Monat: März 2023

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MetaMask Institutional launches a staking marketplace

Key takeaways

  • ConsenSy’s MetaMask Institutional has launched a staking marketplace.

  • The marketplace was launched to enable companies and investment firms to choose from a wide range of staking services.

  • MetaMask Institutional partnered with Allnodes, Blockdaemon and Kiln to launch this service.

Institutional investors now have a staking marketplace

ConsenSys, a software developer for the Ethereum blockchain, announced earlier today that its Metamask Institutional wallet had launched a new marketplace for staking services.

Thanks to this latest cryptocurrency news, the company said the marketplace would provide companies and institutional investors with the opportunity to choose from a wide range of staking services. 

Companies and institutional investors would have access to a wide range of staking services provided by ConsenSys Staking Allnodes, Blockdaemon and Kiln. 

A unique feature of this marketplace is the standardisation of terms and conditions, the company added. Johann Bornman, product lead for MetaMask Institutional, added that companies could easily view and compare the rates on the marketplace. He said;

“We’ve been very thoughtful in terms of the user experience.”

Ethereum network prepares for the Shanghai hard fork

The launch of the marketplace comes a few weeks before the Ethereum network’s much-anticipated Shanghai hard fork. 

Once the Shanghai upgrade is completed, stakers will finally be able to unstake their ETH, some of which have been locked up since 2021. The upgrade is expected to take place in the middle of next month and will be the first time Ethereum users can withdraw their ETH from the proof-of-stake network.

With the Shanghai upgrade just a few weeks ahead, experts anticipate more Ethereum staking services to be launched over the coming weeks and months. 

Ethereum remains the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and remains a mainstay in the market since it was launched in 2015 as a split-off from the Bitcoin blockchain.

The network transitioned into a proof-of-stake mechanism last year, abandoning its original proof-of-work system that many consider to be more energy intensive. 

The post MetaMask Institutional launches a staking marketplace appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Nimiq adds gas-abstracted USDC transactions on Polygon

  • Nimiq is the first non-custodial wallet to implement gas-abstracted USDC for Polygon
  • Gas abstraction is an innovative feature that allows blockchain users to pay required network fees using whatever token they hold in their wallet.
  • Seamless transactions via USDC will help further adoption of digital assets as an everyday payment method.

Blockchain payments provider Nimiq has expanded access to its gas-abstracted USD Coin (USDC) transactions to the Polygon network.

The feature is available via Nimiq’s non-custodial wallet, the platform announced on Wednesday.

Making crypto payments easy and seamless

Polygon allows for gas-abstracted transactions, where users can pay network fees in MATIC even if they are sending another coin. For instance, if a user only has USDC in their wallet, they can still send payments over the Polygon network and pay network fees in MATIC – despite not having any MATIC in their wallet.

Nimiq wallet has a built-in smart contract functionality, or relayer, that automatically converts the users’ token (USDC in this case) to MATIC. This is then used to seamlessly pay the required network fees.

According to the Nimiq team, adding support for gas-abstracted transactions for USDC is a huge step towards onboarding more merchants into the crypto payments ecosystem. This is because merchants who wish to accept crypto will have the benefit of Polygon’s network speed and low fees.

Hamzah Khan, head of DeFi at Polygon Labs, noted that gas-abstracted USDC transactions from within Nimiq does more than just streamlining user experience. According to him, the feature helps put crypto on the path to greater adoption for everyday payments.

Nimiq’s solution also aligns with Polygon Labs’ vision of onboarding more people to Web3 via accessible and user-friendly features, he added.

Apart from USDC, Nimiq Wallet also supports Bitcoin (BTC) and Nimiq’s native token NIM.

The post Nimiq adds gas-abstracted USDC transactions on Polygon appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Fluidity launches cashback program on crypto payment app Request Finance

  • Fluidity Money seeks to incentivize blockchain use by rewarding users when they use their crypto.
  • The platform is offering a cashback system employing a new yield-generating mechanism.
  • Cashback payouts are currently in stablecoins like USDT and USDC.

DeFi protocol Fluidity Money has announced a cashback program that will see businesses reward their customers when they pay for goods and services using crypto.

The goal is to incentivize more people into using their crypto for payments by rewarding them whenever they do so. According to Fluidity, the “spend-to-earn” program is a collaboration with enterprise crypto payments app Request Finance.

Cashback payouts in stablecoins

Fluidity says the new cashback program will also allow merchants to earn rewards when they integrate crypto payments.

“Request Finance helps thousands of enterprise teams and DAOs use stablecoins easily. We wanted to work with them to introduce this cashback program as a fun way of rewarding people for using stablecoins for payments”, Shahmeer Chaudhry, the CEO at Fluidity Money, said.

The program will work by offering a reward in stablecoin, like Tether, every time a sender or recipient uses the app. Users will benefit from a loyalty program that doesn’t eat into the cashback via huge interchange fees, as is the case with credit card-type programs.

Distribution of the cashback rewards will be random, with payments sent to users’ wallet, the platform said.

While support is currently for stablecoin payouts, Fluidity Money plans to expand the program to other loyalty offerings, and could add non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other rewards at a later date. In this case, Request Finance will offer the rewards depending on the type of NFT. 

Payouts from NFT-related deals will include tickets to token-gated offerings, air miles, and digital collectibles.

How does Fluidity Money work?

Fluidity Money works with wrapped stablecoins,  or what’s called “Fluid Assets.” To obtain these fluid assets, stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) are deposited into the Fluidity Webapp. The stablecoins are then wrapped to generate the cashback rewards.

Minting any Fluidity stablecoins requires that one deposits an equivalent amount of USDC or USDT into a smart contract, with these lent out to DeFi protocols for yield generation.

Fluidity smart contracts are audited by Bramah Systems and 80% of the yield from protocols like Compound goes into the cashback program.

The post Fluidity launches cashback program on crypto payment app Request Finance appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Bitcoin is rallying due to interest rate forecasts, says Coinjournal’s Dan Ashmore

Key takeaways

  • Bitcoin is trading above the $28k level for the first time since June 2022.

  • Coinjournal’s Dan Ashmore believes that the interest rate forecasts are responsible for the ongoing rally by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

  • Many in the market still consider the recent banking crisis as the reason why investors are entering the crypto market.

Interest rate forecasts behind Bitcoin’s rally

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has been performing excellently over the past few weeks. At press time, the price of Bitcoin stands at $28,411, up by 13% over the last seven days.

Many in the crypto space attribute the ongoing crypto rally to the collapse of a few banks, including Signature Bank, Silvergate Bank, and Silicon Valley Bank. 

However, during an interview with CNBC, Coinjournal’s Dan Ashmore pointed out that Bitcoin’s rally has to do with the interest rate forecasts rather than the recent banking crisis.

Regarding the ongoing rally, Ashmore said;

“It is a reaction to the complete flip in interest rate forecasts in the wider economy. If you go back to before the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, there was an 83% probability that the interest rate would be increased by 100 basis points by the summer. Today, when we look at that, it is completely the opposite, and there is almost 100% of rate cuts.”

He added that the crypto market is reacting to the probability that the Fed’s recent interest rate hikes are coming to an end.

Interest rate cut is music to crypto investors

With Bitcoin trading at $28k per coin, investors would be optimistic that prices could soar higher over the coming days and weeks.

According to Ashmore, cryptocurrencies trade as risk-on assets, and an interest rate cut is music to the ears of crypto investors. 

Ashmore also discussed the correlation between cryptocurrencies and tech stocks. According to the Coinjournal analyst, while many expect crypto to be an independent hedge, the assets still very much correlate with the stock market, especially tech stocks. He concluded that

“The NASDAQ index rises, Bitcoin’s price also rises. The NASDAQ falls, and Bitcoin also falls a little more. The last couple of weeks have been interesting as Bitcoin has outperformed the NASDAQ. But it is a reflection of the fact that Bitcoin is trading in correlation with the interest rate forecasts.”

The post Bitcoin is rallying due to interest rate forecasts, says Coinjournal’s Dan Ashmore appeared first on CoinJournal.