R2 money

Developers have been focusing more on tokens than on making fun games. As a result, GameFi has been dying. Play-to-earn gaming enabled by blockchain technology has grown exponentially over the few years.  Gamers have embraced the opportunity to collect cryptocurrencies or ​ nonfungible tokens (​NFTs​)​ that have been produced in blockchain-based games. Through the advent of this new technology, players have been able to generate income by selling in-game NFTs or earning cryptocurrency rewards, both of which can be exchanged for fiat cash. Because of this​, according to data from​ Absolute Reports​, the estimated value of the GameFi industry will grow to $2.8 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.4% ​over the same period. But such predictions may well prove to be unfounded. Given the rate of exponential growth over recent years, one might think that there was absolutely no reason to believe the trend would not continue well into 2023 and beyond. Right? Wr...

MicroStrategy scooped up BTC at an average price of just under $17,200. Meanwhile, Binance's CZ explains why there's so much FUD surrounding his exchange. Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy is showing no signs of backing down on its Bitcoin gambit. Right around the time that Sam Bankman-Fried was being exposed as a fraud , MicroStrategy was scooping up more Bitcoin ( BTC ) — this time, the firm bought as close to the bottom as it’s ever gotten. While Bitcoin can always go lower, seeing a MicroStrategy buy around $17K is refreshing. Interestingly, MicroStrategy also sold some BTC earlier this month — but not for the reason you think (more on that below.) The final Crypto Biz newsletter of 2022 discusses MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin buy, Fidelity Investments’ foray into the metaverse, Changpeng Zhao’s response to haters and the collective woes of Bitcoin miners. MicroStrategy adds to Bitcoin stake despite steep loss Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy scooped up 2,395 ...

Billions of dollars paid in the months leading up to the crypto exchange's bankruptcy may be returned to pay FTX's creditors, according to an insolvency attorney. The collapse of FTX Group may not yet be the end of its contagious spread, as clawback provisions could force business and investors to return billions of dollars paid in the months leading up to the crypto exchange's collapse, an insolvency attorney told Cointelegraph. In short, a clawback refers to money paid out that is required to be returned due to special circumstances or events, such as an insolvent company that needs to recover funds paid within 90 days before filing for Chapter 11. If the creditor is an insider, the 90-day period is extended to one year. As a result, creditors could seek a clawback on transfers made by FTX to external parties, including the $2.1 billion paid by FTX to Binance when Binance exited its Series A investment in FTX. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance CEO, has recently  dismissed ...

The RBI’s latest financial stability report accentuated the negative about cryptocurrency and reminds the world that India is looking for global action on crypto regulation. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appealed to the country’s presidency of the G20 group of the world’s largest economies as a pulpit to call for the development of a global regulatory framework for crypto assets. In its latest financial stability report, released Dec. 29, the bank again expressed its concerns about the burgeoning crypto ecosystem and suggested parts of it could be banned. The report was generally upbeat about current conditions in the country, despite “strong global headwinds,” saying, “the Indian economy and domestic financial system remain resilient.” The tone changed drastically in its discussion of crypto, however, as it highlighted a familiar laundry list of crises that struck the cryptoverse in 2022. It noted crypto’s volatility, high correlation with equities and its inadequacy as a he...

The exchange said it intends to outline further details in a report in January 2023. The FTX-owned Japanese crypto exchange Liquid has announced plans to begin the process of returning customer assets in 2023.  According to the Dec. 29 statement issued on its blog, the exchange is preparing to return assets entrusted by both customers from FTX Japan and Liquid Japan, and is working on a report for January 2023 that would further outline the details.  A statement from the team read: “For the assets entrusted to us by our customers at FTX Japan and Liquid Japan, we are proceeding with system development so that withdrawals will be possible from the Liquid Japan web version.”  According to Liquid, the system intends to allow users who are unable to access FTX, to check their FTX Japan balance from the Liquid Japan web version, and also make withdrawals from there. However, customers using the Liquid Japan platform are expected to be able to withdraw as usual. On Dec....

A lack of excitement on order books is just one sign that downside volatility could easily resume, says Material Indicators. Bitcoin ( BTC ) is not about to bottom at just below $17,000, new analysis warns as bid liquidity dries up. In social media posts after Christmas, on-chain analytics resource Material Indicators flagged waning interest in protecting the current BTC price range. Binance order book leaves "not much to be excited about" With volatility still largely absent from Bitcoin markets, analysts are keenly eyeing what could happen at this week’s yearly close. The closing price for BTC/USD on Dec. 31 will also mark the conclusion of the weekly and quarterly candles, and any flash volatility could turn 2022 into a nightmarish bear market year. As Cointelegraph reported , the pair is currently down around 60% year-to-date, while versus its latest all-time high from November 2021, it has lost 76%. This may still not be enough to cap the bear market, various ana...

2022 was tough on crypto prices, but ETH, LDO, MATIC, DAI and ATOM all made a positive impact on the industry. Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ether ( ETH ) and the crypto market had a rough 2022 from a price perspective, but traders are hopeful that 2023 will include bullish developments that push crypto prices higher.  Despite the market-wide downturn, a handful of altcoins continued to make a positive contribution to the crypto space and thanks to Ethereum , the term altcoin is no longer a derogatory term. Let’s explore the top altcoins that made a difference in 2022. Ethereum fundamentals shone in 2022 Ether’s price hit a yearly high at $3,835 on Jan. 2 and has struggled to regain footing amidst the bear market and other macro factors . The Ethereum network is the top project in 2022 not because of Ether’s price action, but for its fundamentals and for completing the long-awaited mainnet upgrade . The Ethereum merge was completed on Sept. 15, 2022 and while many feared the merge to pro...

State-sponsored Lazarus Group and associated hackers have had a busy year, and 2023 may see even more activity, the cybersecurity lab warned. BlueNoroff, part of the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus Group, has renewed its targeting of venture capital firms, crypto startups and banks. Cybersecurity lab Kaspersky reported that the group has shown a spike in activity after a lull for most of the year and it is testing new delivery methods for its malware. BlueNoroff has created more than 70 fake domains that mimic venture capital firms and banks. Most of the fakes presented themselves as well-known Japanese companies, but some also assumed the identity of United States and Vietnamese companies. BlueNoroff introduces new methods bypassing MoTW https://t.co/C6q0l1mWqo — Pentesting News (@PentestingN) December 27, 2022 The group has been experimenting with new file types and other malware delivery methods, according to the report. Once in place, its malware evades Windows Mark-o...

The two-year project produced a white paper in February; research results will continue to appear, with the Fed’s partner at MIT scheduled to make a research report in January. Project Hamilton, the research project of the United States Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), announced its conclusion in the runup to Christmas. The two-year project looked at the technical aspects of a hypothetical United States digital dollar central bank digital currency (CBDC). “Project Hamilton took critical early steps toward a deeper understanding of how money might work better for all,” Boston Fed executive vice president Jim Cunha said in a statement announcing the conclusion of the project. In February, the technologically “agnostic” project released a white paper and open-source research software called OpenCBDC in two versions, only one of which used distributed ledger technology. At that time, organizers promised that continuing research would l...

Crypto custodians generate public attestations about their cryptocurrency holdings through proof-of-reserves audits to demonstrate their solvency to depositors. With the rising interest in digital assets from institutional and retail investors, custody options have also experienced parallel growth. As a result, different kinds of custody choices have evolved as the market changes, and new providers are working to establish the structures and controls that are most effective for particular markets and offerings. Self-custody, exchange wallets and third-party custodians are the various choices available for users to safeguard their cryptocurrencies . Custodians in the world of digital assets function similarly to traditional financial markets in that their primary duty is to take care of and protect their clients’ assets by holding the private key on behalf of the asset holder, preventing unauthorized access.  However, despite such efforts, events such as the collapse of FTX (a ...

Binance's FUD is primarily caused by external factors - not by the exchange itself, according to CZ. Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao took to Twitter on Dec. 23 to share his perspective on the reasons behind the recent fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding the crypto exchange. According to CZ in the thread, Binance's FUD is primarily caused by external factors - not by the exchange itself. One of the reasons mentioned by the CEO was that part of the crypto community hates centralization. "Regardless if a CEX helps with crypto adoption at a faster rate, they just hate CEX," he noted. CZ also pointed out that Binance has been seen as competition by many industry players, with increasingly lobbying against the exchange and "loaning sums of money to small media that’s worth many times the media outlet's market value, including buying their CEOs houses, etc.", referring to The Block's CEO, Mike McCaffrey , who secretly financed the...

Top Stories This Week SBF sent home after his parents put up their house to cover his astronomical bail bond Sam Bankman-Fried will spend the holidays with his family in Palo Alto, California, after his parents secured $250 million in bail funds with the equity in their home. Among the conditions of the bail are home detention, location monitoring and his passport surrender. The former FTX CEO signed surrender documents on Dec. 20, allowing his extradition from the Bahamas to the United States, where he faces eight charges that could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. Bankman-Fried will now wait for his sentence at home with his family. Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang plead guilty to fraud charges Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges. Ellison, however, is working on a plea deal with the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which would evade all th...