Table of Contents
Bitcoin News: 22th October 2021
- Ethereum Rival Solana Rides Bitcoin Wave to 8% Daily Gain
- Treasury official acknowledges most crypto transactions are ‘legitimate’ but still anticipates additional sanctions
- Breaking Google’s monopoly: Internxt pushes decentralized cloud as privacy concerns grow
- Usage of crypto on Amazon, eBay and 40M+ online retailers with ZoidPay Chrome extension
- Walmart Installing Bitcoin ATMs in its Retail Stores
- Will Smith’s Son, Rapper and Actor Jaden Smith, Posts Mysterious “ETH” Tweet
- Robinhood Crypto Wallet Waitlist ‘Well Over a Million People’: CEO
- Breaking: Indian Securities Regulator Bars Financial Advisors From Advising on Crypto
Ethereum Rival Solana Rides Bitcoin Wave to 8% Daily Gain
Solana is slowly returning to its all-time high after Bitcoin and Ethereum set new highs this week.
Solana, a smart contract-enabled blockchain, isn’t satisfied to let Bitcoin and Ethereum have all the fun. SOL, the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market value, is up 27% in the last week and over 8% in the last 24 hours, regaining ground on the all-time highs set just a month ago. It’s now trading at $188.25, down 12% from its September 9 all-time high of $213.47.
Much of this is due to Solana’s desire to gain a larger share of the decentralised finance (DeFi) business, which began on Ethereum. DeFi refers to the protocols created on top of a blockchain that allows people to use their cryptocurrency without having to go via a middleman. On a one-to-one basis, they can lend money, earn interest, swap tokens, and conduct other financial operations.
Solana just set a new record for total value locked on the network with a total value of $12.7 billion. The metric measures the amount of money circulating around Solana-based platforms. The price of SOL is influenced by this number. You’ll require SOL to use its DeFi ecosystem, which includes decentralised exchanges Serum and Raydium as well as yield generator Marinade, just like you’ll need arcade tokens to play Pac-Man, Rampage, or Donkey Kong.
Of course, there are trade-offs. In terms of the amount of machines linked to the network, Ethereum remains a more decentralised network, which is beneficial from a security standpoint. Last month, Solana had a huge network outage due to network validator issues, implying that its high pricing and low transaction costs may come at a cost.
Price speculators find it interesting to see SOL shines on a day when Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Dogecoin are all trading flat or down.
Treasury official acknowledges most crypto transactions are ‘legitimate’
“The vast majority of digital assets are used for lawful purposes, but we want to use our capabilities to go after those who are primarily in the business of advancing criminal businesses,” said Wally Adeyemo.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Deputy Secretary, Wally Adeyemo, stated that the department would likely be implementing harsher sanctions against corporations engaging in illegal ransomware payments.
Adeyemo said the US government will certainly use sanctions when criminals endanger national security interests, speaking at an online event hosted by the Center for a New American Security with former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Ambassador Paula Dobriansky. As potential targets, he cited “crypto exchanges or mixers that are really in the business of aiding crooks.”
Any investigations into illegal crypto sanctions, according to Adeyemo, will involve cooperation with the FBI, the intelligence community, and other agencies.Sanctions have been used by the government department as part of the US’s efforts to combat ransomware assaults that endanger the country’s infrastructure, such as the attack on the Colonial Pipeline system in May by Russia-based DarkSide hackers. Last month, the department issued sanctions against the Czech Republic and Suex OTC, a Russian company, for allegedly letting hackers to access cryptocurrencies given as ransomware payment.
Google’s monopoly: Internxt pushes decentralized cloud
A blockchain-based file storage service that prioritises privacy. Internxt has a bold goal: to disrupt Big Tech’s monopoly on user data by leveraging decentralised technology. Internxt Drive, the company’s first product, intends to compete with Google Drive and Dropbox while maintaining user privacy and data control.
Internxt CEO Fran Villalba Segarra detailed the key technology behind his platform and stated why privacy should be considered a fundamental human right in an exclusive conversation with Cointelegraph. He also discussed the dangers of centralised design, why Big Tech abuses user privacy on a regular basis, and what the future holds for internet users in the Web 3.0 age.
Despite the fact that privacy advocates have long been concerned about Big Tech’s misuse of user data, the Cambridge Analytica incident in 2018 blew the lid off the matter. (To refresh your memory, Cambridge Analytica is a British consulting business that obtained data on millions of Facebook users without their permission.) Their data was then utilised in political advertisements.) The Federal Trade Commission penalised the social media behemoth $5 billion in July 2019 for privacy abuses.
With the introduction of blockchain technology, decentralisation has become almost synonymous with Web 3. Internxt’s decentralised cloud storage solution fits into the idea that Web 3 is changing the basic structure of data ownership by giving people more control over their data rather than Big Tech companies.
“Web 3 will undoubtedly be massive,” Segarra said, adding that consumer-centric services that allow users to defend themselves online will be “hugely demanded by the market.”
Internxt has completed a successful seed round, raising $1 million from Venture City, a Miami-based venture capital firm. According to Segarra, adoption is increasing, with the company expecting to increase by 1,500 % year over year by the end of 2021.
Use crypto on Amazon, eBay and 40M+ online retailers with ZoidPay
The ZoidPay Chrome extension is platform neutral, allowing customers to use any digital wallet to connect to it. The Chrome extension, which is now being carried out in stages, will be available globally by November 2021. It has the potential to close the gap between crypto adoption and mainstream adoption.
Users can pay for their purchases on Walmart, Alibaba, MediaMarkt, Lazada, and eMag, to mention a few, using any major cryptocurrency. ZoidPay’s Chrome plugin provides rapid liquidity of up to $1 billion per day for crypto assets.
According to Eduard Oneci, CEO and co-founder of ZoidPay,“Our Chrome extension is unlike any other product in the market. It truly lets one shop anything from anywhere using their digital assets. When we started this journey nearly three years ago, we were fixated on building a platform that makes crypto usage seamless and secure. The Chrome extension manifests this vision.”
Oneci continued:
“Be it a regular crypto holder or even a user who’s never dealt with cryptocurrencies before, the Chrome extension promises a hassle-free journey. Beyond the ease of use and safety, the benefits that come from shopping with the Chrome extension are unlimited. For a start, every purchase made comes with a reward in the form of cashback.”
The accessibility, safety, and efficiency of using cryptocurrency for online commerce have always been questioned. ZoidPay has taken a huge step forward in its ambition of making cryptocurrencies widely accessible for everyday use with the launch of the Chrome extension. With the innovative new Chrome Extension, users can finally utilise their cryptocurrency to buy things, pay subscriptions, and even purchase tickets.
Walmart Installing Bitcoin ATMs in its Retail Stores
On Thursday, October 21, Walmart Inc, the world’s largest retailer, said that consumers in a select of its U.S. stores will be able to buy Bitcoin using Coinstar ATMs.
Walmart has announced the launch of a test programme in which customers can buy Bitcoin through Coinstar kiosks in selected U.S. locations.
Walmart’s communications director, Molly Blakeman, commented on the situation, saying:“Coinstar, in partnership with Coinme, has launched a pilot that allows its customers to use cash to purchase bitcoin. There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot.”
Walmart is putting the trial service programmed to the test just weeks after it was the target of a cryptocurrency hoax in September when a bogus news release claimed that Lite coin (LTC) will be accepted as payment at Walmart stores. The fake report caused the price of the little-known crypto asset to skyrocket.
Despite the fact that the statement was fake, Walmart is looking into the future of bitcoin in its business.
Walmart advertised for cryptocurrency experts in August, according to Blockchain. News, to help the company develop “the digital currency strategy and product roadmap” as well as identify “crypto-related investment and partnerships,” at a time when a growing number of Fortune 500 companies are warming up to digital currencies.
Will Smith’s Son, Rapper and Actor Jaden Smith, Posts Mysterious “ETH” Tweet
Jaden Smith joins the crypto-celebrity list with two tweets in a row.
Will Smith’s son Jaden Smith, author of “Icon,” rapper, Hollywood actor, and mega-star made a mystery “ETH” tweet immediately after a “Web3” publication.
The objective of the two tweets has not been revealed, but it is most likely related to the two businesses’ growing popularity. Previously, Ethereum’s price had reached a fresh all-time high, which may have piqued the rapper’s interest.
Both crypto-related tweets received a warm response from the crowd, garnering over 8,000 likes and 1,000 retweets on Twitter. Jaden stated in the Web3 tweet’s comment box that he, like his industry partner Snoop Dog, has an NFT.
With the quick rise in the price of Bitcoin, DeFi, and NFT, more celebrities are becoming interested in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Digital assets technologies have the potential to alter the banking, financial, and art industries in the future, in addition to providing huge investment returns.
Robinhood Crypto Wallet Waitlist ‘Well Over a Million People’: CEO
According to Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder of Robinhood, the crypto asset class is here to stay.
“We may probably debate,” Tenev told CNBC in a recent interview, “but crypto is here to stay as an asset class, and the ease of use and global aspect of it, I believe, has made it appealing to a lot of people, not only in the United States, but throughout the world.”
“There are also specific events that occur, such as bitcoin entering the mainstream this year, which I believe piqued the interest of a lot of people,” he continued.
The platform’s crypto wallet queue has grown to “well over a million people currently,” according to the Robinhood CEO, who sees this as “an opportunity to continue building that business.”
Since becoming a public company in July, Robinhood has seen a shift in its user base toward cryptocurrency.
Over 60% of Robinhood’s funded accounts traded crypto during the reporting period, according to the company’s first earnings report since going public.
During Q2, new users made their first trades in crypto rather than stocks, according to the earnings report.
Although Dogecoin supporters are among the most vocal in crypto, Tenev did not commit to declaring that Dogecoin is the most popular cryptocurrency on the site during a recent CNBC interview.
When asked if Bitcoin was the most popular cryptocurrency offered by Robinhood, he answered, “You will have a range of activities.”
Indian Securities Regulator Bars Financial Advisors From Advising on Crypto
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued a circular prohibiting investment financial advisors from providing any financial advice on cryptocurrencies and other unregulated marketplaces.
Investment advisors have been found to be engaging in unregulated conduct by advising customers on crypto market investments, according to SEBI’s circular. The circular forewarned of possible legal action under the Securities and Exchange Commission Act of 1992.
The warning from India’s leading securities regulator comes at a time when the country has ascended to second place in the world in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. According to one chainalysis research, Indians would invest over $4 billion in the crypto sector in 2021, up from just $20 million last year.
The warning from India’s top securities regulator comes as the country ranks second in the world for cryptocurrency usage. According to one analysis study, Indians would invest more than $4 billion in the cryptocurrency business in 2021, up from just $20 million last year.
a16z, the investment arm of Coinbase, and numerous other major venture capital firms have their sights set on India. According to the most recent report on cryptocurrency legislation, the government would adopt a cautious approach and recognise Bitcoin as a financial instrument.
Read Yesterday’s news here.
