Crypto Break

2023-03-05 20:00:07 ​​BLUR Token in Crisis: Can It Recover From New Lows?

The BLUR token has hit a new low, dropping below the $0.75 level for the first time in recent weeks. This comes as investors grow increasingly concerned about the potential for a further increase in the token's supply, which could put even more downward pressure on the price.

One of the primary reasons for the decline in the value of BLUR is the upcoming airdrop of new tokens, which will be distributed to existing token holders. While airdrops can be a great way to reward loyal investors and generate interest in a cryptocurrency project, they can also be problematic if the new tokens flood the market and create an oversupply situation.

When new tokens are airdropped, they are typically given to existing holders in proportion to the number of tokens they already own. While this can be a great way to reward early investors and build community engagement, it can also create selling pressure if a significant number of investors choose to sell their new tokens immediately.

This is especially true if the new tokens are distributed in large quantities, as is often the case with airdrops from newer projects trying to build a user base. In some cases, this oversupply can lead to a sharp decline in the value of the underlying asset, as investors scramble to sell before prices drop too low.

In the case of BLUR, the upcoming airdrop has caused many investors to grow concerned about the potential for oversupply, leading to a decline in the token's value. Unfortunately, the endorsement BLUR received from notable entrepreneurs could not help it on its way down. Buka / Bagaimana

2023-03-02 15:00:20 ​​UNITY ADDS WEB3 DEVELOPER TOOLS TO ACCELERATE BLOCKCHAIN GAMING DEVELOPMENT

Blockchain gaming development may have slowed down over the past year, but things are about to change. This is after Unity added 13 Web3 developer tools designed to aid builders in the blockchain space. The integrations can be found on the Unity Asset Store, the gaming giant’s online store, where developers can purchase and download them to integrate in their games.

Web3 developers will be able to download the SDKs and APIs from leading blockchain solutions providers that are listed on the Unity Asset Store. These include the likes of MetaMask, Algorand, ImmutableX, and many others.

Experts within Web3 believe this move will spark an influx of game developers into the space. Simon Kertonegoro, CEO of MyMetaverse, is one of those who shares this sentiment. Speaking to the press, he notes that “everyone in gaming respects Unity, they’re the people’s champ.”

A spokesperson for Altura, one of the service providers listed, also sees this decision as making decentralized gaming more accessible to its massive audience. This goes for both players and developers

Unity Web3 Tools Will Bring Back Blockchain Game Developers
The gaming world has bought into the hype of Web3 as decentralization allows players to own in-game assets—this way they can create, earn and obtain resources that can be traded and sold elsewhere.

Web3 developers are leveraging smart contracts, virtual wallets, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies to facilitate decentralization in video games.

The tools add to Unity’s existing features that are designed to make blockchain game development efficient. The Unity game engine already exists, which developers can use to create 3D environments for various platforms. These include desktop, mobile, and console devices.

Kertonegoro believes the latest move is historic given Unity’s standing within the gaming world. Having launched in 2004, the platform is one of the biggest in the gaming space and is well respected.

“It’s one of the biggest players in gaming, and for them to show such clear and strong solidarity with the Web3 movement is a truly inspiring moment and a historic move for GameFi.”

And for the developers that had run out of space, now “Web3 is ready to welcome them with open arms.” Buka / Bagaimana

2023-02-25 23:00:01 ​​Global Crypto Rules to be Based on Coming FSB & IMF Synthesis Paper, India Announces After G20 Meetings

The basis of coming global crypto rules will be formed on a new synthesis paper, jointly produced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), announced India as the holder of the Group of 20 (G20) Presidency in Bangalore on Saturday.

The announcement came after three days of meetings in India amongst the 20 largest economies of the world, collectively known as the G20, in which creating a global regulatory framework for crypto was a priority.

The discussions held between the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors were expected to chart the way forward for globally coordinated crypto rules.

The synthesis paper will be submitted during India's G20 Presidency which culminates in September when India hosts G20 leaders from across the world, said Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during a press conference.

Asked whether consensus around global crypto regulation that India had prioritised for its G20 presidency will arrive during India's term, Sitharaman said "first of all we are going through the study process so that their can be informed discussions."

"Something should develop," Sitharaman added while referring to FSB's expected paper in July that will lead to the synthesis paper by September.

Sitharaman also said that Canada's central bank governor cautioned other members that crypto assets should not be given "regulatory seal of approval" without a well-thought-out approach and a framework for implementation.

"The World Bank stated that views of all developing countries should also be included in any (crypto) policy framework," Sitharaman added.

India's Central Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said that there was a marked shift in perception around crypto assets by G20 nations in the past year which saw the collapse of several major crypto companies, including FTX, and a global contagion. There is a wide acceptance about risks involved in crypto assets now, Das said. Buka / Bagaimana

2023-01-27 19:00:07 ​​Chiliz 2.0 Set to Debut, CEO Shares Excitement for New Features

Socios and Chiliz CEO Alexandre Dreyfus has taken to Twitter to share his excitement over the imminent launch of Chiliz 2.0.

"The launch of Chiliz Chain 2.0 - a curated blockchain for the sports and entertainment industry is coming," he wrote.

The launch of chiliz chain 2.0 - a curated blockchain for the sports & entertainment industry is coming. Staking, DEX, Whitelisting, new NFT standard, Memorabilia certification, Fan Tokens, and much more ... with the help of 150 sports teams + 2M user base. Stay tuned. CHZ
— Alexandre Dreyfus

Dreyfus highlighted the several features the new chain would present: "staking, DEX, whitelisting, new NFT standard, memorabilia certification, fan tokens, and much more ... with the help of 150 sports teams and a 2+ million user base."

On Jan. 25 of this year, Chiliz announced the launch of the Spicy Testnet, a new testnet meant to improve the overall security and performance of the blockchain. It highlights the possibility of a hard fork in achieving this stated aim.

«We are happy to launch Spicy Testnet!

According to it, the Spicy Testnet would be the last major upgrade before the launch of the Chiliz Chain 2.0 mainnet. In the long run, Spicy Testnet will eventually replace Scoville Testnet, which was introduced in March 2022 when the initial announcement of the Chiliz chain 2.0 was made.

Additionally, it states that the Scoville and Spicy testnets will run in parallel for the time being. However, the Spicy Testnet is recommended for developers to use because it will be updated to directly reflect the new Chiliz Chain 2.0 blockchain.

More on Chiliz Chain 2.0
As stated in a blog post, Chiliz Chain 2.0 would allow sports and entertainment brands to mint NFTs and fan tokens, build DeFi products and Play2Earn games and create events, loyalty and merchandising programs.

The CHZ token will fuel the new blockchain, representing a significant shift in the CHZ utility from the in-app currency of Chiliz's Socios platform to the network enabler of Chiliz's new ecosystem.

Developed in collaboration with Ankr, Chiliz Chain 2.0 is EVM compatible and adopts a PoSA (proof-of-stake authority) model. Buka / Bagaimana

2023-01-22 19:00:07 ​​XRP, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) Five Years' Time Prediction Made by John Deaton

CryptoLaw founder and blockchain enthusiast John Deaton believes XRP (XRP), Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) will still be standing in the next five years.

Other than the SEC lawsuit #XRP, what has changed since Sygnum recommended #BTC #ETH and #XRP? I still believe all three will be standing 5 years from now. The question is what other tokens will be? @bgarlinghouse said 99% are likely going to zero. What's standing in 2028? https://t.co/TQFOnwRr26
— John E Deaton

He circled back to a prediction he made in August last year, where he mentioned a report by the Head of Assets at Zurich-based Sygnum Bank that recommended three digital assets of the future.

First is Bitcoin as a store of value; second, Ethereum for infrastructure; and third, XRP for payments. According to Deaton, except for the Ripple lawsuit, nothing has changed for XRP since 2020, when the recommendation was made, so he continues to stick to his prediction.

In 2019, Garlinghouse famously predicted that 99% of all cryptocurrencies would go to zero. According to him, the industry is in its "pre-Cambrian" stage, since there is still a lot of experimentation.

XRP weathering storms
In December 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed its lawsuit against Ripple Labs and two of its executives, alleging that $1.3 billion in sales of XRP constituted unregistered securities.

Immediately after the lawsuit was filed, XRP's price drastically fell to around 20 cents. Despite this and its subsequent delisting by certain exchanges, XRP nevertheless continued to rank among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

It goes on to show that, regardless of circumstances, the XRP value proposition remains constant. Over the past 10 years, XRP, the native asset of XRP Ledger, has survived the storms and maintained its position among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, a feat that many other cryptocurrencies have been unable to accomplish.

The XRP Ledger platform has been operating without a hitch since its June 2012 launch. XRP experienced a phenomenal increase from the end of 2017 to the beginning of 2018, increasing by thousands of percent and temporarily overtaking Ethereum as the second-largest cryptocurrency.

At the time of publication, XRP was trading at $0.40 and ranked as the sixth-largest cryptocurrency with a market valuation of $20.5 billion. Buka / Bagaimana

2023-01-15 20:00:07 ​​Bitcoin miner CleanSpark reports $42.3 million net loss, missing estimates

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark reported $26.2 million in revenue, missing the average estimate of $27.1 million. The non-GAAP net loss of $42.3 million was also worse than the estimate of $15.4 million for the three months ending in September.

"The majority of these fourth quarter losses were primarily due to impairment of goodwill and bitcoin balances, as well as non-cash charges due to modification of equity instruments," said CFO Gary A. Vecchiarelli in a statement. "Even then, our adjusted EBITDA was $65.7M , a 500% increase over the prior year, which represents the power and scale of our business model.

Adjusted Ebitda for the quarter of $2.9 million compared to the $4.3 million average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet.

The company was down about 5% in after-hours trading.

"Our business model and capital strategy continue to be standouts in our industry," said CEO Zach Bradford. "Despite macro headwinds in the economy and bitcoin mining industry, our infrastructure first approach and financial discipline have allowed us to grow in this bear market. We continue to execute our business plans with best-in-class efficient mining operations and by identifying potential accretive acquisitions while maintaining very little leverage on our balance sheet."

Miners have been struggling with higher energy costs, greater mining difficulty and a slump in bitcoin prices and CleanSpark has been taking advantage of distressed assets, acquiring two facilities in Georgia and more than 18,000 machines.

The company has been particularly smart about its capital and is now reaping the benefits of not joining the rush to buy machines last year, Christopher Brendler, a senior research analyst with D.A. Davidson, told The Block last month.

In addition, the company reached its year-end hashrate guidance of 5.0 EH/s ahead of schedule in October, pushing it further to 5.5 EH/s. Buka / Bagaimana

2023-01-05 10:00:19 ​​XRPL Top Use Cases in 2023 Indicated by Community

A community-managed account for Ripple, XRP token and XRP Ledger blockchain, dubbed @WKahneman, recalls the core elements of RippleNet multi-purpose platform and their main use cases.

From xCurrent, xRapid and xVia to RippleNet: Long story short
The anonymous XRP enthusiast who goes by @WKahneman on Twitter shared a thread designed to explain the design of Ripple's XRP-based solutions for newcomers to its ecosystem.

A brief overview for folks reading about @Ripple & $XRP use in 2023. Years ago, Ripple offered 3 products: xCurrent = payment messaging xRapid = #XRP as bridge currency xVia = an API solution Co's originally signed bilateral agreements w/ partners to move value. And now?
— WrathofKahneman

He recalled that some years ago, Ripple offered three solutions for businesses and individuals focused on seamless cross-border value transfers.

The first one, xCurrent, facilitated messaging in payment channels. xRapid instrument leveraged XRP as a bridge currency for seamless payments. xVia in this stack served as an API solution suitable for being integrated into various business designs.

In 2023, all of these functions are integrated into a single ecosystem, RippleNet. RippleNet, in turn, leverages XRP as a currency for On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) payment corridors in various regions of the globe. RippleNet removes the neеd for bilateral agreements between the parties.

ODL solutions expanded to new regions in 2022
As such, direct usage of XRP is not necessary any longer; clients use RippleNet without swapping their funds to XRP themselves.

Last year was a crucial period for Ripple and its XRPL solutions, including ODL. In its detailed report shared in Q4, 2022, the Ripple team highlighted that expansion to Africa, Argentina, Belgium, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, the UAE and the U.K. is the company's top priority.

In 2023, Ripple's payments solutions are used not only for cross-border transfers but also for payments of crypto friendly SMEs and e-commerce platforms. Buka / Bagaimana

2022-12-27 00:30:00 ​​Bitcoin miners increased hash rate and production despite falling BTC prices in 2022

While some miners had bought BTC at the beginning of the year, they were forced to eventually sell them off to maintain operations.The price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 64.68% to $16,870 from around $47,766 at the beginning of the year, CryptoSlate data shows. At the same time, share prices of Bitcoin mining companies fell by 91% on average from their 52-week high prices, according to Compass Mining.

However, this has not deterred mining firms from increasing their Bitcoin mining capabilities throughout 2022, as per a Compass Mining report. CleanSpark, for instance, grew its BTC mining hash rate from 1.9 EH/s at the start of 2022 to 6.0 EH/s or about 62,000 miners to date — an increase of 189%, the Compass Mining report stated.

Bit Digital and Riot Blockchain bumped their hash rate by 157% and 148%, respectively. Additionally, according to the report, Bitfarms, Digihost, and Marathon Digital Holdings each increased their mining hash rate by 100%.

The increasing mining capabilities inevitably led to increased Bitcoin production throughout 2022. For example, Riot Blockchain has mined 4,872 BTC as of November 2022 compared to 3,812 BTC and 1,033 BTC produced in 2021 and 2020, respectively.

CleanSpark has produced 4,157 BTC year-to-date compared to 1,528 BTC mined in 2021, as per the report. On Dec. 21, Bitfarms announced that it had mined its 5000th BTC in 2022, leaving behind its record of mining 3,452 BTC in 2021.

Miners bought BTC in a bullish spirit, then sold them amid a liquidity crunch
In early 2022, despite Bitcoin slipping far below its all-time high of $69,000 set in Nov. 2022, miners were still bullish on the market, the Compass Mining report stated. Therefore, many miners proceeded to use their cash reserves to purchase BTC in addition to mining them.

In the first week of January 2022, Bitfarms announced the purchase of 1,000 BTC for $43.2 million, increasing its BTC holdings by 30%. In the second half of January, Argo Blockchain bought 172.5 BTC.

Bitfarms sold 7,309 BTC in 2022, including the 1,000 BTC purchased in January, while Argo Blockchain also sold most of its BTC at much lower prices. Both firms also borrowed large sums — Bitfarms entered into a $32 million mining equipment financing agreement with BlockFi, while Argo Blockchain released terms of extensive loans from New York Digital Investment Group — to fund growth.

With the bear cycle running full steam, most miners faced liquidity issues. Core Scientific got the most brutal hit, leading it to declare bankruptcy under Chapter 11 on Dec. 21. Greenidge is also undergoing restructuring in order to avoid bankruptcy and Argo Blockchain was also delisted from LSE amid bankruptcy fears. Buka / Bagaimana

2022-12-15 04:20:00 ​​CFPB not planning crypto crackdown, says Bureau Director Chopra

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is not planning an immediate crypto crackdown, its director said today, while choosing his words carefully.

“Crypto is not a product. Certain electronic consumer transactions are,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra told The Block after an hours-long congressional hearing.

Digital asset policy came up frequently during a regular appearance by Chopra before the House Financial Services Committee, including further prodding around whether a recently published consumer alert bulletin related to crypto meant the bureau would step up enforcement on crypto companies.

“Do you anticipate expanding your enforcement in this area?” asked Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., referring to those reports.
“No,” answered Chopra.

The bureau has also moved ahead on an inquiry into crypto lender Nexo, which led to the company’s announcement that it would gradually leave the U.S.

When asked after the hearing about the Nexo investigation, Chopra would not comment beyond what the regulator had already filed on the case.

Stablecoin framework
Asked by committee Chair Maxine Waters, D-Calif., what legislation he thought Congress should pass around digital assets, Chopra agreed with Waters' own prioritization of a regulatory framework around stablecoins.

“I think with respect to stablecoins, that’s the number one issue that I think would affect consumers and consumer financial protection,” said the CFPB director, adding that stablecoins could “very, very rapidly scale” in size, requiring policymakers to “make sure that there are not runs like we’ve seen in money market funds or even the recent FTX situation. How do we make sure that fraud protections are in place?”

“You know when Libra was proposed in 2019, I think that was a sign that something like a stablecoin could very, very rapidly scale,” Chopra continued. Buka / Bagaimana