Project Hamilton, a joint research project between the Boston Fed and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, came to an end just before Christmas. The two-year project examines the technical aspects of a hypothetical digital dollar. In a statement announcing the end of Project Hamilton, Boston Fed Executive Vice President Jim Cunha said the project was a critical step toward a deeper understanding of how money can better serve everyone. The researchers said they plan to release more findi...

Celestia Foundation announced on Oct. 18 that it had raised $55 million in a funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto, Polychain Capital, Placeholder, Galaxy, Delphi Digital, Blockchain Capital, NFX, Protocol Labs, Figment, Maven 11, Spartan Group, FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, and angel investors; Balaji Srinivasan, Eric Wall, and Jutta Steiner. Celestia is building a modular blockchain architecture with the hope of solving challenges inherent when deploying and scaling blockchains. The company...

Project Hamilton, a joint research project between the Boston Fed and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, came to an end just before Christmas. The two-year project examines the technical aspects of a hypothetical digital dollar. In a statement announcing the end of Project Hamilton, Boston Fed Executive Vice President Jim Cunha said the project was a critical step toward a deeper understanding of how money can better serve everyone. The researchers said they plan to release more findi...

Celestia Foundation announced on Oct. 18 that it had raised $55 million in a funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto, Polychain Capital, Placeholder, Galaxy, Delphi Digital, Blockchain Capital, NFX, Protocol Labs, Figment, Maven 11, Spartan Group, FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, and angel investors; Balaji Srinivasan, Eric Wall, and Jutta Steiner. Celestia is building a modular blockchain architecture with the hope of solving challenges inherent when deploying and scaling blockchains. The company...

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao says the company followed through with a $500 million commitment to back Elon Musk’s high-profile Twitter takeover. Musk reportedly sealed the deal on Oct. 27, with a handful of Twitter executives escorted to the door as the new owner of the social media platform cleaned house. Binance had indicated that it would co-invest in Twitter in May 2022, alongside 18 other investors that included the likes of cryptocurrency investment firms Sequoia Capital Fund, Fideli...

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao says the company followed through with a $500 million commitment to back Elon Musk’s high-profile Twitter takeover. Musk reportedly sealed the deal on Oct. 27, with a handful of Twitter executives escorted to the door as the new owner of the social media platform cleaned house. Binance had indicated that it would co-invest in Twitter in May 2022, alongside 18 other investors that included the likes of cryptocurrency investment firms Sequoia Capital Fund, Fideli...

The current crypto bear market has induced panic, fear and uncertainty in investors. The dire situation started when the global market capitalization of crypto dropped below the $2 trillion mark in January 2022. Since then, the price of Bitcoin ( BTC $19,032 ) has decreased by over 70% from its all-time high of $69,044.77, reached on Nov. 10, 2021. Similarly, the values of other major cryptocurrencies such as Ether ( ETH $1,284 ), Solana ( SOL $28 ), Avalanche ( AVAX $14.90 ) and Dogecoin ( )...

The current crypto bear market has induced panic, fear and uncertainty in investors. The dire situation started when the global market capitalization of crypto dropped below the $2 trillion mark in January 2022. Since then, the price of Bitcoin ( BTC $19,032 ) has decreased by over 70% from its all-time high of $69,044.77, reached on Nov. 10, 2021. Similarly, the values of other major cryptocurrencies such as Ether ( ETH $1,284 ), Solana ( SOL $28 ), Avalanche ( AVAX $14.90 ) and Dogecoin ( )...

The global Bitcoin ( BTC $19,291 ) payments market will reach $3.7 billion by 2031, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3% from 2022 to 2031, with private keys and hardware driving the sector expansion, Allied Market Research forecasted in a report published on Oct. 24. According to the document, operational demand for efficiency and transparency in payments systems, along with data security services growth and a surge in demand for remittances in emerging economies, are am...

The global Bitcoin ( BTC $19,291 ) payments market will reach $3.7 billion by 2031, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.3% from 2022 to 2031, with private keys and hardware driving the sector expansion, Allied Market Research forecasted in a report published on Oct. 24. According to the document, operational demand for efficiency and transparency in payments systems, along with data security services growth and a surge in demand for remittances in emerging economies, are am...

Opensea’s dominance begins to waiverNonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea has seen its competitors chomping at its ankles this year as they gain market share — turning the market from a “monopoly” into an “oligopoly," a new report states. Binance Market Pulse released on Oct. 20 says there has been a slow and steady change in market leadership, noting that while OpenSea is still the dominant marketplace in terms of users and volume, Ethereum ( ETH$1,346)-based exchanges X2Y2 and Looksra...

Opensea’s dominance begins to waiverNonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea has seen its competitors chomping at its ankles this year as they gain market share — turning the market from a “monopoly” into an “oligopoly," a new report states. Binance Market Pulse released on Oct. 20 says there has been a slow and steady change in market leadership, noting that while OpenSea is still the dominant marketplace in terms of users and volume, Ethereum ( ETH$1,346)-based exchanges X2Y2 and Looksra...

Research has detailed Bitcoin’s recent record-low volatility and, while traders expect an eventual price breakout, the Oct. 26 BTC$20,770 price move to $21,000 is not yet being interpreted as confirmation that $20,000 has now become support. In a recent “The Week On-chain Newsletter,” Glassnode analysts mapped out a bull case and a bear case for BTC.According to the report, the bear case includes limited on-chain transaction activity, stagnant non-zero address growth and reduced miner profits...

Research has detailed Bitcoin’s recent record-low volatility and, while traders expect an eventual price breakout, the Oct. 26 BTC$20,770 price move to $21,000 is not yet being interpreted as confirmation that $20,000 has now become support. In a recent “The Week On-chain Newsletter,” Glassnode analysts mapped out a bull case and a bear case for BTC.According to the report, the bear case includes limited on-chain transaction activity, stagnant non-zero address growth and reduced miner profits...

Analytical data reveals that DeFi’s total value registered another dip, with the total value locked (TVL) falling below $50 billion at the time of writing. Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. The last week’s headline was dominated by some of the biggest hacks in DeFi. This week is redemption time for many DeFi protocols that either averted an attempted...

Analytical data reveals that DeFi’s total value registered another dip, with the total value locked (TVL) falling below $50 billion at the time of writing. Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. The last week’s headline was dominated by some of the biggest hacks in DeFi. This week is redemption time for many DeFi protocols that either averted an attempted...

According to CME "Fed Watch": The probability of the Fed raising interest rates by 25 basis points in February next year to the range of 4.50%-4.75% is 63.4%, and the probability of raising interest rates by 50 basis points is 36.6%; by March next year, the cumulative rate hike will be 25 basis points The probability of a cumulative rate hike of 50 basis points is 21.3%, the probability of a cumulative rate hike of 50 basis points is 54.4%, and the probability of a cumulative rate hike of 75 ...

According to CME "Fed Watch": The probability of the Fed raising interest rates by 25 basis points in February next year to the range of 4.50%-4.75% is 63.4%, and the probability of raising interest rates by 50 basis points is 36.6%; by March next year, the cumulative rate hike will be 25 basis points The probability of a cumulative rate hike of 50 basis points is 21.3%, the probability of a cumulative rate hike of 50 basis points is 54.4%, and the probability of a cumulative rate hike of 75 ...

Web3 dominance within crypto funding rounds has been well documented by Cointelegraph Research. In addition to the Web3 mega funds announced recently, venture capital has also been making smaller, more targeted investments in the sector. In this week’s Venture Capital (VC) Roundup, we chronicle the latest Web3 funding initiatives and draw attention to a sharding platform, nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, crypto banking solution and co-ownership infrastructure provider. Related: Blockchain...

Web3 dominance within crypto funding rounds has been well documented by Cointelegraph Research. In addition to the Web3 mega funds announced recently, venture capital has also been making smaller, more targeted investments in the sector. In this week’s Venture Capital (VC) Roundup, we chronicle the latest Web3 funding initiatives and draw attention to a sharding platform, nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, crypto banking solution and co-ownership infrastructure provider. Related: Blockchain...

The United States Department of Justice has announced charges against two Chinese intelligence officers who allegedly bribed a double agent with Bitcoin. In an Oct. 24 announcement, the Justice Department said Guochun He and Zheng Wang attempted to obstruct the prosecution of an unnamed global telecommunications company based in China, which allegedly involved paying a U.S. government employee roughly $61,000 in bribes using Bitcoin ( BTC $20,219 ). However, the individual was a double agent ...

The United States Department of Justice has announced charges against two Chinese intelligence officers who allegedly bribed a double agent with Bitcoin. In an Oct. 24 announcement, the Justice Department said Guochun He and Zheng Wang attempted to obstruct the prosecution of an unnamed global telecommunications company based in China, which allegedly involved paying a U.S. government employee roughly $61,000 in bribes using Bitcoin ( BTC $20,219 ). However, the individual was a double agent ...

Staked ETH withdrawal and lower gas fees are some of the developments expected with the next critical improvements for the Ethereum network, the Shanghai upgrade. The testnet version, dubbed Shandong, is now live. Developers can now begin working on the implementations; a process expected to continue until September 2023. This is the first major update since Ethereum's consensus switched to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in September after the Mainnet and Beacon Chains merged. Moreover, the coming...

Staked ETH withdrawal and lower gas fees are some of the developments expected with the next critical improvements for the Ethereum network, the Shanghai upgrade. The testnet version, dubbed Shandong, is now live. Developers can now begin working on the implementations; a process expected to continue until September 2023. This is the first major update since Ethereum's consensus switched to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in September after the Mainnet and Beacon Chains merged. Moreover, the coming...