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2022-02-02 12:42:36 ​​Microstrategy lost $146M to Bitcoin impairment charges in Q4 2021

MicroStrategy currently holds a total of 125,051 BTC acquired for $3.78 billion at an average price of $30,200 per Bitcoin.

MicroStrategy, the fortune 500 company with a 125,051 Bitcoin (BTC)-strong treasury, announced its Q4 2021 financial results on Feb. 2.

The institutional software solution provider reported a net loss of $146.6 million incurred in impairment charges on its Bitcoin holdings. The high impairment losses added to the company’s operating expenses which saw a 125% increase at $248 million as compared to the same quarter last year.

An impairment loss is a recognized reduction in the acquisition cost of an asset that is triggered by a decline in its fair value. When the fair value of an asset declines below its purchase amount, the difference is written off.

The firm has lost nearly a billion dollars ($901 million) in impairment charges on its BTC holdings over the last six quarters.

MicroStrategy decided to add BTC impairment charges after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected its existing ‘non-GAAP’ Bitcoin accounting methods. SEC asked the business intelligence firm to add share-based compensation expense and impairment losses and gains on sale.

The impairment losses of $146.6 million were the third-highest for the company where it accounted for 25% of its BTC purchase in the same quarter. The highest impairment loss came in the second quarter of 2021 where it lost about 80% of the total BTC value purchased in that quarter. MicroStrategy recorded a net loss of $90 million or $8.43 per share on a diluted basis in Q4.

MicroStrategy currently holds a total of 125,051 BTC acquired for about $3.78 billion at an average price of $30,200 per Bitcoin.

Microstrategy started buying Bitcoin in August 2020 to use it as a treasury hedge instead of the U.S. Dollar. The firm has been instrumental in bringing Bitcoin to institutional firms and public companies including the likes of Tesla and SpaceX. Open / Comment

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2022-01-31 14:40:11 ​​Singapore firm uses blockchain to battle counterfeit COVID-19 jabs

Zuellig Pharma’s eZTracker platform is using the SAP blockchain to track and verify COVID-19 vaccinations.

Singaporean healthcare services provider Zuellig Pharma is using a blockchain-based network to track COVID-19 vaccinations to prevent practitioners from administering expired vaccines.

Zuellig Pharma says that its new “eZTracker” management system can help prevent improperly stored or counterfeit vaccines from being used by allowing its clients to instantly verify the provenance and authenticity of their vaccines via a mobile app.

“Accidents involving expired or improperly stored vaccines can be avoided,” said Daniel Laverick, vice-president and head of digital and data solutions at Zuellig Pharma.

eZTracker uses the SAP blockchain to capture, track and trace multiple data points to improve supply chain transparency. The eZTracker website explains how it works:

“Simply scan the QR code on the packaging to instantly verify if your product comes from an authorized distributor.”

“Patients can scan the 2D data matrix on the product packaging to verify key product information like expiry date, temperature, and provenance through its app powered by blockchain,” added Laverick.

The SAP Blockchain executes operations as a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS), allowing its clients to develop customized blockchain extensions for their existing applications. According to SAP, 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches one of their systems.

Back in 2020, Zuellig partnered with pharmaceutical company MSD to deploy eQTrakcer in Hong Kong, where it was used to trace vaccines for Human Papilloma Virus, Gardasil.

"As the vaccines move through various handover points in the supply chain, the products' data points are loaded into eZTracker's secure blockchain ledger, and this ensures it can't be tampered with,” Laverick explained at the time.

“Users such as healthcare professionals and patients are able to verify the authenticity of the vaccine by scanning a unique data matrix code on the product pack." Open / Comment

2022-01-28 12:47:27 ​​First DEX on Internet Computer launches, others coming soon

Dfinity Foundation’s Internet Computer blockchain has welcomed its first decentralized exchange named Sonic.

The first decentralized exchange on the Dfinity Foundation’s Internet Computer blockchain went live this week, following up on the recent release of a new whitepaper. And according to information shared with Cointelegraph, there are already two other exchanges in the works.

The first version of the new DEX called Sonic launched to mainnet on Sunday. There are initially only three pools for token swaps using its native token Internet Computer Protocol (ICP): InterICP/WICP (wrapped ICP), ICP/XTC (Cycles Token), and WICP/XTC. Users can also earn rewards for providing liquidity.

Dfinity Head of Comms Michael Less told Cointelegraph that Sonic plans to redefine what it truly means to be an example of decentralized finance (DeFi). Sonic has sub-one second transaction finality and is entirely run on the IC’s public blockchain network without any gas fees.

“It is completely running on a public blockchain, where it cannot be shut down — you can’t shut it down, it runs perpetually,” he said, explaining that its current primary focus is an upcoming integration with Ethereum, which is slated for Q3 this year.

“You’re going to be able to bring your Ethereum assets into Sonic, and it will be like Uniswap but with no gas fees and lightning fast.”
There are already plans for a Sonic V2, which will add a token Launchpad, DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) tools, and its own native SONIC governance token. The launch date for Sonic V2 is yet to be confirmed.

According to information shared with Cointelegraph, there are at least two other DEXs that will be joining Sonic on the IC “in the next few weeks”, including InfinitySwap and ICP Swap.

Internet Computer is a public blockchain and protocol aimed at running a truly decentralized internet by allowing developers to install smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) directly on the blockchain.

It was incubated and launched after years in development by Dfinity in May 2021 – a nonprofit based in Zurich.

The new white paper “The Internet Computer for Geeks” released on Jan 21 goes back to basics, explaining the fundamentals of how the IC uses smart contracts to power the emerging Web 3.0 decentralized ecosystem. Open / Comment

2022-01-26 13:58:51 ​​Grayscale considers VeChain and Iota as Coinbase lists 4 low-cap coins

Grayscale added 25 tokens to those it is considering for investment products and added AMP to its DeFi Fund, while Coinbase listed four small projects.

Grayscale, the world’s largest crypto asset manager, has added 25 coins to the list of assets it is considering adding to its investment products, including VeChain (VET), Iota, Monero (XMR) and Axie Infinity (AXS).

Other assets under consideration are Algorand (ALGO), Arweave (AR), Bancor (BNT), BitTorrent (BTT), Bora, Convex (CVX), Cosmos (ATOM), Decred (DCR), Elrond (EGLD), Enjin (ENJ), Fantom (FTM), Gala, Gelato (GEL), Helium (HNT), Holo (HOT), Oasis Network (ROSE), Secret (SCRT), Spell Token (SPELL), Stacks (STX), The Sandbox (SAND), Universal Market Access (UMA) and Yield Guild Games (YGG).

In addition to the 25 coins added to its assets under consideration, Grayscale also said in a Monday update on its website that it had added Amp to its Grayscale DeFi Fund.

Grayscale’s current lineup of 15 crypto investment products has $55 billion in assets under management (AUM). The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale Ethereum Trust account for $31.2 billion of the AUM.

The Grayscale DeFi Fund currently has $7 million in AUM and is down 35.8% since its inception in July 2021, according to data from Grayscale’s website.

Many of the coins now being considered are among the top 100 coins by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko.

VET was originally launched as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network in 2015 but has since become the native token on the VeChainThor blockchain network. The token and the network are used by real-world industries for supply chain tracking and management.

Iota is the native token for the Iota distributed ledger, which helps devices connect to the Internet of Things. The project was founded in late 2015.

AXS is the governance token for the play-to-earn Axie Infinity game that has seen huge success in the past year. It traded for $0.97 with a $48-million market cap on Jan. 26, 2021, and is now trading at $51.90 with a market cap of $3.6 billion.

While these three tokens are well known and have amassed large followings, the same is not necessarily true for the tokens Coinbase has just added. Open / Comment

2022-01-24 13:04:58 No regrets for NYC mayor receiving his first Bitcoin paycheck during dip

New York City Mayor Adams was nonchalant about receiving his first Bitcoin paycheck during a 50% drawdown from all-time highs.

Bitcoin (BTC) is a New York state of mind thing for Eric Adams, the crypto advocate serving as the 110th Mayor of New York City. He received his first Bitcoin payout on Friday during some epic downward price action, and was unflappable when asked about losses during an interview.

The Bitcoin price has taken a nosedive from Friday highs of $41,000 to $35,000, meaning Adams has effectively taken a 15% haircut on his first wages.

In light of the plummeting price action, a CNN interviewer asked on Jan. 23, “How much money did you lose, and do you have any regrets?”

The recently instated mayor sidestepped the question, instead shining a spotlight on Bitcoin technology while making comparisons to investing in the S&P 500:

“It’s the same as when I invested in the stock market; we saw a drastic drop during 2018 and other times. The purpose of Bitcoin is to send a message that New York City is open to technology. We want to see a large amount of new technology in the city of New York and to encourage our young people to engage in these new emerging markets.”

He concluded that he is excited to bring young people into the space “who have historically been denied access to this new technology.”

Adams promised he would receive his first three paychecks in Bitcoin, or $97,000 annualized. In answer to the interviewer's question, speculators can assume he lost roughly $5,000 in nominal dollar terms on Friday. That assumes he was paid roughly $32,333.

It's important to note that due to United States Department Labor laws, the payment was first issued in fiat as U.S. dollars and then converted into digital currencies on crypto exchange Coinbase. Open / Comment

2022-01-21 13:35:07 ​​Blockchain meets activity tracking: Project rewards healthy habits with tokens

Medical professionals have developed ways to track and store personal health data securely within the blockchain.

Blockchain use cases continue to grow as the world learns about the benefits that it brings. Apart from bringing financial innovations like the ability to do peer-to-peer transactions, blockchain now makes its way to the health industry.

Health specialists created a method to track and store health data using blockchain technology. Rosanne Warmerdam, the CEO of Health Blocks, told Cointelegraph that her team had developed a way for users to generate and store patients’ health data without sacrificing their privacy and security.

“We wanted to start with giving users ownership and control over their health data,” said Warmerdam. By building on top of the IoTeX blockchain, their platform Health Blocks collects lifestyle-related health data from wearables and other smart devices and connects it to a decentralized health profile.

The project also gives incentives as users reach their health goals. “We want to make a healthy lifestyle fun and rewarding, providing tools to improve health and provide access to health services for all,” said Warmerdam.

With this, users can get tokens as they achieve their health goals. According to Warmerdam, “when a user reaches a health goal of 10,000 steps in a day, a smart contract is triggered, sending tokens to your profile.”

Meanwhile, a medical firm in Mexico is using blockchain to verify COVID-19 testing results. MDS Mexico utilizes the technology to avoid the fabrication of results. The team certifies the COVID-19 detection through blockchain and cryptographic signatures. This protects the information by using a unique, immutable, and unalterable QR Code that can easily be verified.

There are a number of existing use cases for blockchain in the medical field, but many predict it is open for more breakthroughs. While discussing new potential crypto and blockchain use cases, billionaire Mark Cuban also shared theories on how a decentralized autonomous organization may be applied in medical procedures like providing colonoscopies. Open / Comment

2022-01-19 13:19:08 Opera announces beta of its new Web3-focused ‘Crypto Browser’

The beta browser offers a built-in non-custodial wallet, available now to Windows, Mac and Android users.

Opera, the Norway-based company behind the popular internet browser, has released the beta version of its new Crypto Browser Project. This crypto browser aims to facilitate the user experience of browsing decentralized applications (DApp), games and metaverse platforms by offering direct access to Web3 services for Windows, Mac and Android users.

The current Opera browser boasts a no-login VPN and native ad and tracker blocker that help to make it secure. According to a release shared with Cointelegraph, the new crypto browser will maintain these security features while integrating direct access to decentralized exchanges, (NFT) and gaming DApps, as well as Telegram and Twitter support.

Jorgen Arnesen, EVP mobile at Opera, stated that the main goal of the project is to help crypto and Web3 become more mainstream:

“Opera’s Crypto Browser Project promises a simpler, faster, more private Web3 experience for users. It simplifies Web3 user experience that is often bewildering for mainstream users. Opera believes Web3 has to be easy to use for the decentralized web to reach its full potential.”

A built-in non-custodial wallet will support Ethereum in beta and, thanks to recent partnerships, will soon extend to Polygon, Solana, Nervos Network, Celo and naming systems, such as Unstoppable Domains, Handshake and Ethereum Name Service. Opera’s integration with Polygon is expected to go live in the first quarter of 2022.

The wallet supports both fungible ERC-20 standards as well as nonfungible ERC-721 standards, with ERC-1155 coming in Q1 2022. Users will also be able to purchase crypto via a built-in fiat-to-crypto on-ramp, complete crypto-to-crypto swaps and even access a built-in NFT gallery. Open / Comment

2022-01-17 13:42:01 ​​Bitcoin payments decline as other cryptocurrencies grow

In 2021, Bitcoin’s usage by merchants that use BitPay fell to about 65%, down from 92% in 2020.

BitPay Inc., one of the world’s most well-known crypto payments processors, has seen a shift in the type of digital assets used for purchases over the last year, according to a Bloomberg report.

According to BitPay, Bitcoin’s (BTC) usage at businesses that use its payment system fell last year to about 65% of processed transactions, down from 92% in 2020. Along with this change, Ether (ETH) represented 15% of all transactions, whereas other currencies such as Litecoin (LTC) and Dash have increased their portion.

Businesses have started using stablecoins more frequently for cross-border payments since November when crypto values had been depreciating. Consumers have also begun to use stablecoins because their value is constant, resulting in less risk in the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency market, as per the report.

The growing popularity of stablecoins has partly contributed to the use of alternative coins for payments. Dogecoin (DOGE), for example, became famous last year as the result of its followers, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who announced on Friday that DOGE may be used to buy Tesla-related merchandise.

Related: Retailers to drive crypto payments adoption: Survey

The trend suggests that individuals are holding Bitcoin rather than spending it. Bitcoin’s prices increased by 60% in 2021, regardless of the fourth quarter’s volatility. According to BitPay, the majority of last year’s crypto transactions were in luxury items such as jewelry, watches and automobiles.

Transaction volumes for high-end items increased 31% in 2021 from 9% in 2020, according to Stephen Pair, CEO of BitPay. Payment volume rose by 57% across the board in 2021. Open / Comment

2022-01-12 12:42:42 ​​Jack Dorsey announces Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund

The fund will help provide a legal defense for Bitcoin developers and will include a team of volunteers and part-time lawyers.

Former Twitter CEO and founder Jack Dorsey has announced plans to create a “Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund” with Chaincode Labs co-founder Alex Morcos and Martin White, who appears to be an academic at the University of Sussex.

The announcement was sent on a mailing list for Bitcoin developers, bitcoin-dev, at 00:13:45 UTC on Jan. 12 from an email address appearing to belong to Dorsey.

Cointelegraph reached out to the board members to confirm the email’s legitimacy but did not immediately receive a response.

The announcement stated the fund will help provide a legal defense for Bitcoin developers, who are “currently the subject of multi-front litigation.”

“Litigation and continued threats are having their intended effect; individual defendants have chosen to capitulate in the absence of legal support,” the email stated, referencing open-source developers who are often independent and therefore susceptible to legal pressure.

“We propose a coordinated and formalized response to help defend developers.”

The announcement went on to describe the Bitcoin Legal Defense Fund as a “nonprofit entity that aims to minimize legal headaches that discourage software developers from actively developing Bitcoin and related projects.”

“The main purpose of this Fund is to defend developers from lawsuits regarding their activities in the Bitcoin ecosystem, including finding and retaining defense counsel, developing litigation strategy, and paying legal bills,” it stated.

Initially, the fund will include volunteers and part-time lawyers for developers to “take advantage of if they so wish,” although, the email also states that “the board of the Fund will be responsible for determining which lawsuits and defendants it will help defend.”

“At this time, the Fund is not seeking to raise additional money for its operations but will do so at the direction of the board if needed for further legal action or to pay for staff.”

According to the email, the fund’s first project will be to take over the existing defense of Ramona Ang’s “Tulip Trading Lawsuit” against developers including Ira Kleiman for alleged misconduct over access to a BTC fortune. Open / Comment