Tether and Bitfinex: one fine and we forget everything?

Tether and Bitfinex have reached an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s office.
The Attorney General accused Bitfinex of using $850 million, Tether’s underlying assets, to cover a dead loss from a custodian that had frozen its accounts.
The companies did not admit any wrongdoing and agreed to pay a modest fine of 18.5 million dollars to close the deal.

Go further >

Pre-orders for mining equipment for more than $500 million have been made by institutional actors.
This could add about 15% more computing power to the network compared to current levels.
These massive investments show the confidence these institutions have in Bitcoin over the long term.

Go further >

Nvidia launches a new range of processors for Ethereum mining. The CMP (cryptocurrency mining processor) processors will be optimized to perform the necessary operations.
Conversely, Nvidia is artificially reducing the mining capacities of its conventional processors so that traditional buyers are not prejudiced.

Go further >

The blockchain.com company raises $120 million, following previous financings of $70 million.
The company’s management emphasizes the explosion of the institutional market, and will invest this 120 million dollars to develop its offers to this public and to the world of traditional finance.

Go further >

China is moving forward on its digital yuan project.
In Beijing, e-CNY (Electronic Chinese-Yuan) compatible distributors have been made available. They allow holders of digital currency to retrieve cash.
A physical wallet project is also underway. This would have the appearance of a bank card.

Go further >

The auction house Christie’s, in partnership with the MakersPlace marketplace, will pay for a work in ethers.
This is the first time a house of this magnitude will sell art in the form of NFTs.
The artwork “Everydays: The First 5000 Days”, composed of 5000 digital creations by the artist Beeple, will be on sale.
The sale will take place on February 25 and will start at $100.

Go further >

RAI, a new stablecoin, has just been launched on the Ethereum network.
This new asset does not rely on a cash underlying, but directly on the Ether, and uses an algorithm to hold a stable value. A system rewards players who buy or sell the token to bring it closer to the value of the token targeted by the protocol.
To date, no algorithmic stablecoin has been successful in the market.

Go further >

Secret Network, the most famous anonymous Ethereum-based sidechain, has just released its own decentralized exchange. Secretswap allows for low-cost exchanges while keeping its transactions private.
The DEX allows to exchange the tokens coming from Ethereum accepted within the exchange protocol between the two networks.

Go further >

Riskbank, the Swedish central bank, is continuing its test program for a digital Krona. The program will end in February 2022, and new participants will be added shortly.

Go further >

PoolTogether, a lottery protocol, has launched its own governance token: POOL.
Distributed in the form of an airdrop, 14% of the issued POOL tokens were distributed to all those who have already used the protocol.
As a result of this airdrop, the funds deposited within the protocol skyrocketed.

Go further >

Figures of the week

A new record for Bitcoin

For the first time, Bitcoin’s valuation exceeded one trillion dollars.

Success for the first Bitcoin ETF

The first Bitcoin ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange saw a trading volume of $80 million in the first hour.

Large amounts stored in DeFi protocols

More than $20 billion is currently stored in the credit protocols of decentralized finance.

Record income for Ethereum miners

Ethereum miners earned a record $1 billion in revenue in February.

The French, interested in cryptoactives?

14% of French people say they are ready to invest in cryptoassets.

New record for an Ethereum block

A block on the Ethereum blockchain generated a record 112 ETH in commissions.

A cryptopunk sold very expensively

A cryptopunk (digital collectible) was sold for 650 ETH, or $1.2 million.