects. Experts from CryptorRank noted that several serious airdrops have already taken place this year, including zkSync and LayerZero. Many participants received good financial benefits.

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Truvius creators raise $3.2 million in investment

Crypto investment platform Truvius has raised $3.2 million in a pre-funding round led by Galaxy Ventures. Other investors included New Form Capital, Chainview Capital and unnamed business angels. The startup was founded in 2022 and launched its own marketplace today. Co-founder and CEO Connor Farley declined to comment on when the fundraising round ended, the structure of the round and Truvius' valuation.

The project is a platform for crypto investments from individual and institutional investors. It offers individual indices and model portfolios specific to the digital currency sector.

“Our roots in quantitative finance provide our key differentiating advantage,” said Farley, who previously worked as a product specialist at AQR Capital Management. “We leverage our experience in fundamentals-based investing and institutional portfolio construction and apply it to the cryptocurrency markets to create sophisticated profiles.”

Truvius' other co-founder and COO and CFO is Max Freccia, who also previously worked at AQR. He said the company has created a separately managed account (SMA) technology stack and offers proprietary investment strategies. Crucially, the Boston, US-based organization is a registered investment adviser with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) .

“The entire platform - from custody and trading to performance reporting and investment offerings - is compliant with the requirements and rules of the country's primary regulator,” Farley said.

Truvius has also partnered with the only federal cryptocurrency bank in the United States, Anchorage Digital. This is to offer qualified custody and trading services to customers. Minimum investment amounts on the Truvius platform range from $15,000 to $50,000.

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Polygon Price Forecast: MATIC sees end of corrective trend

Despite Wednesday's market decline, Polygon's price forecast shows a rise of more than 2% to $0.55. This bullish momentum, which has been sustained in recent weeks, is now challenging the multi-month resistance of the descending wedge pattern. On the back of the recovery trend, the launch of Plonky3 Polygon could lead to increased demand for MATIC as a native token. But is it enough to avoid a 4-month correction?

Polygon price forecast: will Plonky3 improve MATIC's market performance?

Over the past four months, Polygon's price has shown a steady downtrend under the influence of a descending wedge pattern. Two converging trend lines as dynamic resistance and support have fallen, the asset price fell from $1.29 to $0.42, recording a loss of 66.8%.

However, MATIC price started an immediate reversal to $ 0.55 as recovery sentiment resumed in the market in July. The V-shaped recovery recorded a gain of nearly 30%, while Polygon's market capitalization jumped to $5.5 billion.

The bearish crossover between the daily EMAs (50, 100 and 200) indicates that the path to the lowest resistance is still down. However, the rising price recently retraced the 20-day EMA as the first sign of a recovery attempt.

Amid the bullish market sentiment, Polygon Labs announced the launch of Polygon Plonky3, an advanced zero-disclosure (ZK) verification system now ready for production. This new system, based on its predecessor Plonky2, is modular and customizable, allowing for the creation of custom ZKVMs or ZKEVMs for specific applications.

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BVM Studio enables “no-code” blockchain deployment

BVM Studio has been unveiled as a new tool to simplify blockchain deployment with a no-code solution that aims to make blockchain technology more accessible.

The toolkit will provide a visual programming editor interface that will allow users to deploy their blockchains using drag-and-drop blocks, similar to Lego building blocks.

This approach promises to make it easy to build your own federated blockchain based on zero-disclosure proof-of-concept (ZK) for any project without knowledge of coding, computational setup, storage or hardware nodes.

The team at BVM, a blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service provider and creator of BVM Studio, explained that while the tool is “very user-friendly,” it has drawbacks.

“It may not provide the same depth of customization as fully customized solutions. However, we are constantly adding new modules and options to increase flexibility,” the press release said.

Codeless self-service blockchains

Traditionally, deploying a blockchain requires technical expertise, funding and a deep understanding of coding and security measures.

The BVM team also clarified the capabilities of the new toolkit.

“BVM requires no technical setup or programming skills, making it accessible to everyone. It offers a drag-and-drop interface without code that allows anyone to deploy a blockchain in less than 2 minutes.”

The team explained that the tool allows for customization of “baseline, hardware, computation, data availability, block gas limit, withdrawal time, ZK verification” and pre-installed decentralized applications (DApps).

Security and regulatory standards

As with all blockchain technologies, security is paramount, and it starts with the code underlying the blockchain infrastructure.

The tool uses ZK-rollup technology to protect deployed blockchains “through three key components.”

“ZK proofs are stored in Bitcoin, ZK Provers ensure proper execution and ZK Light Nodes are designed to verify ZK proofs. This is important because anyone can run a ZK Light Node on an old laptop.”

Discussing regulatory issues, the BVM team explained that “currently, creating a blockchain is not against any regulatory standards.”

“BVM Studio is simply a tool that greatly simplifies blockchain creation,” the developers said in a statement.

Using the toolkit, users can deploy Layer 2 and Layer 3 blockchains for Bitcoin or Ethereum.

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In the first half of the year the volume of OTC transactions increased by 95%

The Finery Markets team analyzed data from two million spot transactions conducted by institutions in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.

Their strong growth is attributed to several factors, including the approval of bitcoin-based spot exchange-traded products (ETFs) and an increased institutional presence in the cryptocurrency markets. Most recently, institutional liquidity providers and OTC services absorbed 88% of BTC sales in Germany.

Ethereum (ETH) trading volumes showed particularly strong growth in 2024, reflecting the growing interest in digital assets other than bitcoins.

Ethereum trading volumes grew 32% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, Finery Markets noted. - Monthly performance data showed that April 2024 was outstanding, with transaction volumes up 158% year-on-year.

This surge followed a series of ETF approvals that stimulated market activity. And while growth slowed slightly in May and June, according to the report, the overall trend remains positive, indicating that institutional interest is sustained. The report also noted a significant increase in the number of cryptocurrency-only transactions and a decrease in cryptocurrency-to-fiat transactions.

Cryptocurrency trading showed an increase of 50% year-on-year. In contrast, the performance of cryptocurrency-fiat pairs declined by 12% in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023,” the Finery Markets study stated.

Amid the growing interest in digital assets, the number of transactions involving stablecoins across all blockchains and layers grew 2.6 times year-on-year.

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Blockchain-friendly Roberta Metsola re-elected president of EU Parliament

-- Roberta Metsola has been re-elected president of the European Parliament.
-- She once called for Crypto regulation to be introduced when necessary without stifling innovation, and was president during the passage of the EU's Crypto law , MiCA.

Roberta Metsola, a member of the European Parliament from Malta, was re-elected president of the legislature. on Tuesday.

She received 562 of the 699 available votes and will hold the position for two and a half years. She became president of the body in January 2022 following the death of her predecessor, and was previously vice president since November 2020. The president represents the parliament in all legal and international matters .

In 2018, as an MEP from Malta, she called for regulation of Crypto and blockchains when appropriate and without stifling innovation . She was also selected by her party, the European People's Party, to formulate her position on the EU's blockchain strategy in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

During her previous tenure, a broad package of EU Crypto rules, Markets in Crypto (MiCA), became law . Stablecoin rules from the package recently came into force, with the remaining rules expected to come into force by the end of the year.

However, Metsola's impact on the Policy may be small.

“The role of the President of the European Parliament is largely ceremonial/representational in nature and therefore the holder of this role has limited input into the Policy processes of the EU,” Mark Foster, Head of EU Policy at Crypto for Innovation, told CoinDesk.

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Ryan Selkis resigns as Messari CEO after inflammatory tweets

Ryan Selkis has stepped down as CEO of Messari, the Crypto data and research firm he co-founded, after a series of inflammatory tweets about politics, civil war and his desire to remove immigrants from the country.

He announced his departure Friday on X, a social media platform where he posted a stream of controversial messages this week.

“This week was the first time in 6.5 years that my policies and rhetoric put the team in jeopardy,” he wrote. “That is why I have decided to step down as CEO.”

Never in the habit of insulting X, he stepped up his comments in the wake of last weekend's assassination attempt on Donald Trump. “Anyone who votes against Trump at this point could die in a freaking fire,” he wrote on X the afternoon after the shooting. “Literal war.”

He also told the immigrant via X, “I hope we send you back... You are not eligible for citizenship. I hope it stays that way.”

Read more: After 'civil war' and anti-immigrant tweets, his Crypto startup's management advised Ryan Selkis to cool things down

Messari said Chief Revenue Officer Eric Turner will serve as interim CEO. “Ryan recently informed us of his decision to relinquish his operational role as CEO of Messari , so that he can fully focus his time on Crypto and national issues important to him,” the company wrote on X.

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BlackRock and other Wall Street giants have entered the cryptosphere

The entry of investment giants into the cryptosphere, such as BlackRock, has already surprised analysts greatly. The fund now holds more than $18 billion in bitcoins. BlackRock's plans to create an exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Ethereum further underscores management's growing commitment to organizing in the cryptosphere.

While some see this influx of capital as a positive step towards mass adoption of cryptocurrencies globally, others are concerned about the implications for the very principles of decentralized finance. Some argue that while the cryptosphere strives to operate according to the principles of decentralized financial communications, the concentration of massive amounts of bitcoins owned by companies like BlackRock and MicroStrategy may actually contribute to the opposite effect.

The debate about the future of cryptocurrencies is far from over. Some believe that large investment institutions can help further develop the cryptosphere, while others fear that their presence will stifle innovation and lead to a transformation of the basic principles of decentralization.

In any case, the cryptocurrency market is already beginning to see a correlation in the dynamics of inflows-outflows of investor funds following the inflow or outflow (net) of money into bitcoin-ETF units in the United States. Previously, the bitcoin price was highly correlated with the Nasdaq Composite index, as well as (to a lesser extent) the S&P 500, but now a new correlation factor has emerged.

Recently, independent U.S. presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, stated that the world's largest investment entities, BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard, through cross-ownership of stakes in each other and through managing portfolios of assets, end up controlling nearly 90% of all stocks that are reflected in the S&P 500.

In fact, this oligopolistic structure of the world's largest stock market, the U.S. stock market, may suggest a strong influence of key investors on the stock performance of the 500 largest U.S. companies. And since this is the case, the bitcoin market, although far from such a share of control by these structures, but the emerging trend will continue to cause discussions to what extent the bitcoin price will be formed based only on the spontaneous dynamics of supply and demand in the market.

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BitForex to open for withdrawals after Chinese police investigation

-- BitForex will return online to process withdrawals.
----The exchange was detained and investigated by Chinese police on February 23.
---All operations and services will cease following the withdrawal of funds.

Cryptocurrency exchange BitForex said it will open for withdrawals after a five-month disruption caused by a police investigation in China's Jiangsu province.

The exchange said in a statement X , that trading and deposits will remain suspended, but withdrawals will be open to customers who have passed a “know your customer” (KYC) check.

BitForex shut down on February 23 after a $57 million outflow. User withdrawals and access to the site were blocked, leading to a warning from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Markets (SFC) regulator.

“On February 23, 2024, the Bitforex team was detained and investigated by the police of Jiangsu Province in China,” the report said. “This unexpected event caused the platform to become inaccessible and users were unable to withdraw assets that day.”

BitForex said it will cease all operations and undergo a “comprehensive remediation” after returning the assets to users.

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The creators of Nirvana Labs have raised $4 million from investors

The developers of cloud-based blockchain company Nirvana Labs have announced the successful completion of their latest round of funding. Their organization raised $4 million from investors as part of an initial fundraising round.

According to The Block, Castle Island Ventures and RW3 Ventures jointly led the round. Additional support came from the likes of BitGo Ecosystem Fund, Hash3, Third Earth, and Play Ventures. The company's press release states that Nirvana Labs' total funding over the past 6 months has already totaled $5.7 million.

This company is actively developing a cloud infrastructure designed for the development of the Web3 sector. Its product, Nirvana Cloud, is used by well-known cryptocurrency companies including Chainlink, BitGo, Goldsky, Thirdweb and Pairpoint.

“At Nirvana Labs, we understand the unique challenges faced by companies building onchain applications within the constraints of the general purpose cloud,” said Nirvana Labs founder Devin Bandara. “The new funding will allow us to enhance specialized cloud services by providing an alternative to traditional providers. We will offer infrastructure with a focus on Web3 development,” said the CEO.

He emphasized that his team's main goal is to provide “unmatched performance” of the cloud and allow customers to save money. According to him, the Web3 space requires a new generation of alternative clouds.

The entrepreneur is confident that life does not stand still and the development of a decentralized Internet is considered a top priority in today's technological world. The specialist is sure that in order to create something new, it is necessary to improve all aspects in accordance with the new tasks.

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State-owned $520 billion Italian bank tests digital bonds on Polygon

Italy's state-owned bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA has just completed a $27.2 million digital bond issue with trillion-dollar investment bank Intesa Sanpaolo using Ethereum layer-2 Polygon.

The transaction was part of a trial conducted by the European Central Bank to identify new solutions for the central bank's monetary settlement of wholesale blockchain-based transactions, Intesa Sanpaolo explained in a July 18 statement.

It was the first transaction of its kind since Italy introduced its financial technology law, which regulates the issuance and circulation of financial instruments in digital form.

The $27.2 million (25 million euros) Cassa Depositi bonds mature within four months - expiring Nov. 18, 2024 - and offer a fixed coupon of 3.63%, calculated annually. Intesa Sanpaolo was the sole institutional investor in the litigation.

The cash flow was calculated on the same day using the Bank of Italy's TIPS Hash Link tool, which enables interoperability between blockchains and traditional payment systems.

“This transaction demonstrates that public blockchains are a powerful technology for financial institutions, making transactions faster and more secure,” explained Niccolò Bardoscia, head of digital asset trading and investments at Intesa Sanpaolo in a July 18 LinkedIn post.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who believes that all stocks and bonds will move to blockchain in the future, was also in favor of tokenization.

However, not everyone shares Fink's views.

Last month, financial law professor Hilary Allen told the U.S. Congress that public blockchains are too “fragile” to tokenize trillions of dollars in real assets because they are highly inefficient and cannot handle large volumes of transactions.

Meanwhile, Boston Consulting Group predicts that the market for tokenized assets could reach $16 trillion by 2030, while another consulting firm, McKinsey, predicted a more modest $2 trillion over the same period.

More than 89 billion tokenized assets have migrated to blockchain, according to data compiled by 21Shares in Dune Analytics.

Polygon ranks fourth among blockchains in terms of tokenized value at $40.3 million, behind only Ethereum, Stellar and Mantle.

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Artificial intelligence determined the price of bitcoin as of Aug. 1

After bitcoin (BTC) recovered sharply - its price rose from $55,000 to $65,000 - the price outlook for the major cryptocurrency looks quite positive.

According to advanced artificial intelligence algorithms on the PricePredictions platform, bitcoin will continue to increase its price by August 1, 2024, eventually reaching $68,953.45 (almost $69,000).

If this prediction, based on the interplay of various technical indicators such as Bollinger Bands (BB), Moving Average Convergence and Divergence (MACD), Average True Range (ATR), etc., turns out to be correct, it will lead to a 6.16% increase in bitcoin's price relative to current values.

Renowned cryptocurrency trading expert Michael van de Poppe recently noted that bitcoin is “consolidating nicely over a four-month range” and is “very likely to continue rising” as long as it holds above $60,000.

He also noted that bitcoin's NVT ratio, an important indicator of the major cryptocurrency, has reached “its lowest negative value in 2.5 years,” accordingly, the correction is over.

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Kraken Custody enters the UK and Australian markets

Kraken Institutional, a subsidiary of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange offering comprehensive custodial services for institutional clients, has announced its entry into the UK and Australian markets.
The decision follows the successful launch of Kraken Custody's institutional client service in the US in March. The service allows institutions to securely store, manage and transfer funds within a single interface integrated with the rest of Kraken's products.

“The market needs more alternatives for storing digital assets. Kraken Custody provides institutions looking to invest in the digital asset class with an optimal solution that combines advanced security protocols and role-based access control with seamless integration with other products in the Kraken ecosystem,” said a spokesperson for the exchange's unit.

Kraken Institutional noted that Kraken Custody services for institutional clients are provided through Kraken Financial, a special depository institution registered in the U.S. that separates clients' digital assets from the exchange's own funds.

Earlier, an internal study by Kraken exchange experts of the Australian digital asset market showed that the most favorite digital currency of Australian crypto traders is bitcoin.

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OKX Exchange has chosen Malta as its regional center in Europe

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX announced that the regional center of the platform in Europe will be located in Malta. By doing so, OKX will ensure compliance with the European Union's Cryptocurrency Regulation Act (MiCA).

OKX management explained that it chose Malta because of its high regulatory standards and strong infrastructure, as well as because of the team the exchange has been building in Malta since opening an office there in 2018. OKX management hopes that the exchange will be able to offer cryptocurrency products and services to more than 450 million EU residents in the coming months.

In March 2023, OKX named France as the most preferred country to establish a regional center in Europe. Earlier, OKX applied for registration with the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF).

MiCA will come into full force on December 30, 2024, allowing cryptocurrency companies to move to EU countries and provide services across the EU if those companies are licensed in any member state of the alliance. In 2022, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) said it will exclude non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from the regulation of virtual assets in preparation for MiCA.

OKX recently announced that it will stop providing services to traders from Nigeria as of August 16 due to overly stringent regulatory requirements from regulators.

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Gods Unchained leads the NFT in sales, topping $612,000 in sales per day

Gods Unchained, a digital collectible card game, topped CryptoSlam's NFT token sales chart on Wednesday for the second day in a row, although it recorded a drop from the previous day.

Sales of Gods Unchained topped $612,000 on Wednesday, up from $930,000 on Tuesday.

The Immutable network, which hosts Gods Unchained, surpassed $806,000 in total revenue on Wednesday, the fifth highest in the industry.

Ethereum led all networks in NFT sales with $4.37 billion.

The second highest ranked collection for the day was DMarket on the Mythos network. The collection, which represents in-game items, collected $539,193 in daily sales in 26,277 transactions.

Solana Monkey Business came in third place with $567,134 in daily sales across 117 transactions. The Solana collection has been steadily climbing up the charts.

Currently totaling US$207.7 million in transactions, the company is bidding for the 30th spot currently held by SATS, the BRC-20 NFT suite, with US$211.4 million.

The Solana blockchain, which hosts the Solana Monkey Business collection, reported total sales of US$3.13 million for the day, the second highest sales figure among blockchains.

DogeZuki Collection on Solana ranked fifth for the day with 414,755 sales, while c_HyPC on Ethereum ranked sixth with US$338,791.

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Developers of the startup Allium have raised $16.5 million in funding

The management of enterprise blockchain data platform Allium announced that it has raised $16.5 million in a Series A funding round. It was led by Theory Ventures and led by seed investors Kleiner Perkins and Amplify Partners. Theory Ventures founder Tomasz Tunguz will join the board of directors. The total capital raised by the startup amounted to $21.5 million.

Allium provides fast and simple enterprise-grade blockchain data to leading institutions and companies including Visa, Stripe, Uniswap Foundation and Phantom, It enables strategic issues, identifies investment and growth opportunities, manages business reporting and powers applications.

With the increasing adoption of blockchain and the proliferation of various networks, the volume of data has grown dramatically. The huge flows and their complexity, make it technically challenging to understand and report on the performance of networks.

Allium plans to use the capital raised to develop data infrastructure and scale its GTM project. This will provide launch pads for financial institutions looking to embrace digital assets, as well as payment providers, brokerages and blockchain ecosystem developers.

“Allium exists to build trust and transparency online and help people understand how to build the future,” said the startup's CEO and co-founder Ethan Chan. “The most important thing is to accurately track the amount of data in the digital currency world.”

Covering more than 40 blockchains, Allium's data product suite quickly and easily delivers high-quality blockchain data by developing two APIs: Allium Explorer and Allium Developer. The first offers intuitive query and visualization interfaces for data discovery, investment and market research, financial accounting and auditing. The second is a real-time API and data ingestion tools to support high-performance applications and workflows.

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Blockchain detective ZachXBT called Worldcoin the biggest scam ever

On July 17, prominent blockchain detective ZachXBT called Worldcoin (WLD) “the biggest bull market scam token.”

ZachXBT's accusations are based on extensive research by DeFi^2, a self-proclaimed top trader on Bybit. He described how the Worldcoin team allegedly manipulated the price of the token while publicly denying any involvement in the manipulation.

As DeFi^2 reported on July 17, Worldcoin plans to begin insider unlocking in seven days. Currently, the number of coins in circulation is 276 million WLD (2.7%), while the total issuance is 10 billion. This is one of the lowest figures for a major venture capital-backed cryptocurrency project.

The trader's report highlights selected practices of the Worldcoin team, including:

1. Implementing a price suppression formula for market makers;
2. Suddenly abandoning the price control mechanism, leading to price spikes;
3. Public denial of involvement in price control despite clear evidence;
4. Maintaining extremely low levels of working capital.

According to DeFi^2, a significant proportion of WLD holders are retail Korean investors, many of whom may not fully understand the risks due to the language barrier.

In addition, his research revealed possible insider trading, with suspicious price movements occurring just before important announcements. This pattern raises questions about the ethics of the Worldcoin team and associated venture capitalists.

Обвинение ZachXBT шокировало криптосообщество, поскольку сыщик говорил без обиняков:

Позор всем венчурным капиталистам и членам команды, которые были замешаны в крупнейшем мошенническом проекте и не сделали ничего, чтобы предотвратить его.

Кажется, что теперь не только у правительств различных стран возникли вопросы к правомерности деятельности Worldcoin, но и у криптосообщества. Любопытно, что ответит команда проекта по цифровой идентификации личности.

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Vanar is partnering with Sharpe Labs to integrate artificial intelligence-based trading on its blockchain platform

Vanar, known for its carbon-neutral, high-speed, low-cost Tier 1 blockchain designed specifically for the entertainment industry and mainstream applications, has just announced a groundbreaking partnership with Sharpe Labs.

This collaboration marks a significant step forward in utilizing advanced technology solutions to improve the cryptocurrency trading experience. Vanar's blockchain technology, known for its efficiency and sustainability, will be integrated with Sharpe Labs' Sharpe AI platform.

Sharpe AI, an innovative super app, is designed to transform the cryptocurrency trading landscape by providing a comprehensive set of tools for investment, intelligence gathering and automation of digital assets. This alliance is not just a fusion of technologies, but an amalgamation of ideals to set new benchmarks in the cryptocurrency space.

Seamless integration to expand trading opportunities

The partnership between Vanar and Sharpe Labs has the potential to revolutionize the way professional traders interact with digital assets. By integrating Vanar's blockchain into Sharpe Terminal, users will benefit from advanced analytics and seamless asset tracking capabilities. This integration leverages Vanar's strengths in speed and cost efficiency, making it an ideal backend for Sharpe's analytics-focused platform.

The goal of the collaboration is to provide Sharpe Terminal users with uninterrupted access to Vanar Chain features. These include its carbon-neutral operations, which are becoming increasingly important in a market where sustainability is becoming key.

By combining these functions with Sharpe AI capabilities, the partnership not only expands the functionality available to users, but also aligns with broader industry trends in environmental responsibility and advanced technology integration.

The synergy between Vanar's blockchain technology and Sharpe Labs' analytical tools is expected to create a robust platform that meets the needs of today's sophisticated traders. This integration ensures that Sharpe terminal users will have powerful tools at their fingertips to make informed decisions, backed by fast, cost-effective and environmentally friendly blockchain technology.

The move is expected to set a new standard for integrating blockchain technology with advanced trading infrastructures, providing a template that can shape future interactions between these two key areas of the digital economy.

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Binance follows Justin Sun's lead and sues the media in China

In yet another disturbing call for censorship by a major cryptocurrency player, Binance has defeated Bloomberg Businessweek's China unit in a defamation lawsuit after the media outlet titled a 2022 issue 'Changpeng Zhao's Financial Pyramid'. The publication quickly changed the title to 'The Mysterious Changpeng Zhao', but apparently this almost instantaneous change didn't matter to Binance or the Chinese courts.

The article in question described how Binance's marketing worked, saying that CZ and his associates encouraged retailers to buy memcoins, that Binance contributed to Terra / Luna burning investors, talked about a secret office in Shanghai, and finally discussed that Binance had an almost complete lack of proper compliance teams. Many of these claims have since been confirmed by numerous media outlets around the world.

Unfortunately, the Chinese court victory that forced Binance to donate money to children with special needs was met with the general public condemning Bloomberg Businessweek and celebrating Binance's victory. Online commenters called the article a lie and complained about the unprofessionalism of the Bloomberg Businessweek team.

Same game scheme, different team

This announcement of the Chinese court victory followed a similar announcement by Justin Sun a few weeks ago. In that case, Sun sued a very small media outlet in China, and the publication was ordered to pay the crypto billionaire $69.

While neither Binance nor Justin Sun has been able to deny similar stories published about them by media outlets around the world, the attempt to use defamation lawsuits to silence cryptocurrency news outlets in China seems to have a twofold purpose: First, individuals are afraid to report the truth about cryptocurrency companies in mainland China and second, they may use these approving censorship victories in clinging to pearls as bad PR for media outlets that they portray as constantly lying about them.

This tactic seems to work well in China, but fortunately, due to strict free speech laws, many media outlets outside of China face few such obstacles.

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Polymarket hires Nate Silver after betting on $265 million US election: report

-- US statistician Nate Silver has been hired as a consultant at prediction marketplace Polymarket.
-- Polymarket has placed $265 million worth of bets on this year's US presidential election and more than $400 million in total since the beginning of the year.

According to an Axios report , as the U.S. presidential election enters its final stages, cryptocurrency-based prediction marketplace platform Polymarket has struck iron by hiring renowned statistician and author Nate Silver as an advisor.

Silver had been providing US election predictions for years, first through his FiveThirtyEight service (which he later sold and no longer works for). And Polymarket has seen big business from this year's presidential race, with $265 million already invested in the election. The prediction market shows Donald Trump as the clear favorite with a 70% probability of winning the vote.

The acquisition of Silver means that users can expect a diversified range of Prediction Markets based on news Events. In addition to elections, Silver also analyzes baseball and basketball.

Founded in 2020, Polymarket has raised a total of $70 million from investors including Founders Fund founder Peter Thiel (who was an early investor in CoinDesk's parent company Bullish) and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin.

Polymarket vice president David Rosenberg told Axios that the company will eventually start charging fees for transactions that take place on the platform.

This year, Polymarket has accepted more than $400 million in bets on its Betting Markets covering politics, pop culture, sports and science.

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Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse: “The US regulator is forcing us to leave the US”

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse criticized the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its strict approach to regulating cryptocurrencies and hinted at the company's possible exit from the U.S. market.

Brad Garlinghouse said that the SEC is resisting innovation in every way possible, much like the Luddites who protested against the introduction of machine tools during the Industrial Revolution in England. Given the many regulatory obstacles to the development of digital assets and the uncertainty of their regulation, Ripple is ready to reconsider its activities in the U.S. market.

According to Garlinghouse, the company has shifted its focus toward international markets. A significant portion of Ripple's customer base (about 75%) is already outside the US. Over the past few years, especially after the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple, more than 95% of transaction volume has come from overseas customers. Garlinghouse believes it is impractical to recruit in the United States when the company's core market is increasingly moving overseas.

The Ripple executive also lamented that many members of Congress, among them Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, are taking a hostile stance toward the crypto sector. This further tightens the regulatory environment for industry companies, stifling innovation.

Garlinghouse named the jurisdictions that are most favorable to the crypto industry: Japan, the UAE, Singapore and the European Union. They seek to bring clarity to the regulation of cryptocurrencies and create a favorable environment for blockchain innovation. In these jurisdictions, Ripple has a better chance to thrive as the company may not fear sudden legal challenges.

Garlinghouse recently suggested that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden should remove SEC Chairman Gary Gensler from his position because the agency under his leadership is only increasing prosecution of cryptocurrency companies.

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