Blockchain

Mobs Who Stormed the Capitol Received Bitcoin Donation from France

Worth roughly $550,000, nearly half of this donation was sent to Nick Fuentes, the leader of the so-called Groyper Army.

Published

4 months ago

January 14, 2021

Republished by Plato

Chainalysis today published a blog post addressing how some of the most controversial and well-known figures of the alt-right are getting financial support outside of mainstream methods. Blockchain intelligence platform said a France-based computer programmer sent 28.15 Bitcoins to far-right activists who gathered outside the US Capitol before rioters broke into the building.

The large cryptocurrency donation was sent to 22 separate addresses in a single transaction that occurred a month before protesters stormed the iconic building on December 8. Worth roughly $550,000 at the transaction date, nearly half of this mount was sent Nicholas Fuentes, the leader of a radicalized movement whose views embrace white nationalism.

Fuentes joined pro-Trump protesters on the steps of the Capitol to oppose the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes and temporarily disrupted the Congress affirming of Joe Biden’s victory.

“The donation, as well as reports of the planning that went into the Capitol raid on alt-right communication channels, also suggests that domestic extremist groups may be better organized and funded than previously thought,” said Chainalysis.

The cryptocurrency crimefighter revealed that Fuentes was the biggest beneficiary of the donation, having received 13.5 BTC — worth $250,000 at the time of the transfer. Before that, the biggest donation he had ever received in a single month was $2,707 worth of bitcoin.

Opimas estimates that over US$190 billion worth of Bitcoin is currently at risk due to subpar safekeeping

Published

7 mins ago

May 9, 2021

Republished by Plato

May 2021. Safekeeping of cryptocurrencies presents a challenge for institutions holding cryptocurrencies on their clients’ behalf. Cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible and anyone with full access to a wallet’s private key controls the cryptocurrencies that reside within it. Frighteningly, a number of institutional participants and even some large cryptocurrency exchanges rely on subpar custody approaches, leading Opimas to estimate that over US$190 billion worth of Bitcoin is currently at risk due to subpar safekeeping.

Luckily, a number of companies have emerged to address this problem. A new research report from Opimas—Crypto Custody: No More Excuses, authored by analysts Suzannah Balluffi and Anne-Laure Foubert—looks at the landscape of cryptocurrency custody-enabling technology providers and institutional-grade cryptocurrency custodians as well as the size of the market for cryptocurrency custody and brokerage services.

Some key findings in the report include:

Many of even the largest holders of Bitcoin and other digital assets continue to rely on storage devices meant for individual investors. Although some of these self-custody devices and wallets are secure and reputable, the operational risk posed by this approach is significant for institutional investors. Furthermore, a chunk of institutionals’ cryptocurrency holdings sit in hot wallets on exchanges. In total, about 22% of institutional cryptocurrency holdings are safeguarded in these relatively risky manners (Figure 1).

Figure 1. CUSTODY METHODS UTILIZED BY INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS

Source: Opimas analysis.

There are no more excuses for lackadaisical safekeeping – institutions can now choose from several reputable cryptocurrency custody-enabling technology providers and institutional-grade cryptocurrency custodians. Yet no custody solution is equal – there is still no best practice when it comes to security and governance relating to private keys. For example, some providers may rely on time-tested Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), while others use a newer technology known as Multi-Party Computation (MPC) – see Figure 2.

Figure 2. A COMPARISON OF HSM AND MPC TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS

Source: Ledger, Fireblocks, Opimas analysis.

Some cryptocurrency custodians have followed in the footsteps of traditional capital markets by adding prime brokerage services to their offerings, including trading and settlement, lending, margin finance, staking, reporting, and capital introduction services. Opimas estimates that the current annual revenues generated by the institutional crypto brokerage and custody market are roughly US$2 billion and will grow to nearly US$8 billion by 2026 – a sizeable portion of this coming from brokerage services (Figure 3).

FIGURE 3. THE MARKET FOR CRYPTO CUSTODY & PRIME BROKERAGE SERVICES IS GROWING

Source: Opimas analysis.

Regulations surrounding institutions’ ability to store cryptocurrency have become clearer (and in some cases more favorable) in numerous jurisdictions. Notably, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) ruling in the US has allowed banks to store cryptocurrencies for their customers. This regulatory clarity has led a number of financial institutions around the world to provide trading and custody for digital assets. With the advances in brokerage and custody solutions, Opimas expects institutional cryptocurrency holdings to grow from 20% of the cryptocurrency market cap to over 50% by 2026 (Figure 4).

FIGURE 4. INstitutional cryptocurrency holdings over time

Source: Opimas analysis.

Source: PlatoData Intelligence

Blockchain

Kraken Daily Market Report for May 08 2021

Published

3 hours ago

May 9, 2021

Republished by Plato

Overview

Total spot trading volume at $2.86 billion, 9% higher than the 30-day average of $2.63 billion.
Total futures notional at $797.5 million.
The top five traded coins were, respectively, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Tether and Ethereum Classic.
Strong returns from Gnosis (+14%) and Ethereum (+12%).

May 08, 2021 $2.86B traded across all markets today Crypto, EUR, USD, JPY, CAD, GBP, CHF, AUD
ETH $3914.1 ↑12% $797.5M	XBT $58953. ↑2.7% $795.7M	XDG $0.6368 ↓7.6% $636.4M	USDT $1.0014 ↑0.05% $285.3M	ETC $128.55 ↑7.0% $104.4M
ADA $1.6234 ↓1.9% $79.3M	LTC $347.39 ↑0.6% $50.5M	XRP $1.5653 ↓1.0% $48.7M	DOT $39.923 ↑0.07% $43.9M	BCH $1400.7 ↑4.4% $42.4M
USDC $1.0 ↑0.0% $40.4M	LINK $48.693 ↓1.3% $30.8M	EOS $10.361 ↓0.26% $29.7M	TRX $0.1431 ↓3.0% $17.1M	FLOW $28.668 ↓2.9% $16.1M
SC $0.0405 ↓4.7% $15.6M	STORJ $2.2312 ↓0.4% $14.7M	ATOM $29.510 ↑3.0% $11.8M	XLM $0.6155 ↓2.5% $11.6M	DASH $409.86 ↑1.3% $11.2M
XTZ $6.9881 ↓1.3% $10.0M	QTUM $25.576 ↓4.3% $9.83M	XMR $476.08 ↑4.6% $9.7M	KSM $435.0 ↑1.3% $7.39M	ZEC $315.75 ↓1.3% $6.91M
FIL $148.15 ↓1.4% $6.82M	WAVES $32.449 ↓0.14% $6.57M	UNI $40.532 ↑2.0% $6.55M	ALGO $1.5198 ↓3.7% $6.03M	DAI $1.0011 ↓0.01% $6.0M
OMG $11.829 ↓0.15% $5.87M	LSK $8.4918 ↓6.0% $3.77M	COMP $782.88 ↑9.6% $3.71M	ICX $2.6909 ↓1.6% $3.63M	NANO $9.7242 ↓0.6% $3.63M
AAVE $466.93 ↑5.7% $3.39M	GRT $1.5855 ↓0.6% $3.05M	OCEAN $1.4907 ↑2.0% $3.02M	KEEP $0.6183 ↑6.5% $2.98M	GNO $291.84 ↑14% $2.91M
SNX $18.448 ↓1.1% $2.72M	MANA $1.4419 ↓1.7% $2.67M	KAVA $6.2917 ↓2.8% $2.6M	BAT $1.4187 ↑0.6% $2.57M	CRV $3.5639 ↓2.6% $2.41M
KNC $3.4433 ↓2.6% $1.93M	REPV2 $48.252 ↑1.0% $1.83M	OXT $0.6666 ↓1.1% $1.68M	BAL $69.63 ↑7.8% $1.52M	ANT $10.317 ↓3.2% $1.31M
YFI $54058. ↑1.3% $1.3M	PAXG $1877.6 ↑0.8% $1.12M	EWT $13.644 ↓4.1% $772K	REP $46.85 ↓0.3% $714K	MLN $108.99 ↑0.5% $425K
TBTC $58915. ↑1.6% $43.3K

#####################. Trading Volume by Asset. ##########################################

Trading Volume by Asset

The figures below break down the trading volume of the largest, mid-size, and smallest assets. Cryptos are in purple, fiats are in blue. For each asset, the chart contains the daily trading volume in USD, and the percentage of the total trading volume. The percentages for fiats and cryptos are treated separately, so that they both add up to 100%.

Figure 1: Largest trading assets: trading volume (measured in USD) and its percentage of the total trading volume (May 08 2021)

Figure 2: Mid-size trading assets: (measured in USD) (May 08 2021)

Figure 3: Smallest trading assets: (measured in USD) (May 08 2021)

###########. Daily Returns. #################################################

Daily Returns %

Figure 7: Returns over USD and XBT. Relative volume and return size is indicated by the size of the font. (May 08 2021)

###########. Disclaimer #################################################

The values generated in this report are from public market data distributed from Kraken WebSockets api. The total volumes and returns are calculated over the reporting day using UTC time.

Coinsmart. Beste Bitcoin-Börse in Europa
Source: https://blog.kraken.com/post/9008/kraken-daily-market-report-for-may-08-2021/

Blockchain

Legendary Pelé NFT Set to Drop on Ethernity May 8

Published

6 hours ago

May 9, 2021

Republished by Plato

[Press Release – Los Angeles, California, 8th May, 2021]

Iconic Brazilian footballer Pelé will be immortalized in NFT form on May 8.

The legendary striker, named FIFA World Player of the Century, is getting the tokenized treatment with the release of a licensed aNFT – authenticated non-fungible token – exclusively on the Ethernity Chain at 12pm EST.

The coveted collection features several aNFTs of the soccer star, the result of a collaboration between Visual Lab and Rafa Zabala, whose credits include The Hobbit and Planet of the Apes.

The digital presentation includes “THE KING OF FOOTBALL,” an immersive video tracing the player’s humble origins on the streets of Brazil to a packed stadium witnessing his brilliance. The eponymous “Pelé” aNFT, meanwhile, is represented by a hyper-realistic digital bronze bust of the star in his heyday.

As part of the Pelé aNFT collection, Ethernity will be releasing multi-pack trading cards that make a nod to the player’s Panini trading cards of the past.

Ethernity’s special digital trading cards include “Gilded Bicycle Pelé,” which showcases the player executing his signature bicycle kick. The limited edition cards will be part of the Ethernity Cards and Packs Collection launching this summer, 2021.

90% of aNFT sales will go to The Pelé Foundation, a charitable organization that strives to empower young people facing poverty around the world.

Ethernity’s recent Muhammad Ali aNFT auction, which raised over $550,000, also resulted in a significant donation being made to the Muhammad Ali Foundation.

About Ethernity

Ethernity is exploring applications for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within the context of art and philanthropy. It provides a way for celebrities and public figures to endorse digital artwork created by renowned artists. Anyone can purchase each limited edition artwork, with a portion of the proceeds going to charitable causes that the celebrity supports. Ethernity was founded by early Bitcoin investor and NFT innovator Nick Rose Ntertsas.

Learn more: http://ethernity.io/

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Coinsmart. Beste Bitcoin-Börse in Europa
Source: https://cryptopotato.com/legendary-pele-nft-set-to-drop-on-ethernity-may-8/