Author: Jeremy Ryan

Australian crypto executives have urged caution over lumping all digital assets in the same boat as financial products, after recent comments from Australia’s assistant treasurer on the matter.Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones gave an overview of the state of crypto regulation in the country in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald published on Jan. 22.He confirmed that the government was on track with its “token mapping” exercise this year to determine which crypto assets to regulate, with a consultation process “to start soon” with the industry, according to a crypto exchange executive. However, Jones said he was…

A former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official has slammed “cryptocurrency lobbyists” for labeling SEC enforcement actions as “regulation by enforcement” — calling the term a “Bogus Big Crypto Catch Phrase.”John Reed Stark, a former chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement and a crypto skeptic, opined in a Jan. 22 post that the argument is “sorely misguided” as it was just how securities regulations worked.“Litigation and SEC enforcement are actually how securities regulation works,” he argued. “The flexibility of SEC statutory weaponry is an SEC hallmark, enabling SEC enforcement to keep fraud in check.”“In fact, the repetitive chorus…

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared a possible solution to what he describes as the “largest remaining challenge” foEthereum — privacy.In a blog post on Jan. 20, Buterin acknowledged the need to come up with a privacy solution because by default, all information that goes onto a “public blockchain” is public too.He then arrived at the concept of “stealth addresses” — which he said can potentially anonymize peer-to-peer transactions, nonfungible token (NFT) transfers, and Ethereum Name Service (ENS) registrations, protecting users. An incomplete guide to stealth addresses:https://t.co/21Q18BrD30— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 20, 2023 In the blog post, Buterin explained how on-chain transactions…

NFT While Web3 has yet to catch on outside of the cryptocurrency space, Film3 had a big moment under the spotlight in Park City, Utah, on Saturday when ‘Calladita,” a new film by director Miguel Faus, was named the winner of the Andrews/Bernard Award. Established by renowned director Steven Soderberg and the Decentralized Pictures platform, the award provides $300,000 in finishing funds for noteworthy English-language films and shorts. “Winning this award from Steven Soderbergh is a dream come true for me and the whole Calladita team and community,” Faus told Decrypt via direct message, adding that he believes that Film3…

NFT Is the crypto bear market coming to an end? Cryptocurrency prices are on the rise lately, and there are now growing signs that the NFT space is rebounding as well. The latest: OpenSea, the leading marketplace, has notched back-to-back Ethereum NFT monthly sales increases for the first time in a year, with January sales volume already topping December’s tally with a week left to go. According to public blockchain data available on analytics platform Dune, OpenSea has processed over $320 million worth of Ethereum NFT trades so far in January, already beating December’s tally of about $283.5 million. And…

Last year the crypto and Web3 saw a dichotomy between extremely turbulent markets, yet high prospects for the future of the space. Both users and investors alike have continued to pile into the industry, especially in areas concerned with the metaverse.A new survey from CoinWire, which surveyed over 10,000 investors in the crypto space in December 2022, found that user sentiment towards the metaverse has digital reality poised to influence all areas of social life. 69% of respondents have placed their bet on the metaverse to reshape social lifestyle with a new approach to entertainment, while 65% believed in metaverse’s new approach…

The third city map for Mega World, on Binance Chain, opens up for construction of February 15th. This update also brings new buildings, as well as new cross-chain dependencies and includes a special pack sale. Mega World recently sold land plots in a new city on Binance Chain. Now they prepare to open up construction in the city on February 15th. Along with this construction comes three new buildings and a pack sale on Binance Chain. Binance Chain Construction Players can begin constructing buildings and playing in the new city on Binance Chain on February 15th. This opening also brings…

Central African Republic (CAR), a developing country in Central Africa, set up a 15-member committee responsible for drafting a bill on the use of cryptocurrencies and tokenization in the region.According to Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the president of CAR, cryptocurrencies can potentially help eradicate the country’s financial barriers. He believed in creating a business-friendly environment supported by a legal framework for cryptocurrency usage. A rough translation of the official press release reads:“With access to cryptocurrencies, the monetary barriers existing until now will disappear, the main objective of the measures adopted by the government being the development of the national economy.”The committee responsible…

NFT When Jack Butcher created the Checks VV non-fungible token (NFT) collection earlier this month, his intention wasn’t to earn lots of money or spark movement in the NFT space reeling from the effects of a prolonged crypto winter. The former advertising professional, who recently founded a creative agency called Visualize Value, welcomed a new baby with his wife in the leadup to the launch of his 16,031-edition NFT project on Jan. 3. The project, inspired by the ubiquitous blue checkmarks used on social media to denote a verified account, has since ballooned in popularity, doing 1,820 ETH (about $2.9…

NFT XRP Ledger enthusiasts are guessing what made a mysterious non-fungible token collector make such a strange purchase on a nascent XRPL NFT market. Someone just bought blank test NFT on XRPL with no images or metadata Today, on Jan. 23, 2023, Wietse Wind of XRPL Labs shared the details of a strange accident that took place on XRP Ledger. Per his statement, he just was just experimenting with NFT tools on XRPL and created a “blank” token with no distinctive features. When you create an NFT without metadata, without images, … Absolutely useless, blank NFT to test some things…