Fireblocks, Astar Network partner to bring crypto and DeFi to over 650 banks

  • Fireblocks’ integration with Astar Network could bring crypto and DeFi to over 650 banks.
  • Institutional investors across banks, exchanges, OTCs and hedge funds will leverage Fireblocks’ technology to easily and securely access crypto on Astar.
  • An event to celebrate the integration attracted over 200 guests, including executives at VCs and Web3 founders.

Fireblocks, an enterprise-grade platform for institutional adoption of digital assets, has integrated with Astar Network, an EVM and WebAssembly (Wasm) compatible smart contracts platform.

The collaboration could see more than 650 banks and institutional investors use Fireblocks’ technology to access and manage their digital assets, boosting institutional adoption of DeFi on Astar, the two platforms said in a press release.

Banks, OTCs, exchanges and hedge funds also have an opportunity to leverage Fireblock’s MPC-based wallet infrastructure to access Astar’s assets, including on leading Astar-based DeFi protocol ArthSwap.

“We are excited to add Astar to the Fireblocks Network and support the growth of Japan’s leading smart contract platform,” said Stephen Richardson, Managing Director, Financial Markets and Head of APAC at Fireblocks.

Multichain access to dApps

With Astar offering a multichain, interoperable environment, the integration with Fireblocks allows users to tap into decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum and Polkadot ecosystems. Banks and institutional investors looking to diversify with digital assets will also access functionality such as trading, swaps and lending of digital assets on the Astar platform.

“Fireblocks is a leading platform catering to institutional investors. We’re looking forward to leveraging this integration to enhance adoption while giving institutions looking to build on Astar a secure and robust way to safeguard their digital assets,” Maarten Henskens, CEO of Astar Foundation, said in a statement.

Astar, Fireblocks and bitbank celebrated the integration during the WebX event in Tokyo, with more than 200 guests attending.  

The event attracted executives of global enterprises, VCs and Web3 founders, with discussions around blockchain-powered decentralized protocols.

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The unending Dogecoin story and why Shiba Memu is a solid meme competitor

  • Shiba Memu is a self-marketing crypto project powered by AI

  • The entry in Shiba Memu happens Dogecoin is speculated for use in Twitter payments

  • The potential for Shiba Memu is huge due to the twin capabilities brought by AI and blockchain

Will Dogecoin (DOGE) finally be used as a form of payment on Twitter? Well, the speculations are back again, but before we get to it, Shiba Memu (SHMU) could be the ultimate meme you would like to explore. Combining AI and blockchain, Shiba Memu could be a time-ticking meme token waiting to explode and swallow its predecessors. The token is on presale and selling fast.

Speculations of Dogecoin use in Twitter payments are back!

This is an old story that redeems itself every day. Twitter owner Elon Musk has vehemently toyed with the idea of Dogecoin as the payment medium on Twitter. While sceptics might want to give up on Musk’s theatrics, the billionaire investor isn’t giving up any time soon.

Recently, Musk updated his Twitter bio with the Dogecoin (Ɖ) symbol, raising speculations over the longstanding question. The move was consequential as DOGE rose by double-digits. The meme token has now eclipsed Cardano by market cap. 

The gains in DOGE are not new. Meme cryptocurrencies have risen by more than four-digit percentages at the slightest of positive speculation. They have, in turn, generated enormous and quick bucks for investors able to capitalise on positive developments. Shiba Memu is positioned to ride the AI frenzy and become among the most sought meme cryptocurrencies.

What is Shiba Memu?

Shiba Memu is an AI-led meme crypto project that markets itself. The project will use AI-based software to write its own PR and self-promote on social networks. Shiba Memu can also learn from successful marketing strategies to improve its creative advertising.

Being AI-powered also means that Shiba Memu can work 24/7. It can crawl the web all day and night and find the best ideas in creative advertising. The Shiba Memu team believes this capability will enable it to perform the work of 100 marketing agencies combined. 

As such, Shiba Memu is made to be self-sustainable. It can deliver a unique investment opportunity beyond a meme label. In the future, the aim is to make Shiba Memu more intelligent and powerful.

What is the market potential of Shiba Memu?

Shiba Memu carries a lot of potential owing to the popularity of the meme token market. The total value of the meme market was $20 billion in early 2022, up from $0 in early 2020. 

But Shiba Memu isn’t your usual meme cryptocurrency. The token enters the scene when AI is the hottest thing in fintech. Times have shown what AI can do, and Shiba Memu capitalises on this trend. 

With the meme sector still recovering from a prolonged crypto winter, Shiba Memu could be a game-changer. It allows investors to bet on a token with huge price potential and benefit from the first-mover advantages.

 Is Shiba Memu a 10x investment?

Meme cryptocurrencies are an exciting asset class. The price movements can be wild, which positions Shiba Memu for potential sky-high prices. A price increase of 1,000% is just an underestimation, as we have seen meme tokens rise by bigger percentages. 

With the enthusiasm that Shiba Memu is generating, investors should consider it a more than 10x investment. A price jump could be unstoppable once a FOMO around the cryptocurrency kicks in. 

Shiba Memu’s unique presale

The Shiba Memu presale is unique and is happening fast. It will be an eight-week presale and will end with as much amount that is raised. 

The second thing is that the price of SHMU increases daily at 6 PM GMT. That means you spend less buying now than 24 hours later. By the time the presale ends, the token’s value will have doubled to $0.0244 from the initial price of $0.011125.

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Analysts predict end of the hiking cycle as Chancer token sale continues

  • The Federal Reserve delivered another interest rate hike on Wednesday.

  • Chancer token sale continued this week as it raised over $1 million.

Cryptocurrency prices reacted mildly to the latest interest rate decision by the Fed. Bitcoin remained stuck slightly below the important level at $30,000 even as the Dow Jones continued its remarkable comeback. The index has risen in the past 13 days for the first time since 1980s. Meanwhile, Chancer raised over $1 million from investors.

Final Fed rate hike

The Federal Reserve decided to hike interest rates by 0.25% in its July meeting in a bid to fight the stubbornly high inflation. This rate hike brought interest rates to between 5.25% and 5.50%, the highest level in more than two decades.

Financial assets like cryptocurrencies and stocks don’t love high-interest rates, which explains why most of them plunged in 2022. However, there is an increasing hope that the Fed is nearing the end of the hiking cycle.

That’s because of the recent economic data from the United States. Data published earlier this month showed that the American labor market softened in June this year even as the unemployment rate sits at a multi-decade low.

At the same time, consumer inflation numbers revealed that prices dropped to the lowest level since March 2020 in June. The headline consumer price index (CPI) stands at 3.0%, lower than 2021’s high of 9.1%. Therefore, the bank will likely maintain interest rates at this range in a bid to prevent a hard landing. In a note, a Morgan Stanley analyst said:

“Nothing in the policy statement or the press conference led me to doubt our view that this will be the last hike of the cycle. The consumer is slowing, jobs are slowing, inflation is slowing and all those big pieces of the economy have been coming in line with our expectations.”

Another analyst at Pantheon Macroeconomics said:

“Numbers like that will make it harder for the Fed to justify hiking again, provided the gentle but persistent downward trend in payroll growth continues.”

Positive for Chancer

These statements are positive for cryptocurrencies, including Chancer. For starters, Chancer is an upcoming blockchain project that aims to change how the betting market works. It will achieve this using smart contracts, which are available in the blockchain technology. 

In addition to traditional sports markets, the platform will make it possible for people to create their own markets. It will have internal features to ensure that these markets work well. For example, it will have live streaming features to ensure accuracy and active participation of the community.

Therefore, the hope that the Fed has delivered its final rate hike decision is a positive one for the market. For one, after the rate hike cycle ends, the next phase will be downwards, especially if the American economy continues slowing down. Buy the Chancer token here.

Is Chancer a good investment?

I believe that Chancer has some positives, which make it a viable investment. For one, from a macro perspective, the end of the hiking cycle is a positive thing for most assets.

At the same time, Chancer is disrupting an industry with millions of users and billions in annual revenues. Therefore, a small market share gain will mean that the company will do well.

Most importantly, Chancer is relying on the blockchain industry, which is borderless in nature. This means that the company will be able to onboard customers from around the world. 

However, as with other token sales, there are always risks involved when investing in them. Therefore, you should be careful when buying the token. One way of doing this is by buying a small amount of tokens in order to mitigate risks. You can read the Chancer white paper here.

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MKR price outlook after Paradigm’s $3.5M deposit to Coinbase

  • Paradigm’s MKR transfer comes a few days after Andressen Horowitz (a16z) moved over $9.7 million worth of the tokens to the exchange.
  • MKR price has traded lower with the recent large transfers of the token.
  • However, MKR was higher late afternoon after the Fed’s rate hike saw Bitcoin climb above $29,600.

It’s been a few days of huge transfers for MakerDAO token Maker (MKR) onto exchanges – specifically onto US-based crypto exchange Coinbase.

According to blockchain intelligence and analytics platform Arkham, Paradigm Capital moved $3.5 million worth of MKR. Per the data, the venture platform transferred 3,000 MKR tokens to Coinbase on Wednesday. The transfers were from a crypto wallet controlled by Paradigm to an OTC wallet.

Lookonchain also highlighted the transfer, noting the Paradigm wallet moved 26,625 MKR worth $19.8 million to Coinbase on March 16.

MKR price up as BTC hits $29.6k

As reported last week, venture capital firm a16z made a series of MKR transfers as the market primed for a sell-off for the MakerDAO governance token. a16z moved about $9.7 million of the tokens to Coinbase, with blockchain data showing the price of MKR swung lower with each of the transactions.

MKR was changing hands around $1,184 on Wednesday afternoon, nearly 4% up in the past 24 hours and 19% up in the past seven days. The gains came as Bitcoin moved above $29,600 after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 25 bps again having paused in June.

Stocks drifted after the Fed left all options on the table amid the quest to bring inflation down to the 2% target.

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Bitcoin could hit $180,000 by April of 2024: Fundstrat

  • Experts at Fundstrat are super bullish on Bitcoin.
  • They see halving and a Bitcoin ETF as material catalysts.
  • Bitcoin is already up roughly 80% versus the start of 2023.

Bitcoin has had a massive rally since the start of this year but experts at Fundstrat are convinced it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to what may come over the next nine months.

The bull case for Bitcoin

The investment research firm expects BTC to hit $180,000 before its scheduled halving in April of 2024. That suggests about a 500% upside from here.

Fundstrat also sees a Bitcoin ETF as a meaningful catalyst that could boost per-day demand for the world’s largest cryptocurrency by a whopping $100 million.

This would bring daily demand to $125 million, while daily supply is only $25 million. Implied equilibrium price would need to rise so daily supply matches daily demand.

Note that the halving next year will cut the reward for mining BTC to $12 million.

Is a Bitcoin ETF expected soon?

Prominent asset managers, including the likes of Fidelity and BlackRock have filed for a Spot Bitcoin ETF in recent weeks.

According to Sean Farrell – the Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Fundstrat – there’s a 75% probability that the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission will approve the said exchange-traded fund.

We anticipate [a Bitcoin ETF] would attract new investors and generate increased demand. Bitcoin ETF eventually could become >$300 billion category.

BTC may also benefit once the Federal Reserve switches to a more lenient monetary policy. The central bank is set to announce its decision on interest rates later today – July 26th, 2023.

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