The blockchain-based video game industry grew steadily over the course of 2020, according to a new report from DappRadar in association with the Blockchain Gaming Alliance, with increases in overall daily users and a significant leap in the amount of activity around gaming non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles. Daily activity across all crypto games grew 35% from the start to the end of 2020, the report details, finishing the year with just less than 28,000 daily active users. The total trading value grew even more significantly at a rate of 191%, ending the year at $173,500 per day on average in December. The amount of growth varied widely by game, however, and DappRadar suggests that the level of growth seems modest when compared to the explosive rise of decentralized… [Read More...]
Nebraska State Senator Wants Crypto Banks in the Cornhusker State
Nebraska state senator Mike Flood has introduced two new bills focused on cryptocurrency and the banking industry. It’s a move that signals growing interest among lawmakers, regulators, and industry leaders in the intersection between crypto and traditional finance. The first of the two bills, Legislative Bill 648, contains the “Transactions in Digital Assets Act,” which proposes a set of rules for Nebraskan banks looking to hold cryptocurrencies. The second, Legislative Bill 649, asks legislators to adopt the “Nebraska Financial Innovation Act,” which would allow state charters for digital asset banks—something that’s yet to be explicitly permitted by the Office of the Comptroller for the Currency. Brian Brooks, the most recent Comptroller for the Currency, said last year that federally chartered banks can offer crypto custody services… [Read More...]
Bank of France Takes Another Step Toward a Digital Euro
France’s central bank has completed its first central bank digital currency fund transaction on the SETL blockchain, the Banque de France and blockchain company SETL gleefully announced yesterday. The French bank settled the transaction on the SETL blockchain using SETL’s IZNES platform. The experiment is a collaboration with financial institutions CITI, CACEIS, Groupama, OFI and DXC. For the purposes of the experiment, which took place on December 17, CITI and CACEIS acted as commercial banks that bought more than 2 million euros in CBDC tokens from the French Central Banks. The Banque de France said in a statement that its smart contracts allowed it to issue and control the circulation of CBDC tokens to make sure that the money ended up in the commercial banks’ accounts. The Banque de… [Read More...]
Soulja Boy Tells ‘Em: Buy Dogecoin
Rapper, entrepreneur, and streamer Soulja Boy (a.k.a. Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em) has endorsed many products over the years, and a video circulating on social media today suggests that the latest is none other than leading meme cryptocurrency, Dogecoin. “Yo Dogecoin Army, it’s going down man. Make sure y’all tap in for Dogecoin, man, it’s gonna be the crypto of the future. Dogecoin is the people’s coin. Let’s go. It’s your boy, Soulja Boy,” he says in the video. Another celebrity joins #Dogecoinarmy! This time it’s @souljaboy giving shouout to all $doge holders!“$Doge is the #crypto of the Future, it’s the People’s coin! ” And people are buying #Dogecoin back tonight! Expect massive price rally to 100 sats +!#Crypto #BTC… [Read More...]
Australian Bitcoin Entrepreneur Sues Banks for Cutting Him Off
An Australian crypto entrepreneur is reportedly suing two banks for booting his cryptocurrency exchange business off their ledgers. As reported by the Australian Financial Review, Allan Flynn has filed a lawsuit against two of Australia’s commercial banks, ANZ and Westpac, for discriminating against him for his crypto business and cutting him off with almost no warning. Flynn reportedly runs a Bitcoin OTC desk that services 450 customers. The AFR said that the banks rejected Flynn because they didn’t like the sound of Bitcoin. And this isn’t the first time: apparently, at least 20 of Flynn’s bank accounts have been closed for the past three years. “How am I supposed to run a lawful business if I can’t get a bank account?” Flynn reportedly told the AFR. It’s a… [Read More...]
Anchorage Becomes First Federally Chartered Digital Asset Bank
Crypto custodian Anchorage has announced the first ever digital bank with a federal charter. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, helmed by the crypto-friendly Brian Brooks, has granted the company conditional approval for a national trust charter, and the creation of Anchorage Digital Bank. Anchorage announced that they’d applied for the charter late last year, citing the need for sub-custody services in the realm of cryptocurrencies—that is to say, the charter will allow traditional banks that don’t handle crypto to offer Anchorage’s services to clients. The company was founded by two former Square employees in 2017, and received $40 million from the likes of Visa and Andreessen Horowitz for its Series B funding round in 2019. Anchorage is the first crypto company to receive a… [Read More...]
Bitcoin Whales Swoop in As Markets Hit Turbulence
It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the crypto markets this week. On Monday we saw prices crash in what turned out to be the biggest daily drop in Bitcoin’s history. Yesterday, the broader market swung the other way, recovering nearly $60 billion in global market cap passing the $1 trillion milestone. Today we’re back where we started on Monday. Global market cap is back in the low $930s, according to data provided by Nomics and Bitcoin’s price is down 5%. It’s a similar story elsewhere. Crypto’s rollercoaster ride. IMAGE: Nomics Ethereum is down 8%, Cardano 6%, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash down 8% and 7% respectively, and Hex, yesterday’s biggest mover, drumped 17% off its price. But while schmucks like the Market Report clamour to cover… [Read More...]
Crypto Twitter Divided Following Trump’s Social Media Ban
In the wake of Wednesday’s storming of the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters, tech companies and social media companies have raced to expel the movement’s members from their platforms. President Donald Trump himself was unceremoniously booted from Twitter “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” following hot on the heels of his suspension from Facebook. Meanwhile, the right-leaning social media platform Parler, which had played host to numerous inflammatory comments relating to the riots, was taken offline after Amazon refused to service its cloud infrastructure—soon after it was banned by Google and Amazon from their app stores. After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to… [Read More...]