Author: Jeremy Ryan

A new partnership between Xtalnia and ApeSwap has just been announced as part of the new ‘Jungle Farm’ campaign, much to the delight of supporters. Thanks to this partnership, users will be able to take part in exciting battles where they can fight to collect the most sought-after item in the game known as ‘XTAL’. In addition, Treasury Bills are also coming soon as per an official announcement.What’s so special about Xtalnia?In Xtalnia, each player starts with three characters and can add up to five more. Basic weapons are included, as well as a unique character, and there are two…

Blockchain Popular decentralized query and data indexing platform The Graph recently unveiled Layer 2 scaling. Integrating the platform with Arbitrum One will improve its scalability and security. In addition, the integration will boost the cost-effectiveness of the network participants. The Graph released an official Twitter string to inform users about the news. According to the tweets, the huge development means users can access a gas-efficient and seamless decentralized data experience. Once The Graph is scaled to Layer 2, the protocol will enable significant improvements in the participants’ affordability and speed. The platform has decided to conduct the transition in three…

One of the world’s biggest spirits brands is leveraging NFTs to tokenise limited edition bottles of liquor.Moutai is launching its own NFT collection. Indeed, the icon of Chinese liquor culture is minting 113,960 Lichun-themed NFTs, which are each tied to a physical bottle of liquor.Lichun marks the first of 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar. Hence, Moutai plans to release limited edition bottles of liquor for each solar term – backed by an NFT.Alcohol and NFTsIt’s easy to see why Moutai is making the giant leap into Web3. In fact, they’re not the first alcohol brand that has…

Crypto financial services Matrixport’s head of research believes the recent scrutiny of Paxos and its Binance USD (BUSD) token is not a direct attack on stablecoins themselves. In a Feb. 14 analysis, Matrixport’s Markus Thielen suggested that BUSD issuer Paxos Trust Company may not have been stringent enough with its oversight of the token.He added that the issue “does not appear to be around stablecoins” in itself.“Paxos had violated its obligation to conduct tailored, periodic risk assessment and due diligence of Binance and Paxos-issued BUSD customers,” Thielen argued.On Feb. 13, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) ordered Paxos to halt the…

NFT Jingtan, Alibaba affiliate Ant Group’s non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, has relaxed transfer rules that mandate users to hold on to newly purchased assets for a specified period as part of Wednesday’s platform update. See related article: China NFT platforms expand into Hong Kong in face of compliance risks on mainland Fast facts Jingtan has reduced the native lock period for primary transfers, or when users send free NFTs to other customers, to 90 days from the previous 180 days. The marketplace has also removed the 720-day transfer restriction on secondary transfer for users that were gifted “digital collectibles” –…

NFT The number of Ordinal inscriptions passed 100,000 late Tuesday, proving that the project to bring digital assets natively to the Bitcoin blockchain continues to intrigue the crypto space since its launch last month. The 100K milestone was closely watched, and comes less than a day after Ordinals crossed the 75,000 inscription mark, according to a Dune report, with transaction fees for the digital collectibles topping $114,590 earlier today. I TOLD YOU 100K TODAY???????????? — trevor.btc (@TO) February 15, 2023 Closing in on 100k inscriptions Close to a 1 year high in transaction fee rates Mempool is over 100 blocks…

NFT BendDAO, the largest NFT lending platform by market cap, hit new all-time highs last month on the backs of 4,399 individual loans, many of them Azukis, Mutants and BAYC. Twitter user @JKrantz speculated that the sudden all-time high might be because borrowers are getting paid a higher interest to take out loans on their NFTs with the native BEND token, which has seen a spike in growth over the last month. In the last 30 days, BEND has been up 377.5%, which some say is the reason why loans are flocking to the platform, as borrowers can yield a…

Ethereum might be the king when it comes to NFTs, but its reign seems under threat from an unlikely source. A few months ago, NFTs on the Bitcoin network were barely even a thing. However, since the launch of Ordinals, a project that allows individuals to inscribe/mint NFTs directly on Satoshis, things have become very interesting.Lack of smart contracts and growing criticism from Bitcoin maximalists haven’t stopped the Ordinals project from picking up. Three weeks after launch, the number of inscriptions is fast approaching 100,000. One of these is a valuable Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) #1626, which belongs to…

The percentage of Ethereum blocks complying with orders set by the United States Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has now fallen to 47% — the lowest level since Oct. 11. The latest milestone in reversing censorship comes nearly three months after the percentage of OFAC-compliant blocks peaked at 79% on Nov. 21. OFAC-compliant blocks are those that exclude transactions involving parties sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.A fall in compliant blocks could be seen as a win for those who oppose censorship within the Ethereum ecosystem.Percentage of OFAC-compliant blocks following the Ethereum Merge on Sept. 15.…

A New York judge has granted a request from prosecutors to defer civil proceedings against Sam Bankman-Fried from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Securities Exchange Commission until after the FTX founder’s criminal trial in October.U.S. District Judge of Manhattan Kevin Castel on Feb. 13 granted the motions to stay the civil proceedings “without prejudice,” meaning the cases will now be halted until after the Department of Justice’s criminal trial concludes. The motion was first submitted on Feb. 7 by Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, requesting to defer both civil cases against…