- Crypto Valley Venture Capital Launches African Blockchain Early-Stage Fund
DAVOS, Switzerland – Crypto Valley Venture Capital, which also calls itself CV VC, is launching an Africa-focused fund to support blockchain startups on the continent, the investor announced Monday at the Blockchain Hub adjacent to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The fund is to invest in 100 startups in the African continent over the next four years, CV VC said in a press release. According to the announcement, CV VC has invested in 12 startups where “blockchain use cases go far beyond cryptocurrencies to drive Africa’s future to date.” The investor aims to raise between $10 and $50 million through the fund.
Among the 12 startups CV VC has already invested in are Leading House Africa, a startup from Nigeria that will allow land registration on the blockchain, and Mazzuma, a mobile payments platform from Ghana. According to Olaf Hannemann, co-founder and CIO of CV VC, most startups are expected to originate from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt but it is open to funding projects from the entire continent.
- Bitcoin Held on Trading Platforms Continues to Drop Lower, Over 68% of the Total Held by 5 Exchanges
Bitcoin (BTC) continues to be removed from centralized cryptocurrency exchanges as the number is much lower than the lows that were recorded on November 15, 2020. 248 days earlier, on March 12, 2020, the day after the infamous ‘Black Thursday,’ there were just over 3 million bitcoin held on centralized digital currency trading platforms.
During the course of that time frame, the number of BTC held on exchanges dropped 15.86% on March 12 from 3 million BTC to 2.524 BTC on November 15, 2020. In more recent times, the number of BTC held on exchanges has been lower and in May the metric hit two significant lows.
Bitcoin Held on Trading Platforms Continues to Drop Lower, Over 68% of the Total Held by 5 Exchanges
First on May 2, 2022, cryptoquant.com data shows there was 2.481 million BTC held on exchanges. The 2.481 million bitcoin was 1.70% lower than the number of BTC held on November 15, 2020. However, amid the Terra blockchain fallout and the terrausd (UST) de-pegging event, there was a brief spike of BTC deposits sent to exchanges.
- NFT Artist Beeple’s Twitter Account Hacked in Phishing Scam
Digital artist Beeple’s Twitter account was hacked today as part of a phishing scam that appears to have stolen more than $70,000 in Ethereum.
According to the NFT artist and others on Twitter—including Harry Denley, a security expert at cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask—Beeple’s account temporarily shared a phishing link that, if clicked on, would steal users’ crypto.
The tweet shared a link to a dodgy website pretending to be a “raffle” of Beeple’s Louis Vuitton collaboration (Beeple first collaborated with the fashion brand back in 2019). But when people clicked on the link, one Ethereum was automatically drained from their wallets, according to Denley.
https://decrypt.co/101093/nft-artist-beeples-twitter-account-hacked-in-phishing-scam
- WEF 2022: Ripple SVP says crypto winter provides an opportunity to build
Cointelegraph’s editor-in-chief Kristina Cornèr interviewed Brooks Entwistle, Ripple’s senior vice president (SVP) for global customer success at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Switzerland, discussing his time in Ripple and the current “crypto winter” and what market participants should focus on.
Having worked in prominent firms like Goldman Sachs and Uber, the Ripple SVP shared that his experience in Ripple has given him the opportunity to explore. In the past year, Entwistle shared that their team has been learning more about the industry to “understand what business models are working” and what can be improved.
Entwistle also shared that the current WEF event in Davos has given him a chance to experience the country while the weather is nice. He said that this makes it easier to interact with people and make new connections in the industry. “You just hustle for the minute you get here, you hustle non-stop and meet partners, customers and get ideas to do it,” said Entwistle.
Apart from the weather, the Ripple executive also shared his thoughts on the state of the market. He said that:
“This has happened before. It’s going to happen again. And I think for us, we’re building into it. And I think it’s an opportunity.”
- Chinese-based BSN to Launch First International Expansion in August: CNBC
Chinese state-backed blockchain company Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) is reportedly to launch an international project within serval months, according to CNBC, citing people with the matter.
The project for the expansion will be named” BSN Spartan Network”, which is expected to begin in August, according to a CNBC report, citing Hong Kong-based startup Red Date Technology’s CEO Yifan He, one of the founding members of the BSN.
The official website introduces the BSN as a “one-stop-shop” for DApp developers to deploy and manage any permissions or permissionless blockchain applications. They are aiming to help businesses adopt this top-notch technology by connecting with various blockchains.
According to a report, the Spartan Network will “eventually be made up of half a dozen public blockchains that do not operate with cryptocurrencies.” One of those will be a non-crypto version of the Ethereum blockchain when the project is ready to launch.
Yet, no official announcement can be confirmed at the time of writing.
- ETH Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Says The Merge Could Happen in August, There’s Also ‘Risk of Delay’
Following the statements from Ethereum developer Preston Van Loon at the Permissionless conference, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has further confirmed The Merge will likely happen in August. Buterin noted, however, that it’s quite possible there’s still a risk of delay, and The Merge could happen in September or October 2022.
The Merge Could Happen in August, Buterin Says
Just recently, Vitalik Buterin spoke at the ETH Shanghai Web 3.0 Developer Summit and Ethereum’s co-founder discussed the highly-anticipated proof-of-stake (PoS) transition. The Merge is scheduled to go live on Ethereum’s testnet Ropsten in 18 days on June 8, 2022.
During the ETH Shanghai Summit, Buterin explained that the transition will be a major test for the entire Ethereum ecosystem. “This will be a major test, larger than any of the tests that we have done before,” Buterin stressed. “Taking a large existing test network with many applications with proof-of-work, moving into proof-of-stake.”
- India’s Cryptocurrency Sector Needs ‘Peace’ and ‘Certainty’: CoinSwitch CEO
CoinSwitch CEO Ashish Singhal on Sunday called for clearer rules to resolve the regulatory uncertainty in India’s cryptocurrency space.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Singhal told Reuters: “Users don’t know what will happen with their holdings—is the government going to ban, not ban, how is it going to be regulated? Regulations will bring peace … more certainty”
Bengaluru-based CoinSwitch, the largest crypto platform in India with over 18 million users, is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, and Coinbase Ventures.
In February, about a week after a 30% tax on crypto was proposed, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Shaktikanta Das, said that private cryptocurrency was “a big threat to our macroeconomic stability and financial stability.”
“Keep in mind,” he added at the time, “that cryptocurrency has no underlying value—not even a tulip.”
https://decrypt.co/101096/indias-cryptocurrency-sector-needs-peace-and-certainty-coinswitch-ceo
- China Can’t Seem to Stop Bitcoin Mining
Last week, Cambridge University’s Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) released an update to its heavily cited (and rightfully so) Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), which in part looks to uncover and share the geographic location breakdown of bitcoin miners globally.
The previous Cambridge update showed that China’s share of mining went from 34.3% in June 2021 to 0.0% in July 2021 following a crypto mining ban in the country. Last week’s update showed that China’s share of mining went from 0.0% in August 2021 to … 22.3% in September 2021.
Clearly something is up here, so let’s dive in. While we are there, we’ll also touch on two other bitcoin mining related topics: 1) hashprice and 2) mining company woes.
https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/05/22/china-cant-seem-to-stop-bitcoin-mining/
- This Top Crypto Exchange Offers To Support Burning Terra (LUNA)
The exchange announced the move late-Sunday, stating that all of its users could participate in the poll.
MEXC said if at least 50% of its users approved the proposal, it will use the actual trading fees from LUNA/USDT spot trades to begin buying LUNA tokens from the open market, and burn them.
The exchange said it will release the results of the vote before May 26. MEXC is the 20th-largest crypto exchange, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com.
LUNA holders are steadily burning tokens
MEXC’s vote comes after Terra founder Do Kwon shared the address for LUNA’s burn wallet. The token prices shot up as much as 100% after the move.
A barrage of LUNA holders began burning their tokens by sending them to the burn wallet. This trend persisted even as Kwon advised holders against such a move, stating that they will just lose their tokens.
https://coingape.com/this-top-crypto-exchange-offers-to-support-burning-terra-luna/
- Bill Gates: Crypto Has No Valuable Output — It’s Not Adding to Society Like Other Investments
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates shared his opinion about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session Thursday.
One of the questions he was asked was “What do you think about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies?” Gates replied:
I don’t own any. I like investing in things that have valuable output.
He added: “The value of companies is based on how they make great products. The value of crypto is just what some other person decides someone else will pay for it so not adding to society like other investments.”
Gates’ stance on cryptocurrency echoes that of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett. The Oracle of Omaha explained in detail why he would not invest in bitcoin or cryptocurrency earlier this month.
