Month: April 2023

Celo Foundation and Google Cloud partner to support sustainable Web3 startups

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The Celo Foundation has partnered with Google Cloud to support mission-aligned projects in Celo’s blockchain ecosystem and advance the early adoption of Google Cloud services. The collaboration is set to allow founders building on Celo to access credits for Google Cloud and Firebase usage, thereby enhancing Celo’s mobile-first infrastructure and decentralized applications (DApps). Firebase is a mobile and web application development platform developed by Google that provides developers with various tools and services for building apps, including authentication, real-time databases, cloud storage and messaging. According to the announcement, the Google…

Orbs Releases Smart Contract for Validators in TON Blockchain

Orbs, a public blockchain infrastructure designed for mass usage applications, has announced the release of a new smart contract called the single nominator for validators in the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain. The contract provides an isolated cold wallet for validators to secure their validation process, enhancing their independence, security, and protection against gas-spending attacks. In the TON blockchain network, validators participate in a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm by staking their cryptocurrency holdings to support the network’s security and transaction processing. The nominator essentially nominates a validator to represent their stake…

LayerZero raises $120M to expand cross-chain messaging efforts

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Cross-chain messaging protocol developer LayerZero Labs has raised another $120 million, according to an Apr. 4 announcement. The company plans to use the capital to increase its headcount and expand its reach into the Asia-Pacific region. The company had previously raised $135 million in March 2022. pic.twitter.com/mhJgoovYis — LayerZero Labs (@LayerZero_Labs) April 4, 2023 LayerZero Labs is best known for its cross-chain messaging protocol, LayerZero, which is often used to create asset bridges between blockchain networks. It is also the developer of the Stargate multi-chain bridge. With the completion of…

Arbitrum FUD spooks the market, but on-chain data shows whales accumulating ARB

Arbitrum suffered a big blow during the April 1–2 weekend due to a conflict between ARB tokenholders and the Arbitrum Foundation on the allocation of 750 million ARB tokens worth around $900 million. Data from on-chain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence shows a transfer of $50.5 million out of the disputed allocation of 750 million ARB tokens. They shared with Cointelegraph: “Only 50.5 million of those tokens have been moved. 10 million tokens have been sent to be sold on exchanges, 40 million have been loaned to Wintermute and the remaining…

SEB and Credit Agricole launch digital bond platform on blockchain

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) and Credit Agricole Bank have jointly launched a new digital bond platform called “so|bond.” The platform is built on blockchain technology and enables institutional clients to issue, trade and settle bonds digitally. The platform is set to provide a more efficient and secure process than traditional methods, enhancing the clients’ experience. The so|bond platform is designed to use a validation protocol called “Proof of Climate awaReness” to minimize its environmental footprint while incentivizing participating nodes to improve their environmental impact. Each node will be remunerated according…

Arbitrum Governance Fracas Reopens the Question: Why DAOs?

Arbitrum’s DAO was pitched as a way to “decentralize” control of the protocol’s development away from Offchain Labs, the company that launched Arbitrum, and bring users and “the community” into the fold. Tokens were airdropped, a reward to early adopters of the system, seemingly with great promise. Unfortunately, the project took some 18 months to build goodwill and a consistent user base, then damaged its credibility in five minutes, according to critics on the project’s Discord. Source

Crypto Market Cap Jumps to $1.19T, the Highest Since June

The rise in overall crypto wealth stands out because it coincides with the industry facing one of the strongest crackdowns in its history. Despite that bleak regulatory outlook, the market cap for digital assets has risen to $1.19 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The figure stood at about $800 billion at the beginning of 2023. Source

OPEC+ Production Cuts to Impact Central Banks Fight against Inflation

Reducing oil production means there will be a relative shortage in the supply of the product. The recent actions by some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies tagged OPEC+ to cut oil production beginning in May can significantly stir a setback for most country’s Central Banks. With Saudi Arabia and its key allies including the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait set to cut production by more than 1 million barrels per day, Russia’s projected 500,000 cuts have taken the number to 1.6 million barrels.…

SEC reaches ‘agreement in principle’ to resolve insider trading case of Coinbase product manager

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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is moving forward with a resolution to the case against a former product manager at Coinbase Global accused of insider trading. In an April 3 filing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the SEC said it had reached “an agreement in principle” with Ishan Wahi. The former Coinbase employee — along with his brother Nikhil Wahi and associate Sameer Ramani — allegedly used confidential information he obtained from the crypto exchange in order to profit off new listings of…