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Chris Giancarlo: U.S. risks becoming ‘backwater’ without central bank digital currency

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One of the few high-profile public officials to have served under both the Obama and Trump administrations, Chris Giancarlo is a former Wall Street executive-turn-regulator who is widely-respected by nearly all parties on Capitol Hill. As the former Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, however, his latest venture, the Digital Dollar Foundation, might well test his soft touch with politicians.

The former regulator is now leading the Foundation towards five pilot programs set to launch this year, part of a broader effort to help the United States regain the lead in a race against China towards a functioning CBDC.

According to Giancarlo, however, the US’s priorities when it comes to a CBDC shouldn’t merely be jingoistic:

“What’s very clear, [is] that China intends their digital yuan to be an instrument of state surveillance. […] And this is why it’s one of the reasons why the digital dollar project, we’re so animated, because we feel that our new mission is to make sure central banks wake up to this and the US Fed wakes up to this, that these social values that got us here, the rule of law, a free capital markets, free enterprise, zones of individual economic privacy, are ingrained in a new digital future of the US dollar, and that we don’t allow ourselves to be taken in by what China’s doing and match that state surveillance approach.”

However, the race to a CBDC isn’t merely about maintaining current US values, but also potnetially about unlocking new forms of smart contract-based value for the wider population. 

“The notion of a digital currency, whether it be sovereign and non-sovereign, tied to smart contracts, allows money to solve the old problem of being able to move it in place, i.e. moving around the globe as easily as you could send a text message, but also move it in time. Heretofore, money was a temporal thing, but with a smart contract you can say, I want to program my money today to go to my one grandchild in the future once they graduate college and all of those contingencies can be programmed in. […] With a programmable digital currency, you can program it today to move around the globe in space, but move around the globe in time. And that is such, I think, such a powerful construct.”

Ultimately, this work is part of an effort to ensure that America maintains technological supremacy. 

“You can’t stop the march of technology in time, and if you do, you become a backwater. We in the United States have always been open to innovation and we must be open to this innovation as well. In a prudent way, in a way that’s in correspondence with our society that expects investor protections and a role for government. […] And it’s one that I’m very excited to be involved in.”

Watch the full interview here:

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Chris Giancarlo: U.S. risks becoming \’backwater\’ without central bank digital currency

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Crypto-finance company Amber Group valued at $1B following $100M raise

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Cryptocurrency investment platform Amber Group has added $100 million to its coffers following a successful Series B fundraiser, bringing its total pre-money valuation to $1 billion — a major milestone for the firm as it enters its fourth year of operations. 

The cash injection will be used to “expand global operations to meet client demand and develop market solutions for the world’s leading crypto investors and companies,” co-founder and CEO Michael Wu said.

Measures of trade volume and total assets under management showcase Amber Group’s significant growth over the past four years. The company now has over $1 billion in assets under management, with more than $500 billion worth of cumulative trade volumes.

“We’ve had record months over the past quarter across both client flow and on-exchange market-making volumes,” Wu said, adding:

“Since stepping up our on-screen presence, we now account for 2-3% of total trading volumes in major spot and derivative markets and are continuing to see growth. Our cumulative trading volumes have doubled from $250 billion since the beginning of the year to over $500 billion.”

In terms of notional trade volume, Amber Group ranks 21st among global exchanges, according to BitMEX data.

Amber’s assets topped $530 million in 2020, representing a 275% increase from the prior year. At the time, Wu told Cointelegraph that his company has “already proven we can provide institutional-grade integrated crypto financial services.”

In addition to its Series B backers, Amber Group has received direct funding from some of blockchain’s biggest venture funds, including Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Blockchain.com.

Related: Financial advisers lead the institutional push toward crypto adoption

Venture funds have poured billions of dollars into the crypto economy over the past six months, highlighting their conviction in the new asset class. Just this month, Solana Labs finalized a $314 million private token sale, PayPal and Salesforce contributed $14 million to TRM Labs and DeFi exchange dYdX raised $65 million through a Series C fundraiser.

Crypto-finance company Amber Group valued at $1B following $100M raise

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3 reasons why Ethereum may underperform Bitcoin in the short-term

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Ether (ETH) price outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) by 173% from March 28 to May 15. The incredible bull caused the token to reach a $4,380 all-time high. However, as cryptocurrency markets initiated a sharp drop on May 12, the trend started to reverse, and since then, Ether has underperformed by 25%.

Some might say it is a technical adjustment after a strong rally. While this partially explains the move, it excludes some critical factors, including the fast advance of smart-contract network competitors and Bitcoin being adopted as an official currency for the first time.

Ether / Bitcoin price at Binance. Source: TradingView

Notice how the ETH/BTC ratio rallied again on June 8, reaching 0.77 despite Ether’s price remaining 36% below its all-time high and ranging near $2,800. To understand what could have been driving the ratio, analysts need to analyze Ether and Bitcoin price drivers separately.

Mike Novogratz may have been misinterpreted in his interview

Ether’s bull run potentially got an extra leg due to intense praise from institutional investors. Traders could have picked up a sense of urgency, known as FOMO, and promptly shifted their Bitcoin exposure towards the leading altcoin.

On May 13, New Yorker magazine published an interview with Mike Novogratz, the founder, and CEO of Galaxy Digital. In the conversation, Novogratz said:

“All of a sudden, you have decentralized finance and NFTs both on Ethereum at the same time roughly, with wild accelerating growth.”

Novogratz was then questioned on how much higher Ether could reach, to which he answered:

“You know, it’s dangerous to give predictions on the highs. But could it get to $5,000? Of course it could.”

While an Ethereum holder might have interpreted it as a prediction, others could have understood it as a wild guess, likely depending on general crypto market conditions.

However, roughly a week later, a report from Goldman Sachs revealed the global investment bank believed that Ether had a “high chance of overtaking Bitcoin as a dominant store of value.” Interestingly, one of the main quotes in the report was directly from Novogratz’s interview with the New Yorker.

At its peak, Binance Chain controlled 40% of DEX volume

While Ethereum has kept its 80% dominance on net value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) has reached a 40% market share on DEX exchanges.

PancakeSwap DEX daily volume vs. top 10. Source: DeBank

The successful growth of the DeFi industry and non fungible token (NFT) markets caused intense congestion on the Ethereum network, raising median fees to $37 in mid-May. That bottleneck triggered an activity exodus to competing networks, and PancakeSwap was best positioned to capture that flow.

Related: Here’s why one analyst says Bitcoin will outperform Ethereum in the short term

To make things worse, important DeFi projects expanded to Binance Smart Chain, including yield aggregator Harvest Finance and decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch. Investors quickly realized that the trend could continue as the competing smart-contract network provided an easy solution for dApps looking for cheaper alternatives.

No country is adopting the ‘Ethereum standard’

Bitcoin might have had a subpar performance over the past 30 days because it has failed to break the $42,000 resistance multiple times. However, a major milestone was achieved when El Salvador became the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender on June 12.

After the Central American country made the decision law, a handful of other Central and South American countries began discussing the advantages of taking a similar path.

Ethereum is undertaking a redesign that will change the issuing rate and how entities get paid to secure the network by moving away from the Proof of Work model. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is making sure that every upgrade is backward-compatible and maintaining its strict monetary policy.

That is the main reason why Ether will not outperform Bitcoin over the next 12 months, or at least until there’s a better understanding of how Ethereum network dominance of smart contracts will be.

Professional investors avoid uncertainties at all costs, and cryptocurrency markets already present plenty of that. There’s just no reason for institutional investors to ignore the risks while competing networks eat Ethereum’s lunch.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

3 reasons why Ethereum may underperform Bitcoin in the short-term

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Perlin (PERL) price gains 100% as the focus on green energy solutions intensifies

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Generating momentum and attracting investor attention can be a challenge during the best of times in the cryptocurrency market and it is an even bigger challenge when the markets are choppy like the entire crypto ecosystem has been the past couple of months. 

Despite the recent downturn, Perlin (PERL), which has managed to rally 140% from a low of $0.052 on June 8 to a high of $0.134 on June 18 as its average 24-hour trading volume surged from $3 million to $122 million.

PERL/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Three reasons for the increase in price and demand for PERL include the release of the PERL.eco registration ledger, the launch of PerlinX on the Binance Smart Chain and attractive staking options allowing token holders to earn a yield on various cryptocurrencies.

Tokenizing real-world biological assets

PERL’s rally on June 6 and June 14 came in response to the release of PERL.eco, the “Planetary Ecosystem Registration Ledger” which enables the tokenization of real-world bioecological assets.

According to the project’s blog page, PERL.eco is an “attempt to democratize the biosphere economy through liquidity pools and tokenization of biodiversity and carbon credits to decentralized finance.”

As an added incentive to hold PERL, airdrops of tokenized carbon credits will be distributed to wallets holding PERL which can be used by token holders to “offset their carbon footprint or trade on the liquidity pool when the token is released.”

PERL will also be used as the governance token of the DAO, enabling holders to vote on the distribution and fee model as well as participate in other important decisions that affect the ecosystem.

Binance Smart Chain integration leads to lower fees

A second driver of increased momentum for PERL was the mid-April launch of the protocols DeFi interface platform PerlinX on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a move that was done in an effort to help lower transaction fees.

Operating on BSC also allowed PerlinX’s liquidity pools to be listed on PancakeSwap and helped to increase the number of farming opportunities available to the PerlinX community.

As a further bonus for PERL liquidity providers, yields earned on PancakeSwap are paid out in the protocol’s native CAKE token which can then be redeposited in the Perlin pool to earn PERL as a form of compound interest.

For PERL holders who wish to remain on the Ethereum (ETH) network, the PerlinX platform offers several options to earn a yield including simple staking as well as liquidity pools between PERL and Wrapped Ether (WETH), Binance USD (BUSD), Balancer (BAL), Dai (DAI) and USD Coin (USDC).

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, market conditions for PERL have been favorable for some time.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historic and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. PERL price. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for PERL has been in the green for the majority of the past 7 days and registered a score of 67 on June 14, roughly ten hours before the price increased 100% over the next two days.

With the green energy movement and concerns related to the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at the forefront of global discussions, blockchain projects that offer working solutions like Perlin and its PERL.eco platform could possibly receive increased attention.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Perlin (PERL) price gains 100% as the focus on green energy solutions intensifies

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What is NFT in Crypto? and why it matters in crypto world?

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Understand NFT in Crypto

It is seen that the Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have exploded from the ether this year. Ranging from any form of art and any kind of music, types of tacos, and varieties in toilet paper, these particular digital assets have been selling like the exotic Dutch tulips from the 17 to-century—some even for around millions of dollars.

However, are these NFTs worth your money or this hype? Experts say that NFT crypto is a bubble poised to pop, much like the previous dot-com craze or the Beanie Babies. However, others believe that the NFTs have come here to stay and change the investing game forever.

Table of Contents

  • What is essentially meant by an NFT?
  • How Is an NFT Different from Cryptocurrency?
  • How do the NFTs Work?
  • Why are NFTs so popular?
  • What are the NFTs usually used For?
  • What are the risks to be kept in mind while investing in NFTs?
  • What is the possible future for the NFTs? 
  • How do I get to invest in NFTs?
  • Conclusion

What is essentially meant by an NFT?

To get to know the famous question of what is NFT crypto, one must understand how NFT is essentially a particular digital asset that tends to represent numerous real-world objects like any art, certain music, countless in-game items, and multiple videos. They are usually bought and are as well sold online and often about cryptocurrency. These have generally been encoded with the same particular type of underlying software as many other cryptos.

Numerous NFTs, which are at least in these particular early times, have been multiple digital creations that are already existent in some other form in any other platform, like the several iconic video clips from that of the NBA games or any different securitized versions of any state of digital art that has already been floating around and about on Instagram.

How Is an NFT Different from Cryptocurrency?

NFT basically stands for non-fungible token. It has been generally built by using the same particular type of programming, just like cryptocurrency, which would either be Bitcoin or Ethereum; however that is where this similarity would end.

It is to be understood that any form of physical money or any cryptocurrencies are basically “fungible,” meaning that they might get traded or exchanged for one another. They have also been equal in their value, just like one dollar would always be of the same value as another dollar. Similarly, one Bitcoin would always be similar to any other singular Bitcoin. The fungibility of Crypto makes it a relatively reliable means of being able to conduct transactions on any given blockchain.

However, NFT cryptos are indeed different. Each NFT has a unique digital signature, making it impossible for these NFTs to get exchanged for another or become equal to any one of the others and hence are deemed non-fungible. 

How do the NFTs Work?

NFTs tend to exist on a particular blockchain, usually a specific distributed public ledger that records the multiple transactions that occur. You would probably be the most familiar with any blockchain as a basic underlying process that makes these cryptocurrencies a usual possibility.

To be very specific, these NFTs are usually held on the various Ethereum blockchain, even though the other blockchains might give them the necessary support.

The NFT, which is created, or rather “minted” from any of the digital objects which tend to represent both the tangible and the intangible items, often include :

  • Art
  • GIFs
  • Videos and sports highlights
  • Collectibles
  • Virtual avatars and video game skins
  • Designer sneakers
  • Music

It is to be understood that these NFTs tend to get any sort of exclusive ownership rights. Yes, you read that right. The NFT cryptos can have only one particular owner at any given time. The unique data of the NFTs usually makes it extremely easy to get verified with their very own and helps to transfer numerous other tokens in between their owners. The particular owner or the initial creator might also store any precise information within them. For instance, an artist might sign their artwork, and they can do so by including their particular signature in the metadata of the NFT.

Why are NFTs so popular?

This particular coronavirus pandemic has indeed played a massive role in the present NFT boom. The absolute value of these NFT transactions quadrupled and went up to $250 million in the previous year, according to research from NonFungible and the BNP Paribas-affiliated research centre or firm L’Atelier.

That has been in no tiny part since the stay-at-home restrictions had paved a path that eventually resulted in the people spending much more of their precious time surfing on the internet and saving cash, which resulted from the lack of commuting. It has been similar to the particular rise of the retail traders who would be betting on the GameStop and the other, which led to historically unloved stocks, which were eventually promoted on the Reddit board of the WallStreetBets.

What are the NFTs usually used For?

Several blockchain technologies and the best NFT crypto artists and content creators have provided a unique opportunity to monetize their numerous wares. For example, the artists would no longer be dependent or rely on multiple galleries or any particular auction houses to sell their art. Instead, this artist might sell this piece of their art directly to any interested consumers as a specific NFT, which would also allow them to keep with them much more of their profits. In addition to this, the artists might also program in the royalties to receive a certain percentage of the numerous sales whenever their submitted art would get sold to any particular new owner. This has been an attractive feature since the artists generally do not tend to receive any future proceeds right after their art has been first sold.

What are the risks to be kept in mind while investing in NFTs?

NFTs have constantly been catching the necessary attention of several high-profile technology investors, numerous major global corporations, and the famous artistic community. The various NFT proponents tend to say that these could, in turn, turn out to be the future of the multiple collectables and would, in turn, allow the users to be able to prove that they own the necessary digital assets. However, this flurry of interest tends to echo the particular Gamestop Saga and also the rise of the Wall Street Bets available on Reddit. 

Like any other investment, NFTs also tend to come along with their concerns and risks. When given their seeming infancy, the particular fact that these NFTs have yet again been ready to gain a certain mass acceptance would mean that they have been a somewhat speculative investment. This would, in turn, suggest that they have been prone to both the high rises and the steep drops in any such values.

The supply and the necessary demand usually drive NFTs, and as a result of this sudden surge in demand, there have been buyers who are very well prepared and are ready to pay what would seem to be a ridiculous price. However, it is to be noted that there would be no such guarantee to ensure that these prices would always continue to rise.

What is the possible future for the NFTs? 

While these might appear to be somewhat speculative at this moment, many technologists believe that NFTs could represent an entirely brand new economy based upon specific digital ownership. 

The songwriters or any such creators could make good money just by selling their works directly to their determined fans and, in turn, collect a specific royalty with every time their deemed NFT gets re-sold. The developers might also be able to build an infrastructure and the platforms, which would help enable these new markets. 

How do I get to invest in NFTs?

Well, if you have been looking for multiple ways to invest in the necessary NFTs, you would be required to be familiar with the cryptocurrency and the essential need to own the same, which would, in turn, have to be kept in a particular digital wallet. You might use specific platforms like that of the CoinJar, the Coinspot, or maybe the Independent Reserve to purchase the required Ethereum, which could, in turn, be used as the necessary currency for the NFTs. 

Conclusion

It is to be understood that there has been a relatively wide range of multiple reasons which prove why people are often attracted towards investing in these NFTs. People might want to collect these NFTs for any particular emotional reasons (which might be the social status), or maybe because of the prospect of the re-selling of these NFT cryptos at a relatively higher price which would, in turn, be based on the necessary excitement and the momentum of that particular moment or the scenario. For better understanding, you might as well refer to  https://www.blockchain-council.org/.

What is NFT in Crypto? and why it matters in crypto world?

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Ethereum price bounce to $2.6K fails to excite neutral-to-bearish pro traders

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While speaking at the Virtual Fintech Forum in Hong Kong on May 27, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin commented on obstacles related to the Ethereum 2.0 rollout. Buterin said that there had been several internal team conflicts in the past five years and as a result, he confirmed that Ethereum 2.0 launch is unlikely to occur before late 2022.

In a May 22 report from Goldman Sachs, analysts said that Ether has a “high chance of overtaking Bitcoin as a dominant store of value.” Furthermore, the report noted the growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector and the nonfungible token (NFT) ecosystems being built on Ethereum. Coincidentally, on the very next day, Ether’s price bottomed at $1,750.

On June 14, CoinShares released its weekly fund flows report and Ether investment products had the largest outflows, totaling $12.7 million.

However, the upcoming $1.5 billion options expiry on June 25 could be a turning point for Ether, according to Cointelegraph. This figure is 30% larger than the March 26 expiry, which took place as Ether’s price plunged 17% in five days and bottomed near $1,550.

Despite flirting with $2,600 after a 12% rally over the past week, top Ether traders seem unable to change their neutral-to-bearish positioning according to derivatives data.

The 3-month futures premium is neutral-to-bearish

Normally, Tte 3-month futures will usually trade at a premium to regular spot exchanges. In addition to the exchange liquidity risk, the seller is postponing settlement and usually charges more.

The 6% to 17% annualized return on stablecoin lending indicates bullishness whenever the 3-month premium trades above that range. On the other hand, when futures are trading below the stablecoin lending rate, it is a signal of short-term bearish sentiment.

Huobi ETH Sept. futures premium vs. spot market. Source: TradingView

As shown above, the 8% premium — 26% annualized — vanished on May 13, indicating extreme optimism. Since then, it has been ranging near 2.8%, which is equivalent to 10% annualized. Thus, top traders are neutral-to-bearish according to this indicator as it nears the lower level of the expected range.

The options skew shows moderate signs of fear

The 25% delta skew compares similar call (buy) and put (sell) options and will turn positive when the protective put options premium is trading higher. Whenever this metric surpasses 10%, it is considered a “fear” indicator.

The opposite holds when market makers are bullish and this causes the 25% delta skew indicator to enter the negative range

Deribit Ethereum options 25% delta skew. Source: laevitas.ch

From May 20 to June 8, the indicator stood near 10%, indicating a higher protective put premium, which is usually a ‘fear’ indicator. However, over the last week, it has slightly improved to 7%, within the “neutral” range, but still close to bearish sentiment.

There is no evidence of bullish growth in top traders’ confidence as Ether tests the $2,600 resistance. So until those indicators flip to neutral-to-bullish, traders should act with extreme care before concluding that a bull run is in place.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Ethereum price bounce to $2.6K fails to excite neutral-to-bearish pro traders

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