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2023-04-02 23:57:11 SEC vs. Ripple: Deaton’s Analysis Suggests Ripple as More Likely Victor in Outright Win Scenario
On March 31, John Deaton, a well-known attorney closely monitoring the U.S. SEC’s lawsuit against FinTech firm Ripple, shared his latest insights on the ongoing case. Deaton, Managing Partner of Deaton Law Firm, is the founder of CryptoLaw, a website focusing on U.S. legal and regulatory developments for digital asset holders, and the host of the YouTube channel CryptoLaw. Through a series of tweets, Deaton communicated his thoughts on potential outcomes for the case to his over 257,000 followers: Best outcome: Deaton says the optimal outcome for Ripple would involve the judge chastising the SEC for its significant overreach and conduct in the case. He points out that Judge Netburn has already expressed concerns about the SEC lawyers’ hypocrisy and their disregard for faithful adherence to the law. Read more Open / Comment

2023-04-01 23:52:12 Elon Musk’s SpaceX To Fly 62 Bitcoin To The Moon
Crypto company LunarCrush says it'll be leaving a bounty of 62 Bitcoin near the lunar south pole that's completely up for grabs. So in theory, any adventurer daring enough to hitch a ride to the Moon can snatch up the booty for themselves, which hopefully will still be worth anywhere near the purported $1.5 million it's valued at now. The sticker price won't even come close to the exorbitant travel expenses for getting there and back, but hey, it's the novelty that counts, right? Read more Open / Comment

2023-03-31 13:01:31 Argentinian Airline Issues Every Ticket as an NFT
Argentinian low-cost airline Flybondi is integrating Web3 into its ticketing process by issuing e-tickets as non-fungible tokens (NFT). The new integration announced Thursday is called Ticket 3.0 and is an expansion of its existing relationship with NFT ticketing company TravelX, which launched in September 2022. The NFT ticketing technology, built on the Algorand blockchain, allows passengers to change their name, transfer or sell their "NFTickets" independently. Flybondi says the NFT ticket "offers a more flexible travel experience that allows passengers to even buy in advance without having to define their travel plans or who the travelers will be." In return, the airline is able to reduce customer service costs and increase its revenue from trading fees. TravelX chief blockchain officer Facundo Martin Diaz told CoinDesk in September that the company does not charge a fee when users initially purchase a ticket but it does receive a 2% transaction fee when trades are made on the secondary market. Airlines also get a 2% cut, he said. Read more Open / Comment

2023-03-30 22:43:31 Banking Crisis Is a Wake-Up Call to Buy Bitcoin, Says Tim Draper
The recent banking crisis has led to growing distrust in once-solid banks. The acquisition of Credit Suisse by UBS has added to this climate of uncertainty and distrust of the banking system. There have been significant withdrawals from Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, and Deutsche Bank has come under scrutiny. Tim Draper, a well-known venture capitalist and entrepreneur, and one of the biggest personalities on Wall Street, takes the view that there is a simple way to safeguard against the dangers. “I have recommended to all CFOs as a hedge against bank or government failures to have at least two payrolls worth of Bitcoin to avoid catastrophic failure,” Draper told BeInCrypto. “I continue to advocate Bitcoin as a hedge against the current antiquated and over-regulated banking system and as a hedge against bad governments with too many regulations.” Read more Open / Comment

2023-03-29 20:26:59 Bitcoin Shakes Off Regulatory Crackdown, Jumps Nearly 6% in 24 Hours
Bitcoin’s price jumped Wednesday—along with tech stocks—bringing the rest of the cryptocurrency market with it during a time of increasing financial uncertainty. The biggest digital asset was up over 5.8% in the past 24 hours at the time of writing, trading for $28,540, CoinGecko showed. It has made a comeback since the start of the week, when it dropped as low as $26,722 following news that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission hit leading crypto exchange Binance with a lawsuit. The U.S. regulator said Monday that the world’s biggest digital asset exchange and its CEO Changpeng Zhao solicited customers in the U.S. and “chose to ignore” rules designed to block Americans from using the service. Binance offers its clients crypto derivatives products, such as futures and options contracts, which if traded in the U.S. must be registered and overseen by the CFTC. Read more Open / Comment

2023-03-28 19:17:57 XRP Surges to Five-Month High as Some Point to Bitcoin Commodities Mention
XRP tokens surged 8% over the past 24 hours to buck a market-wide decline following a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filing against prominent crypto exchange Binance. XRP traded just under 50 cents in Asian morning hours on Tuesday, reaching a five-month high. Its XRP Ledger network has seen fundamental upgrades in the past few months that may have contributed to the rise. However, a part of the bullish outlook came as some in the community said the classification of major tokens as a commodity in the CFTC filing against Binance could mean XRP tokens were, too, commodities instead of a security, as alleged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the ongoing Ripple v. SEC case. Read more Open / Comment

2023-03-28 00:49:11 Polygon Labs unveils zkEVM Layer 2 to help scale Ethereum
Scaling project Polygon has released a highly anticipated zero-knowledge-based rollup network, with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin set to perform the first symbolic transaction in a YouTube broadcast scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EDT. The network, called Polygon zkEVM, was under development for a year and provides a scalability solution for Ethereum apps, with ZK-rollups performing off-chain computations on a secondary layer to enable faster and cheaper transactions while still maintaining Ethereum's security as a priority. The network is EVM-equivalent, meaning it will support the same code as Ethereum and allow developers to use their existing tooling and infrastructure. The mainnet is permissionless, and anyone can bridge assets and use them in zkEVM native apps, according to the development team. Read more Open / Comment

2023-03-27 00:57:02 This Week In Crypto (CW 12)

1. Over 1,200 German banks can now offer Bitcoin trading to their retail customers

2. Florida Governor Moves to Ban CBDCs, Calls for Coalition of States to Follow Suit

3. El Salvador President Bukele to Introduce Bill That Would Eliminate Taxes on Technology Innovations

4. Telegram Users Can Now Transfer USDT Through Chats

5. XRP Whales Amass Nearly Half A Billion Coins As Traders Shower Confidence On A ‘Ripple Win’ In SEC Case

CW11 (last week) Open / Comment

2023-03-26 20:03:17 $12,000,000,000 Asset Manager Says Investors Flocking to Bitcoin and Crypto Amid Global Banking Fallout
The CEO of the $12 billion financial advisory firm deVere Group, Nigel Green, says investors are seeking alternatives like Bitcoin and crypto as the U.S. enters a new era of quantitative easing. In a blog post, Green says the U.S. Treasury’s actions after the fall of Silicon Valley Bank represent a new wave of money printing and financial stimulus that has investors looking at ways to preserve their capital. Green highlights Bitcoin’s scarce supply of 21 million coins as one of the key features that makes it appealing in the current economic environment. “Bitcoin surged in price following the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, with the banking crisis acting as a springboard event for the world’s largest cryptocurrency, as global investors seek safe haven, alternative currencies…". Read more Open / Comment

2023-03-25 20:19:47 President of El Salvador readies bill to remove taxes on AI and tech innovations
Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador, announced plans to present a bill to the country’s Congress next week that would abolish all taxes on technology innovation, artificial intelligence (AI) development, computing, and communications hardware manufacturing. In a tweet on March 24, Bukele declared his intentions by stating that the tax exemption would include income, property, capital gains, and import tariffs on technology innovations such as coding, software programming, AI development, as well as computing and communications hardware manufacturing. Read more Open / Comment