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  • Cardano-Based DEX SundaeSwap Announces Mainnet Launch Date, ADA Jumps Over 20%

    Cardano-Based DEX SundaeSwap Announces Mainnet Launch Date, ADA Jumps Over 20%

    Key takeaways:

    • Popular Cardano-based DEX SundaeSwap has announced a beta mainnet launch for January 20
    • SundaeSwap will launch with a full suite of features and several ways of obtaining the SUNDAE token
    • The price of ADA rallied to a cycle high of $1.56 on the news, which led to Cardano overtaking Solana as the fifth largest crytpo in terms of market cap value

    SundaeSwap, a native decentralized exchange (DEX) on Cardano, has announced the launch of a fully-functional beta version for Thursday, January 20. The price of ADA jumped by more than 20% on the news.

    The SundaeSwap DEX will go live on Jan. 20, users will have three ways of acquiring SUNDAE

    The highly-anticipated DEX launch is finally here – once the beta goes live on Thursday, SundaeSwap will introduce a much-needed liquidity boost to the Cardano ecosystem, along with enticing yield farming rewards, token swaps, and initial stake-pool offering (ISO) of SUNDAE.

    The mainnet launch comes six weeks after the company launched its testnet version in early December 2021. Over its short history, SundaeSwap has managed to form a lively community, and based on its social media following numbers, it is currently very likely to be the most popular DEX on Cardano. 

    According to a Saturday’s blog post, users will be able to obtain SUNDAE by participating in ISOs, swapping tokens on eligible DEXs for SundaeSwap’s own token, and by providing liquidity in exchange for SUNDAE farming rewards. The first ISO will commence on Jan. 20, “and will continue for five epochs, with rewards (5% of the total SUNDAE supply, 1% per epoch) being distributed based on the snapshots that will be taken at each epoch boundary,” explained Sundae.

    In order to qualify for ISO rewards, users will need to stake ADA with eligible SPOs before the first round begins on January 25.

    SundaeSwap’s event schedule. Image source: SundaeSwap

    The launch of a new DEX marks an important milestone for the broader Cardano ecosystem, which currently trails Ethereum and other Layer 1 networks in terms of the number of decentralized applications deployed on its chain. 

    Cardano’s founder Charles Hoskinson recently touched upon several key issues that need to be resolved before Cardano can become a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) platform. Hoskinson outlined his vision for the network in a Youtube appearance at the tail end of 2021 and unveiled that improvements to DeFi, a native web wallet, and a robust peer-to-peer (P2P) framework are in the pipeline. 

    Following SundaeSwap’s announcement of an upcoming DEX, the price of ADA increased from $1.28 on January 15 to a cycle high of $1.56 earlier today and managed to outperform all other digital assets in the cryptocurrency top 100 in the last 24 hours with more than 10% gains.

    Buy/Sell ADA
  • DeFi Data Network Unmarshal Doubles Down on Solana, Signs Key Advisor

    DeFi Data Network Unmarshal Doubles Down on Solana, Signs Key Advisor

    Bangalore, India, 17th January, 2022, Chainwire

    since its launch in 2021, Unmarshal has continued to look for ways to improve its ecosystem to provide the best services to existing blockchains. Now in 2022, the DeFi network has added a key advisor, Brian D. Evans, to the team to strengthen the protocol. 

    Brian D. Evans is an Inc. 500 Entrepreneur, Forbes top digital marketer, investor, and blockchain/crypto industry veteran. With his wealth of experience and connections, Evans, who is also a Founder of ReBlock Ventures alongside Kenn.eth boasts almost 1 million followers on his Twitter. Evans and ReBlock will help Unmarshal become industry dominant by suggesting key initiatives, and connecting high level players. 

    Speaking on the appointment, Evans said “They’ve managed to recruit top development talent, I can see this platform doing very well. I’m excited to open up my Rolodex and help them achieve large scale industry adoption.”

    Unmarshal Boosts Its Query Mechanism for Apps on Solana

    Aside from signing Evans, the multi-chain DeFi data network is strengthening its querying support for decentralized applications built using Solana’s API. The added support will provide safe real-time data to DApps.

    The Solana Network was one of the most deployed chains in 2021 due to its incredible throughput, ultra-low gas fees, and scalability. The chain can process over 50,000 transactions in a second, making it faster than all the blockchains in the industry. All these are made possible due to the network’s Proof of History and Proof of Stake consensus mechanisms. 

    The chain hosts over 1000 decentralized apps, including decentralized exchanges, GameFi projects, and NFT marketplaces. The trilemma – speed, scalability, and security led to the growth of the blockchain and its native cryptocurrency SOL. 

    With the chain agnostic solution improving its API for Solana, DApps can collect data effectively without creating codes. DeFi projects on Solana can work with our experts to form the correct data response and structure. The network’s data can also be queried. 

    API Can Perform a Wide Range of Applications

    Aside from enabling a rapid querying support system for DApps on Solana, Unmarshal will add Solana onto the platform’s block explorer Xscan.io. The API will cater to a variety of use cases, such as NFTs, marketplaces, P2E gaming, and any other application on the Solana Network.

    This API integration will allow the wallets to provide a clearer picture of token balances and the transfer history of the given asset and the entire wallet on the Solana chain. In addition, customers can get updated with instant alerts on any transactions that occur in their wallets. 

    The integration with Solana will also allow wallets to fetch data about transaction hash, status, timestamp, and get details on assets listed on Solana, including their prices. Finally, the API integration will collect data of wallet NFT balances on the chain.

    About Unmarshal

    Unmarshal is an agnostic chain solution launched in February, 2021. It’s a DeFi network that provides real-time data to dApps deployed on Solana, Binance Smart Chain, Polkadot, Ethereum, and so on. They are making moves to empower DApps on several Layer2 networks to have access to reliable on-chain data. The DeFi protocol offers convenient methods to query network data from supported chains and comprises powerful tools to support DeFi apps on any blockchain.

    Contacts

    CMO

    • Yogesh
    • Unmarshal
    • yt@unmarshal.io
  • Chingari’s Social Token GARI is Getting Listed on OKEx Following Exclusive IEO For South Asian Users

    Chingari’s Social Token GARI is Getting Listed on OKEx Following Exclusive IEO For South Asian Users

    Image source: Chingari

    Key takeaways:

    • Chingari’s native GARI social token OKEx public sale will commence on January 18 at 04:00 UTC, with GARI trading pairs going live shortly after the sale concludes
    • Only OKEx users holding OKB in their exchange accounts from selected South Asian regions will be able to participate in the sale
    • The team aims to raise $1 million in the IEO of 5 million GARI at an initial price of $0.2
    • Chingari is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in India, boasting 32 million daily active users and over 85 million downloads

    Chingari, the quickest growing short-video sharing platform in India with more than 32 million daily active users, has announced an exclusive initial exchange offering (IEO) of its native GARI token on OKEx, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume.

    GARI token sale begins on January 18 at 04:00 UTC, trading pairs to go live on the same day

    Chingari launched its social GARI token last October in collaboration with Bollywood movie star and Chingari brand ambassador Salman Khan. Just two months later, GARI set the record for the largest initial DEX offering of its kind, with a $16 million IDO on the SolRazr decentralized launchpad.

    Now, the team and the rapidly growing Chingari userbase are eagerly anticipating the launch of GARI on OKEx’s Jumpstart platform. The team behind India’s rapidly growing social media app aims to raise $1 million in the public sale of 5 million GARI at an initial token sale price of $0.2. The sale will be limited to OKEx users from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, who hold OKB in their exchange accounts. 

    Chingari CEO Sumit Ghosh commented on the GARI IEO and subsequent OKEx listing:

    “Chingari is bringing the web3 revolution to the creator economy with its $GARI token. $GARI will enable 30 million monthly active users of the Chingari Short video app to get on-chain. For the first time in the history of blockchain, an app will onboard millions of users on-chain from the day of its launch. The Chingari and $GARI teams and the entire community are super excited about its launch and listing on OKEx!” 

    Participants will be able to obtain a maximum of 7,500 GARI with their OKB holdings during the sale, which will begin on January 18 at 04:00 UTC and is slated to last six hours. Shortly after the IEO concludes, GARI trading pairs are scheduled to go live on OKEx on the same day at 13:00 UTC.

    The integration of Web 3.0 technologies, which introduces innovative monetization models for the platform’s content creators and unlocks new ways of interaction between artists and their fans, sets Chingari apart from the vast majority of traditional social media platforms. As the app’s native currency, GARI social token lies at the heart of the platform and ensures the needs of the rapidly growing community are fully met. Solana blockchain architecture allows GARI to reach a high transactional throughput while retaining low transaction costs, which provides ample opportunity for NFT trading and can easily facilitate the GARI user rewards program.

    OKEx Asia CEO Netero Dai said in a statement that the OKEx team “are delighted to partner with Chingari” and that the partnership between the two companies will help “empower the Chingari App community with revolutionary blockchain technology which will simplify content monetization for creative users of the app.”

    Last December, Chingari reached a major milestone when it became the most popular media app on Google Play India, beating out social media giants Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat for the top spot. 

    Create OKEx Account
  • METABLAZE Announces Phase One of Its Emerging Metaverse Ecosystem Roadmap with Token Presale

    METABLAZE Announces Phase One of Its Emerging Metaverse Ecosystem Roadmap with Token Presale

    Wilmington, Delaware, 17th January, 2022, Chainwire

    METABLAZE has officially announced the upcoming Presale Offering of its unique BSC-based utility token, $MBLZ, which will begin on February 14, 2022. METABLAZE is an up-and-coming project with an emerging roadmap that is set to rock the cryptocurrency world. 

    What is METABLAZE? 

    METABLAZE is a fast-growing decentralized finance (DeFi) gaming and NFT platform that combines some of the most popular aspects of blockchain and introduces users to the world of Web 3.0. The platform resides on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which ensures METABLAZE will provide a high-quality experience for its community members. 

    METABLAZE’s primary goal is to provide its holders with numerous ways to passively earn cryptocurrency and add value to their portfolio. It does this through its native $MBLZ token and a mechanism that allows holders to passively accumulate additional METABLAZE tokens with every transaction. In addition, its decentralized application (BLAZEdApp) adds another mechanism that allows the user to choose any BSC-based token as their reward. The token also incorporates an automatic deflationary process that burns tokens with every transaction, gradually reducing the token supply and helping to stabilize its price value over time. 

    The rewards-centric platform will feature an immersive play-to-earn RPG-based strategy game–BLAZIVERSE that provides additional ways to earn, spend, and passively generate additional tokens and in-game awards. The expansive project will be rolled out over the next several years, incrementally adding more utility and functionality for its users and token holders. 

    Token Presale Phases 

    The $MBLZ token has a total fixed supply of 420,000,000,000 tokens, 5% of which will be offered during the presale. Participants in the initial presale offering will receive a 20% discount on the $MBLZ token price, an additional 10% in bonus tokens, and Founders Club NFTs to anyone that contributes a minimum of $10,000 to the project. 

    Following the initial presale, METABLAZE begin a second presale offering phase. Participants will be rewarded with a 5% token bonus in this phase. 

    Tokens will be transferred via airdrop to presale participants BSC wallets, which will coincide with the end of the presale phases and adding liquidity to PancakeSwap. 

    METABLAZE NFTs 

    METABLAZE also incorporates one of the most popular Web 3.0 trends, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), which will be usable in the BLAZIVERSE game, and will be minted on OpenSea for open trading. The presale period introduces a limited-edition collection centered around 10,000 goblins, and new mystical creatures will be released each quarter. 

    To reward early contributors showing their confidence in the project, anyone that holds a highly exclusive Founders Club NFT will receive 10% of the royalties received for all secondary sales of METABLAZE NFTs sold on OpenSea, in perpetuity. 

    Future Plans 

    METABLAZE has a bright future ahead with ambitious plans. The development team is working on multiple initiatives that will provide more utility and accessibility for the community in both short-term and long-term goals. Upcoming features include listings on major centralized exchanges by year-end 2022, an NFT marketplace launching next year (2023), a deeply-immersive strategy game centered around a Metaverse of mystical creature NFTs, as well as their own blockchain: “BLAZECHAIN” offering never-before-seen utilities set to shake up the world of all things Metaverse. 

    Core Team 

    The METABLAZE project was developed around the core principles of honesty and transparency. With the prevalence of scams and failed projects, METABLAZE is dedicated to establishing a transparent and trustworthy project through constant communication and open records within its community. 

    The METABLAZE management team consists of six members with over 90 years of combined experience in the Entrepreneurial, Fintech, Banking, Information Technology, Graphic Design, Project Management, Marketing, and Software Development sectors. 

    The Future of DeFi and Web 3.0 

    With a blazing hot roadmap ahead, the presale of the $MBLZ token is just the initial phase of a growing platform. METABLAZE plans on incorporating upcoming technology and features never seen before in cryptocurrency and blockchain. With continued development, METABLAZE aims to be the go-to ecosystem for all, regardless of experience or funds. 

    About METABLAZE

    METABLAZE is building a strong foundation to support and enhance the metaverse, creating new and exciting opportunities for people across the globe. METABLAZE’s platform will make it possible to construct a world that is anything you want it to be. METABLAZE’s robust roadmap will include P2E strategy-gaming, OpenSea minted NFTs, implementation of hologram NFT with real-world use cases and more.

    For more information or to learn more about presale, visit the METABLAZE website or join the project’s Telegram  

    Contacts

    CEO

    • Michelle German
    • METABLAZE
    • MG@MetaBlazeToken.com
    • (302) 770-6603
  • Stellar Network is the #3 Coin to Watch for the Week of January 17 – January 23, 2022

    Stellar Network is the #3 Coin to Watch for the Week of January 17 – January 23, 2022

    Throughout Week 2 we have recorded slight growth of the cryptocurrency market, which caused the total market capitalisation to recover from $2.02 trillion on January 9 to $2.15 trillion on January 16. As always there were also quite a few coins that managed to outperform the sector average. These include ADA, Terra, DOGE, NEAR and MATIC, which all posted gains higher than 10%. Two of these coins are even featured in this article as we believe that their rallies could not be as short-lived as one may think at a first glance.

    3. Stellar Network (XLM)

    Stellar is a crypto platform that is designed to enable fast, secure, and low-cost multi-currency and cross-border money transfers. In other words, Stellar is a crypto alternative to traditional finance firms such as Western Union and MoneyGram. The Stellar network, which aims to serve the needs of both individuals as well as enterprises, has an average transaction confirmation time of 2-5 seconds. At the same time, the base fee for sending a transaction currently stands at only 0.0001 XLM. Since its launch in 2014 the Stellar network has processed more than 450 million transactions made by over 4 million individual accounts.

    Buy/Sell XLM

    Aquarius could boost Stellar Network’s utility

    Aquarius is a liquidity management layer for Stellar aiming to supercharge trading on Stellar by providing incentives to the market makers. The team believes that doing so they will manage to increase liquidity within the ecosystem. In addition, Aquarius will allow the Stellar community to control the rewards for SDEX traders and liquidity providers through on-chain voting process. The rewards will be trading pair specific, giving XLM holders almost full control over liquidity distribution. Aquarius is developed by Ultra Stellar and powered by AQUA token. It has been announced that 20% of the total AQUA supply will be reserved for airdrops to the Stellar community, since Aquarius governance needs to be aligned with Stellar’s interests. While 5% of the supply have already been given to the early Stellar DEX adopters, another 15% are were distributed through the AQUA airdrop to XLM holders. The snapshot of balances took place on January 15 and users needed at least 500 XLM and 1 AQUA in their Stellar wallet to be eligible for the airdrop. The AQUA tokens will be distributed by February, but eligible users will be given an option to lock up the airdropped AQUA for up to 3 years and multiply their AQUA holdings. 

    2. Dogecoin (DOGE)

    The cryptocurrency Dogecoin was introduced as a joke in December 2013 by Billy Markus. Markus built the cryptocurrency project around the Shiba Inu doge meme that went viral that year, which is why Dogecoin uses the Doge meme as its official logo. Surprisingly, the currency not only survived, but took off and managed to develop a relatively large community on social platforms such as Reddit. Today, Dogecoin is not only used for tipping other members of the community and performing similar micro-transactions but also for conducting larger deals and participating in DeFi activities. The Dogecoin community also raised funds to sponsor their own NASCAR racer for a few races and pay for a physical gold Dogecoin to be delivered to the moon via crowdfunding. 

    Buy/Sell DOGE

    Tesla’s merch store adds DOGE support, causes the price to rally to a one-month high

    We have recently reported that the famous electric vehicle maker Tesla started accepting Dogecoin payments in its online store. Even though DOGE can currently only be used to pay for certain Tesla merchandise (and not for its cars) the price of the world’s first meme coin spiked for more than 14% that day reaching a cycle high of $0.2177. Since the announcement DOGE has retraced back to $0.17 but once the hype cools down the coin might start following the positive trendline that started to form even before Tesla-related news. Let’s remember that in the past one could pay for Tesla vehicles using Bitcoin, but the company discontinued that option in mid-2021 citing environmental concerns as the reason behind their decision. The fact that they are now accepting DOGE is in fact in line with their reasoning as Dogecoin consumes nearly 6000 times less energy per transaction than Bitcoin. Nevertheless, there is no publicly available information whether or when Tesla could start accepting DOGE as payment option for its cars as well. 

    1. Near Protocol (NEAR)

    Near is a highly scalable and developer friendly Layer 1 Proof-of-Stake blockchain competing with Ethereum and alike network. The company behind Near Protocol claims that you can create simple decentralized apps (dApps) on Near in just five minutes. In addition, Near Protocol utilizes Nightshade sharding mechanism to be capable of performing up to 100,000 transactions per second. However, there are currently not many decentralized applications deployed on its ecosystem. According to DeFi Llama, the total vale locked (TVL) in 3 protocols running on Near is only $176 million.

    Buy/Sell NEAR

    Near Foundation raises $150M for its biggest DeFi push

    Near Foundation recently revealed that it closed a $150 million investment round led by Three Arrows Capital. Several other prominent crypto investment firms including Almeida, Dragonfly Capital and a16z, also reportedly participated in the investment round. The foundation representatives stated they will dedicate the raised funds towards the expansion of Near’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, as the liquidity and number of projects running on Near have are apparently not quite up to their liking. NEAR jumped over 10% on the funding round announcement, surging as high $20.42 and setting a new ATH price on January 16. Industry insiders are united in the belief that Near is doing a great job from the technological point of view and that it is a good network, capable of serving more users and protocols. This means that even though NEAR is currently trading very close to its ATH, there is still a considerable upside potential. Furthermore, the team’s ecosystem expansion efforts, including the $800 million Near ecosystem fund announced in October 2021, are only beneficial for NEAR’s long-term price performance.

  • USD Coin Overtakes Tether’s USDT as the Largest Stablecoin on Ethereum

    USD Coin Overtakes Tether’s USDT as the Largest Stablecoin on Ethereum

    Key takeaways:

    • USDC has surpassed USDT as the top stablecoin in terms of its total supply on the Ethereum blockchain
    • Tether’s USDT has been losing its market share to both new and more transparent centralized competitors as well as to algorithmic stablecoins
    • The stablecoin sector has ballooned in the past year, growing by 410% in the 12-month period since January 1, 2021

    The total supply of USDC on the Ethereum chain surpasses that of USDT for the first time

    The total supply of USD Coin on the Ethereum blockchain surpassed Tether’s total supply for the first time last week. According to data from blockchain analytics firm The Block, USDC’s supply now amounts to $40.2 billion, while USDT’s Ethereum supply comes in second with $39.8 billion.

    The battle for stablecoin supremacy has reached a boiling point over the past year, with several stablecoin issuers making a push to dethrone Tether as the most widely used digital asset in the space. So far, Circle’s USDC is making the best claim for the number one spot. Circle, a crypto consortium backed by Coinbase and Bitmain, has managed to capitalize on different controversies surrounding Tether, ranging from misleading claims of being fully backed by the US dollar and alleged price manipulation of Bitcoin.

    While USDT still reigns supreme when taking into account its supply across all blockchains, USDC is quickly catching up despite being available on only three chains compared to USDT’s nine, with the latest addition being Avalanche in mid-November. As of January 16, USDC’s total supply of $45 billion trailed Tether’s $82 billion and accounted for roughly 30% of the entire stablecoin supply. 

    The stablecoin sector has grown by more than 400% since the beginning of 2021

    The stablecoin sector as a whole ballooned over the past year. For reference, the combined supply of major stablecoins increased from $29 billion on January 1, 2021, to $151 billion twelve months later, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. 

    One of the more exciting developments in recent months has been the rise of algorithmic stablecoins, which are digital assets that don’t derive their value directly from their USD peg, like USDT or USDC, but are designed to maintain their stable price relation to USD by utilizing a complex set of smart contracts, which guarantees security, drastically reduces the possibility for supply tampering and eliminates the central control of assets.

    For instance, Tether has recently frozen three Ethereum addresses holding $150 million worth of USDT among them, which elevated the total amount of blacklisted addresses to date to 563. Following the news of a new batch of blacklistings, the founder of Terra, the issuer of the largest algorithmic stablecoin UST, tweeted that “there is no blacklisting key for $UST,” implying his disagreement with Tether’s actions and pointing out the importance of decentralization.

  • PRAISE IEO on ProBit Global Sells Out First Round Allocation

    PRAISE IEO on ProBit Global Sells Out First Round Allocation

    ProBit Global was selected as the official partner for the Praise project and its newly launched IEO featuring additional bonuses offered throughout the PRAISE tokensale campaign which started off on a strong note with a Round 1 sellout.

    Praise provides asset conversion capabilities through the FCMS (PRAISE Cryptocurrency Management Service) service while incorporating blockchain technology to provide crypto rails including De-Fi and swaps in an attempt to lower the entry barrier for digital asset enthusiasts.

    Earning potential for users is centered on the platform’s staking features which align with the team’s prerogative of establishing value for users and their holdings across the entire ecosystem.

    PRAISE tokens will also feature buyback rewards with its core utility revolving around its role as a purchasing gateway for a wide variety of global content along with direct purchasing options on their online mall. Holders can also accrue staking rewards with PRAISE as staking rewards will become exclusive to the utility token once a token is listed on the exchange.

    The team will strategize additional use cases through strategic partnerships with the gaming industry and others with a handful of partners already onboarded as part of its long-term objective of expanding on the versatility of PRAISE as a global content gateway.

    ABOUT PRAISE

    The PRAISE project is creating a New Concept Custody Platform. It provides PRAISE asset management service and SNS based social network self service. The user’s assets (Crypto) are exchanged for PRAISE tokens, a safe blockchain asset through the FCMS (PRAISE Cryptocurrency Management Service) service, and the profit proportional to the exchanged PRAISE TOKEN is converted into an asset and paid as an additional bonus.

    ABOUT PROBIT GLOBAL

    ProBit Global is a Top 20 crypto exchange worldwide servicing crypto enthusiasts with unlimited access to trade and buy Bitcoin, Ethereum and 700+ altcoins in 1000+ markets.

    PROBIT GLOBAL IS A BRAND TRUSTED BY MILLIONS OF USERS

    200,000+ community members
    1,000,000+ monthly active users
    3,000,000 monthly web visitors
    50,000,000 users on partnering aggregators and wallets such as CoinMarketCap
    User interface of Multilingual website supporting 41 different languages
    Marketing and community support in 8 key languages

    Join our active programs and get huge benefits!

    1. Trading Fee Discount: Buy PROB, pay trading fees with PROB & get as low as 0.03% trading fee

    2. Referral Program: Earn 10-30% of trading fees for referring friends to ProBit

    3. ProBit Exclusive: Subscribe to 50% off Top 200 tokens

    4. Auto Hold Campaigns: Hold tokens and get 6% annualized returns

    ProBit Global: www.probit.com

    ProBit Telegram: https://t.me/ProbitEnglish

  • Tether Blacklists Three Ethereum Addresses and Freezes $150 Million Worth of USDT

    Tether Blacklists Three Ethereum Addresses and Freezes $150 Million Worth of USDT

    Tether, the owner and operator of the largest stablecoin network in the world, has blacklisted three Ethereum addresses on Thursday, and effectively froze $150 million in USDT split among them.

    Key takeaways:

    • According to blockchain explorer Bloxy, Tether froze the funds simultaneously at around 4:30 PM UTC on January 13. While the exact reason for the decision is not yet known, Tether holds the power to freeze addresses that engage in criminal financial acts, such as money laundering.
    • The addition of three new addresses to the blacklist marks the first time that Tether has done so this year. In the four and a half years since the blacklist was first introduced, Tether has added 563 addresses to the list, with the vast majority coming last year when 362 addresses were blacklisted.
    • Given its centralized structure, Tether is able to exercise its power and control USDT funds at its own discretion. This goes against the fundamental principle of crypto and has sparked many debates in the crypto community over the years, with many members believing Tether holds too much power.
    • While USDT is still the biggest stablecoin, with a market capitalization of $78 billion, competitors are quickly catching up. USD Coin, for instance, has experienced exponential growth over the past couple of months and currently commands a $45 billion valuation.
    • Algorithmic stablecoins, most notably Terra’s UST, are also on the rise. UST is pegged to the value of the US dollar via a complex mechanism of smart contracts and is entirely decentralized. Following the news of a new batch of blacklistings, the founder of Terra Do Kwon tweeted that “there is no blacklisting key for $UST,” subtly implying his disagreement with Tether’s actions.
  • Crypto Exchange FTX Launches $2 Billion Venture Capital Unit To ‘Advance Web3 Adoption’

    Crypto Exchange FTX Launches $2 Billion Venture Capital Unit To ‘Advance Web3 Adoption’

    FTX, a leading digital asset trading platform, has launched a new $2 billion investment fund with the intention of growing global blockchain adoption and supporting companies from a wide range of fields, including “gaming, fintech, software, and healthcare.”

    Key takeaways:

    • The new venture fund, called FTX Ventures, is not FTX’s first venture operation – the exchange’s sister company Alameda has long been making sizeable investments in the space and is one of the more prominent crypto-focused investors.
    • According to the company’s press release, the new $2 billion investment unit will be helmed by Amy Wu, who brings extensive experience from her role as a partner at a $10 billion VC firm Lightspeed.
    • Speaking to The Block, Wu commented that the new fund will be investing in companies operating in the crypto industry and that the goal is “to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology.” 
    • The capital for FTX Ventures reportedly came entirely from the exchange itself and from its billionaire founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The fund will be writing checks of all sizes, starting from as low as $100,000.
    • Last October, FTX raised more than $420 million in Series B-1, which increased the company’s value to $25 billion.
    • FTX joins its main competitors Coinbase and Binance that launched their respective venture units, Coinbase Ventures and Binance Labs, several years ago.
    • FTX’s native exchange token FTT gained 5.78% on the news and set a new cycle high of $44.04.
    Create FTX Account