- JPMorgan, 6 Indian Banks to Settle Dollar Trades on Onyx Blockchain System: Bloomberg
JPMorgan (JPM) has teamed up with six Indian banks to settle interbank dollar transactions on its blockchain-based trading platform, Onyx, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The investment bank will run a pilot project over the coming months alongside HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank and JPM’s own banking unit in Gujurat, India.
The aim of the project, which starts today, is to settle dollar trades in real time around the clock as opposed to over a matter of days and only during the working week. Onyx, established in 2020, is the banking giant’s digital assets network for settling wholesale payment transactions.
- Bitcoin Fees Decrease, But Over 257,000 Pending Transactions Await Confirmation
At the time of writing, there remains a significant backlog of pending bitcoin transfers awaiting confirmation. With the average block interval set at ten minutes per block, it would require approximately 1.30 days to clear this backlog. However, a substantial portion of the backlog has been resolved since May 7 and 8, 2023, when the number of unconfirmed bitcoin transactions exceeded 500,000.
Bitcoin Fees Decrease, But Over 257,000 Pending Transactions Await Confirmation
Statistics from mempool.space on June 4, 2023, at 3:51 p.m. (ET).
On May 8, according to data from bitinfocharts.com, the average transaction fee skyrocketed to $31 per transaction. As of June 4, 2023, the average transaction fee stands at 0.00012 BTC or $3.15. The same website displays a median-sized transaction fee of 0.000053 BTC or $1.44 per transaction. As of 3:51 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on June 4, 2023, according to mempool.space statistics, there are approximately 257,141 pending transactions awaiting confirmation.
- Meme Coin Pepe Sees Steep Decline in 30 Days, Losing 70% Since All-Time High
The meme coin pepe (PEPE) has experienced a significant decline in value recently after an initial surge when the token was launched. The token gained real-world value on April 18, 2023, and since then, Pepe has risen 2,192% against the U.S. dollar. However, over the past seven days, Pepe has dropped more than 13%, and according to 14-day statistics, it is down over 26%. Additionally, precisely 30 days ago on May 5, 2023, the meme coin reached its all-time high (ATH) at $0.00000431 per unit.
Meme Coin Pepe Sees Steep Decline in 30 Days, Losing 70% Since All-Time High
PEPE/USDT via Binance on June 4, 2023, at 1:44 p.m. Eastern Time.
Since reaching its ATH, PEPE has lost over 70% of its USD value. In the past day, PEPE has slid 4.1% lower. Despite the decline, PEPE still holds the third-largest market cap among meme coins, currently at $530 million. At the time of writing, PEPE is ranked 84 out of the 10,085 crypto assets listed on coingecko.com. Over the past 24 hours, the meme coin, which features the likeness of Pepe the Frog, has experienced a worldwide trade volume of $57.25 million.
https://news.bitcoin.com/meme-coin-pepe-sees-steep-decline-in-30-days-losing-70-since-all-time-high/
- Crypto Insurer Evertas’ Coverage Limit Increased to $420M: Reuters
Cryptocurrency insurer Evertas is now insured to cover policies of up to $420 million from its previous limit of just $5 million, Reuters reported on Friday.
London-based Arch Insurance International, a syndicate member of Lloyd’s of London, has authorized Evertas to increase its coverage limit for a single policy for crypto custodians and exchanges to $420 million in a significant boost for risk management in the cryptocurrency industry.
New York-based Evertas insures crypto wallets against hacks and thefts which often blight the industry’s reputation and hinder wider adoption. Hackers have stolen around $400 million from crypto projects so far this year, according to a report by blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs.
The firm writes crypto insurance on behalf of Arch in its role as a “coverholder,” which international insurance firms turn to for specialized knowledge of complex risks.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7592636
- Google searches for ‘crypto’ fall to 2020 levels as BTC sentiment neutral
A two-month-long lull in cryptocurrency optimism has seen online search interest for “crypto” and other common cryptocurrency terms stumble down to late 2020 levels.
According to data from Google Trends, the term “crypto” currently has a score of 17, which is well off its reference point of 100 in May 2021. Bitcoin BTC $26,775 and Ethereum have followed a similar downward trajectory.
However, search interest for these terms has been in a relatively consistent decline since May 2022, about a month after much of the Terra Luna ecosystem collapsed. A small spike in interest came in early November when the crypto exchange FTX collapsed.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/google-search-crypto-fall-btc-sentiment-neutral
- Crypto Insurer Evertas’ Coverage Limit Increased to $420M: Reuters
Crypto Insurer Evertas’ Coverage Limit Increased to $420M: Reuters
London-based Arch Insurance International, a syndicate member of Lloyd’s of London, has authorized Evertas to increase its coverage limit for a single policy for crypto custodians and exchanges
Cryptocurrency insurer Evertas is now insured to cover policies of up to $420 million from its previous limit of just $5 million, Reuters reported on Friday.
London-based Arch Insurance International, a syndicate member of Lloyd’s of London, has authorized Evertas to increase its coverage limit for a single policy for crypto custodians and exchanges to $420 million in a significant boost for risk management in the cryptocurrency industry.
- Russia’s Rosbank Launches Crypto Payments Solution for Cross-Border Settlements
One of Russia’s systemically important banks, Rosbank, is launching a solution for cross-border settlements in cryptocurrency, the business daily Vedomosti reported. According to a representative of the financial institution, it is now conducting pilot transactions with corporate and private clients.
The bank maintains that the service, which is the first of its kind in the sector, is compliant with current Russian legislation and the requirements of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). The latter remains opposed to the free circulation of cryptocurrencies in the country but has been open to allowing their use in cross-border transactions as long as they are carried out outside of the Russian financial infrastructure.
Тhe law “On Digital Financial Assets” prohibits Russian residents from accepting digital currencies as payment for goods and services but lawmakers in the State Duma are considering amendments expanding the legal framework’s coverage to include cryptocurrencies and legalize crypto transactions under “experimental legal regimes.”
- Pro-Bitcoin Candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. ‘Can and Will’ Beat Trump, Desantis: Jack Dorsey
Twitter co-founder and current CEO of fintech firm Block Jack Dorsey appears to have officially endorsed Robert Kennedy Jr., a pro-Bitcoin Democrat presidential candidate.
He took to Twitter on Sunday to share a video clip of Fox News’s Harris Faulkner interviewing Kennedy titled: “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. argues he can beat Trump and DeSantis in 2024.”
Dorsey added to the clip: “He can and will.”
Dorsey is a long-time Bitcoin supporter, who has expressed his belief in its potential to become a global currency.
In 2014, Dorsey said that Bitcoin could become the “native currency of the internet.” He has continued to promote Bitcoin and blockchain technology through his various ventures, including Block’s Cash App, a mobile payment service that allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin.
- Bitcoin Ordinals Rolls Out Upgrade to Rectify ‘Cursed Inscriptions’ Issue
Developers behind the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol have rolled out a new upgrade that aims to cure over 71,000 invalid or “cursed” inscriptions — allowing them to be traded.
“Cursed inscriptions” was the name given to inscriptions that were created by incorrect use or intentional misuse of opcodes to create inscriptions, which led to them becoming invalid and unrecognized.
On June 4, developers including @raphjaph revealed the Ordinals protocol was upgraded to version 0.6.0, which would be the first step in indexing the previously unrecognized inscriptions.
The proposal to fix the issue was first s made in late April by Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor to recognize these cursed inscriptions and convert them to “blessed” ones.
The upgrade introduced support for a subset of the different types of cursed inscriptions. It does this by setting a block activation height where specific types of previously invalid inscriptions would start being indexed as normal positive inscriptions.
https://www.binance.com/en/news/flash/7592382
- Crypto lobbyists still fighting to axe ‘unlawful’ Tornado Cash sanctions
The Blockchain Association and the DeFi Education Fund have become the latest industry advocates to file their support of Coin Center’s lawsuit against the United States Treasury over its “unlawful” sanctions against Tornado Cash.
On June 2, the two cryptocurrency industry advocacy groups filed a joint amicus brief in support of Coin Center, arguing that the U.S. sanctions against the crypto mixer should be dropped.
They called the sanctions imposed by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) “both unprecedented and unlawful,” and added:
“OFAC’s sanctions are unlawful. OFAC lacks statutory authority to sanction software like Tornado Cash, and regardless, its decision lacks any factual predicate that could render the sanctions lawful.”
The associations argued Tornado Cash is software and while OFAC has the legal authority to sanction people or property, it cannot sanction a decentralized protocol.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-association-remove-tornado-cash-sanctions
