Cryptocurrency

Base, a new layer 2 application-focused protocol by Coinbase has just one criteria left to fulfil  before being ready for mainnet launch. On June 29, the team said the Optimism-powered, Ethereum-secured network has been subject to six months of rigorous security audits — both internally and externally — its second-last criteria required for launch. “With

Italy’s top banking authority has called for a “robust, risk-based” regulatory framework for stablecoins, which could help prevent a worst case scenario — a “run” on stablecoins. The central bank’s recently released Markets, Infrastructures and Payment Systems report for June 2023 has called on regulators to apply the same financial conduct standards to stablecoin issuers

Web3 lending platform Maple Finance has announced the launch of a direct lending program, according to a June 28 fact sheet from the platform’s development team. The program is intended to replace services previously provided by Celsius, BlockFi and other now-bankrupt lenders. The first lending pool will be available sometime in July, the company stated.

The volume of Ether staked keeps reaching new heights since the Shapella upgrade in April, crossing 23 million Ether locked in June.  According to data from analytics firm Nansen, a total of 23.3 million Ether (ETH) was staked as of June 27, amounting to $43.1 billion at the time of writing and representing nearly 20% of the

Ether (ETH) price faced strong resistance at $1,920 after the 17.5% rally between June 15 and June 22. A number of factors contributed to the limited upside, including worsening macroeconomic conditions, the regulatory cryptocurrency environment, and weaker demand for decentralized applications (DApps) on the Ethereum network. ETH price faces macroeconomic headwinds On June 26, a

Sui Foundation — the team behind the Sui network and its native SUI token — has denied allegations that the firm unlocked SUI staking rewards and “dumped” them on cryptocurrency exchange Binance . The Foundation knocked back the claim in a five-part Twitter thread on June 27, stating that none of the locked or non-circulating tokens, including

Worldcoin is the cause of a slew of Safe deployments to the Optimism (OP) network over the past week, according to a June 27 social media post from Tiago Sada, head of product for Worldcoin developer Tools for Humanity. The deployments had caused a stir on Twitter, as users wondered who was causing them and

A Web3 app launched on June 27 lets users prove their social credibility using blockchain technology, according to an announcement from the app’s development team. Called “Quivr,” it lets users connect apps they regularly use, such as Spotify, Steam, Apple Music and others. Based on their behavior in these apps, Quivr generates blockchain badges that

Over $204 million was lost in decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks and scams in the second quarter of 2023, according to a June 27 report from Web3 portfolio app De.Fi. The report, titled “Q2 De.Fi Rekt Report,” was partially based on data from De.Fi’s “Rekt Database.” Over $208.5 million was initially lost during the quarter, but

The S&P 500 Index (SPX) snapped a five-week winning streak last week but it is still on track to close the first half of the year with stellar gains of nearly 13%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has done much better as it is up about 29%. Both these indices have been overtaken by Bitcoin (BTC)

Transactions on the Optimism network surged 67% following its June 7 “Bedrock” upgrade, according to a June 26 Twitter thread from blockchain analytics firm Nansen. The network had been seeing less than 300,000 transactions per day before the upgrade, but this figure increased to over 550,000 by the middle of June. Since Optimism’s Bedrock upgrade

Venture capital financing in the crypto space is no different from typical VC, except the startups benefiting from financing operate in the cryptocurrency market.  Venture capital businesses in the cryptocurrency sector concentrate their investments on startups and initiatives linked to cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, decentralized finance (DeFi) and other cutting-edge distributed ledger technology applications. Projects creating

Ethereum zero-knowledge proof scaling system zkSync Era has unveiled its answer to Optimism’s Superchain concept in the form of ZK Stack. It’s a modular framework for a series of ZK-powered custom blockchains called yperchains, which will operate as a new layer on top of the existing layer-2 protocol. The chains will be composable and interoperable,

Binance has decided to reverse its plan to delist a number of privacy coins in Europe after it said it has revised operations in order to comply with local regulations.  In a comment from the cryptocurrency exchange recevied on June 26, Binance said that: “After carefully considering feedback from our community and several projects, we

The Australian Treasury’s token mapping of digital assets will adopt a “tech agnostic” and “principles-based” approach in order to define crypto assets, according to a Treasury official. Speaking to Cointelegraph on June 26 at the Australian Blockchain Week, Trevor Power, an Australian Treasury Assistant Secretary said the framework will be structured to easily classify tokens

Ethereum’s on-chain movements indicate bullish pressure building around Ether as its exchange balances reached an all-time low and staking deposits keep surging.  Ether’s (ETH) technical charts suggest that the asset can reclaim $3,000 if buyers are able to push above the resistance between $1,900 and $2,000. ETH held on exchanges hits an all-time low Exchange

Following the issuer’s decision to temporarily halt mints and redemptions through its banking partner, Prime Trust, a trader has taken advantage of the situation by initiating an on-chain short position on the stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD). According to on-chain data, an Ethereum user utilized Aave’s V2 lending platform by depositing 7.5 million USDC, a stablecoin, as

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you the most significant developments from the past week. The past week in DeFi was filled with artificial intelligence (AI)-centered developments on Etherscan, Polygon’s latest security update and on-chain sleuth ZachXBT’s ongoing lawsuit supported by multiple

A few months ago Pepecoin came and went, bringing quick, unimaginable riches to early investors and turning late comers into reluctant bag holders. While the chart resembles the standard crypto pump-and-dump scheme, PEPE’s price action this week suggests that the frog-themed token could be the newest contender to Dogecoin (DOGE) in the memecoin sector. Dogecoin

This “Crypto City” guide looks at Sydney’s crypto culture, the city’s most notable projects and people, its financial infrastructure, what retailers accept crypto and where you can find blockchain education courses — along with a history of its crypto controversies. Jump to: Crypto culture, Projects and companies, Financial infrastructure, Where can I spend crypto? Controversies

Winklevoss twins’ cryptocurrency exchange Gemini continues to actively expand its services across the world, debuting Ethereum staking in the United Kingdom. On June 23, Gemini officially announced the expansion of Gemini Staking Pro in the United Kingdom. The service allows institutions and high-net-worth individuals to become Ethereum validators by locking up at least 32 Ether