Blockchain Explained

2023-04-10 06:52:02 Luxury Goods Account for 20% of Items Sold in 2022 by Crypto-Enabled Merchants

Web3 is integrating new tools into existing business models of luxury brands to make a real impact. 2022 was the year of hype around Web3, but 2023 is shaping up to be the year when the plans are being implemented. Luxury brands are now focusing on more concrete utilization closely connected with the physical product in contrast to digital-only assets existing solely for the metaverse.

Web3 has gradually established a warm relationship with luxury goods, and several brands catering specifically to these markets have managed to position themselves in the space. However, there’s more to the story than just tapping a sector prepared to spend considerable sums of cash. These brands are also bringing their loyal following to Web3. Ralph Lauren recently announced partnering with BitPay to accept crypto for the first time at its new store in Miami’s Design District. The new offering also includes a crypto-native experience which is gifting NFTs via a multi-tiered partnership with the online leisure community Poolsuite, calling it “deeply rooted in the Miami lifestyle.”

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2023-04-09 06:38:02 SBI Crypto Sues Riot Blockchain-Owned Data Center for Fraud, Negligence

Bitcoin miner SBI Crypto Co., (SBIC) is suing Whinstone US, a data center based in Rockdale, Texas, for misrepresenting its readiness to host a large-scale mining operation and for millions of dollars in damages as a result of delays and substandard conditions. The charges SBI Crypto is pursuing against the data center include “fraud, fraudulent inducement of contract, fraud by nondisclosure, negligent bailment, and breach of the Hosting Service Agreement,”.

Riot Blockchain acquired Whinstone US for 11.8 million in common stock and $80 million in cash in May 2021. Among the numerous misrepresentations, SBIC maintains Whinstone did not conform to industry standards and the facility had frequently informed the miner that building permits, certifications, and power contracts were not needed for the facility to fulfill its end of the Hosting Service Agreement. SBIC signed with the facility in late October 2019, but the lack of documentation later became a stumbling block when it came to light in the months prior to operations beginning in June 2020 that documentation was, in fact, required to turn on the power.

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2023-04-08 07:15:05 Avalanche’s New Subnet to Offer Blockchain Customization for Financial Institutions

Layer 1 protocol Avalanche (AVAX) is releasing “Evergreen Subnets” – a suite of blockchain deployments, tooling and customization services – for financial institutions. The firms will be able to launch their own Evergreen subnets for research and development, and for “production-ready use cases,” said Ava Labs, the builders behind the Avalanche blockchain, in a press release.

A subnet is a sovereign network that defines its own rules for membership and tokenomics. They are composed of a group of validators – in this case, Avalanche validators – that work together to reach consensus on the state of one or more blockchains. Avalanche currently has several Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-based subnets, including the Intain Subnet, which is a tokenized asset-backed security (ABS) application and the Deloitte Subnet, which is a platform for efficient Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) fund disbursements.

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2023-04-07 04:55:03 Arbitrum Foundation Offers Crypto Governance Concessions After ARB Holder Uproar

The Arbitrum Foundation on Wednesday proposed to expand ARB token holders' budget oversight and governance powers with two motions aimed at turning the page on last weekend's crypto governance meltdown. In a Discord post, the Arbitrum Foundation said it "will not move" the 700 million ARB tokens that remain in its "Administrative Budget Wallet" until the community approved "an acceptable budget".

The twin actions represented a major concession to token holders angry over being asked to "ratify" decisions the Arbitrum Foundation had already made – including the fate of nearly $1 billion in tokens. In a nod to the fracas, Arbitrum Foundation also issued a "transparency report" into how the organization came to be. The new proposals come after a community-wide protest erupted over the Arbitrum Foundation’s move to quietly transfer 750 million ARB tokens to one of its own wallets last weekend. Arbitrum is an Ethereum scaling solution and the fourth largest blockchain with $2.24 billion in total locked value.

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2023-04-06 05:36:02 OKX Delists TRX Futures Contracts In 2023, Adapting To Evolving Market Demands

OKX has announced that it plans to discontinue the generation of TRX USDT-Margined and Crypto-Margined futures contracts. The discontinuation of the futures contracts will be gradual. Bi-weekly futures contracts will no longer be available from April 14, 2023, while bi-quarterly futures contracts will no longer be available from June 16, 2023. However, the futures contracts that have already been listed will not be affected.

OKX to discontinue the generation of TRX USDT-Margined and Crypto-Margined futures contracts is a response to the current market trends and user needs. It is a clear indication that the company is committed to providing the best services to its users. As always, OKX will continue to monitor the market trends and make necessary adjustments to its services to meet the evolving needs of its users. OKX is now handing over these assets to the bankruptcy estate of the former companies. The exchange has stated that it will continue collaborating with FTX debtors and law enforcement authorities, expecting that these assets will be restored to FTX users through bankruptcy.

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2023-04-05 04:55:02 Polychain Leads $15M Funding Round for Crypto Startup Polyhedra Network

Polyhedra Network, a startup that provides Web3 infrastructure backed by zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs, has raised $15 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital, according to press materials shared exclusively with CoinDesk. The fundraise comes a little over a month after the startup closed a $10 million strategic funding round from Binance Labs and Polychain.

Berkeley, California-based Polyhedra Network is building a suite of systems focusing on blockchain interoperability, scalability and privacy. Those systems include zkBridge, which facilitates cross-chain asset and data transfers. ZkBridge uses zero-knowledge proof constructions to verify the validity of the consensus between two blockchains," Polyhedra co-founder James Zhang said in a statement. "With zero-knowledge proofs, zkBridge offers strong security without relying on external assumptions and a significant reduction in on-chain verification cost.

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2023-04-04 05:53:02 BNB Chain claims to have identified Allbridge's $570,000 exploiter

The BNB Chain team announced on Twitter that it identified the individual behind the recent exploit on Allbridge — which caused an estimated loss of $570,000. "BNB Chain has pinpointed the Allbridge attacker through on-chain analysis," the BNB Chain team stated, adding: "We are actively assisting the Allbridge project in recovering the stolen funds." The team declined to comment on further details of the attacker.

As a cross-chain bridge, Allbridge enables the transfer of digital assets from one blockchain network to another via liquidity pools. On Sunday, an attacker drained funds after manipulating the prices in Allbridge's liquidity pools on BNB Chain using a flash loan, security firm PeckShield first noted. At the same time, the project is also focusing on tracking down the culprit — working with teams from BNB Chain and others. "With the help of our partners and community, we are tracking the hacker through social networks like Twitter," Allbridge stated.

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2023-04-03 04:57:02 Circle’s USDC Outflows Surpassed $10B Since SVB Collapse, Tether Dominance Rises

Tether (USDT) has emerged as the industry favorite amidst turmoil in USDC. Weeks after the failure of a series of US banks as well as the Credit Suisse chaos, the crypto market has considerably recovered but the same cannot be said for a prominent stablecoin that has served as a backbone for DeFi trades – USDC. The confidence in Circle-backed stablecoin remains severely battered as investors continue to flee to Tether (USDT).

USDC’s market cap was down by over 42% to $33.2 billion from its all-time high of nearly $57 billion last June. The downturn was due to a $3.3 billion exposure to Silicon Valley Bank (SVb), which temporarily dragged the token to 88 cents instead of its usual one-dollar price. Circle, expanded its ties with BNY Mellon to assist with USDC redemption, which already provides custody services for its reserves. A few days later, the firm revealed transferring “substantially all” the cash portion to the custodian bank except for limited funds held at transaction banking partners. While these measures helped the token to regain its peg, the massive outflows continued.

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2023-04-02 04:57:02 DEX Volume Unaffected But BTC Outflows From Binance Increase Post CFTC Lawsuit

Binance experienced a 60% withdrawal surge this week following the CFTC’s market manipulation allegations. Bitcoin is making its way out of Binance after the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued the exchange earlier this week, on-chain data shows. Though bearish for the world’s largest crypto exchange, the wave of outflows doesn’t appear to have triggered any significant migration.

According to data provided by IntoTheBlock, Binance has experienced a 60% surge in BTC withdrawals over the past 30 days, with some days in march seeing an average of over $400 million in net withdrawals. Signs of an increase in withdrawal demand appeared on Monday when Nansen reported a roughly equivalent number of net outflows within the previous 24 hours. Meanwhile, data from Thanefield Capital showed total stablecoin withdrawals exceeding $1 million from Binance within the hours before and after its legal challenge from the CFTC was made public. The agency alleged that Binance had illegally serviced many U.S. customers without proper registration, encouraged them to bypass know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.

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2023-04-01 04:40:04 SBF to Enter Not Guilty Plea to Campaign Financing and China Bribery Charges: Report

Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly planning to plead not guilty to a new 13-count indictment leveled against him by US prosecutors. Founder and former CEO of bankrupt FTX exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, will again plead not guilty to recent charges brought against him by US prosecutors, which include unlawful political donations and alleged bribery of Chinese officials. He is scheduled to stand trial for various criminal charges in October.

According to Reuters on Thursday (March 30, 2023), an anonymous source said that Sam Bankman-Fried is planning to enter a not-guilty plea to 13 new criminal charges, including bribing Chinese government officials and violating campaign finance laws. In February 2023, a superseding indictment alleged that Bankman-Fried conspired with two FTX executives to make more than 300 political donations worth tens of millions of dollars, which crossed the limit for individual campaign contributions. According to the indictment, illegal donations were done using straw donors or corporate funds. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) later slammed another lawsuit against SBF in March.

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