Schlagwort: crypto business

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MilkyWay secures $5M in seed funding led by Binance Lab

  • MilkyWay secures $5M funding led by Binance Labs and Polychain Capital.
  • MilkyWay boasts 156,000+ milkTIA holders and integrates with 10+ DeFi protocols.
  • Binance co-founder emphasizes support for MilkyWay’s growth in the Celestia ecosystem.

MilkyWay, a liquid staking protocol operating within Celestia’s ecosystem, has achieved a significant milestone after successfully raising $5 million in its just concluded seed funding round.

The seed funding round was backed by notable investors like Binance Labs and Polychain Capital marking a pivotal moment in MilkyWay’s journey towards enhancing liquidity and utility for Celestia (TIA) token holders.

MilkyWay’s rise to prominence

MilkyWay, spearheaded by a team of seasoned engineers from various renowned projects, has swiftly emerged as a frontrunner in the liquid staking arena.

MilkyWay’s primary objective is to augment liquidity, composability, and utility for TIA token holders, ultimately driving capital efficiency. Through seamless integration with over ten DeFi protocols, the platform offers users a comprehensive suite of financial services, including trading, leveraging, lending, and borrowing.

Boasting over 156,000 milkTIA holders and facilitating the staking of over 2.6 million TIA tokens, the platform has garnered trust and recognition within the blockchain community.

Investor confidence and strategic backing

The $5 million seed round, led by Polychain Capital and with participation from Binance Labs and other prominent investors, underscores the robust confidence in MilkyWay’s vision.

Yi He, the Co-Founder of Binance and Head of Binance Labs, expressed strong support for MilkyWay’s growth trajectory, emphasizing the importance of fostering innovation within the Celestia ecosystem.

With its innovative approach and the strategic partnerships, MilkyWay is poised to lead the liquid staking revolution within the modular blockchain ecosystem. The platform’s commitment to enhancing liquidity and utility for TIA token holders reflects a broader trend towards unlocking the full potential of staked assets in decentralized finance.

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MSTR, COIN, RIOT and other crypto stocks down as Bitcoin dips

  • MicroStrategy stock was down 10% on Tuesday, while Coinbase and other crypto stocks also dumped.
  • Bitcoin price traded to lows of $60,600 before seeing a slight recovery.

MicroStrategy, Coinbase, Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital stocks are among crypto-related stocks seeing downside pressure amid Bitcoin’s price struggles.

MicroStrategy stock dumps 10%

Coinbase’s COIN was down 3% in early trading on Tuesday, hovering around $211.74 while MicroStrategy’s MSTR stock had dumped over 10% to $1,152. The share price of the Michael Saylor led company has declined more than 29% in the past 30 days.

Today’s double-digit dump for the MicroStrategy stock price comes a day after the company reported a net loss in Q1.

Despite the impairment loss, the BTC buying software intelligence firm reported adding more coins to its holdings. That includes the 122 BTC the company acquired for $7.8 million in April to bring its total haul to 214,400 BTC.

As BTC struggles, mining stocks see red

Bitcoin price has struggled since its recent halving and traded near $60k on Tuesday.

The declines came as spot ETF volumes fell, with Hong Kong’s debut of its spot BTC and spot ETH exchange-traded funds seeing volumes and assets that were much lower than anticipated in the days leading to their launch.

Read more here: BTC slips amid tough debut for Hong Kong spot ETFs

Crypto stocks that surged in the pre-halving rally are also seeing a retreat. BTC mining stocks Marathon Digital (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Bitfarms (BITF) are all down between 4% and 6% in Tuesday trading.

Hut 8 Corp (HUT) and HIVE Digital (HIVE) are also down today, with their stock prices shedding 4% each. Elsewhere, Bitcoin mining machine maker Ebang International (EBON) was just in the green at +1%, while its competitor Canaan Inc (CAN) traded at -6%.

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Samourai Wallet co-founder released on $1M bond after pleading not guilty

  • Samourai Wallet founders have been charged with money laundering and operating an unlicensed business.
  • Keonne Rodriguez, one of the co-founders, was released on a $1M bond after pleading not guilty in NYC court.
  • The legal proceedings raise concerns about the future of non-custodial crypto services in the U.S.

During an appearance at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez entered a plea of not guilty to the charges brought against him and his associate William Hill and an assistant U.S. Attorneys agreed to the $1 million bond, with travel restrictions.

The lawsuit against Rodriguez and his associate William Hill alleges that Samourai Wallet facilitated over $100 million in money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets. The two were arrested on April 24 in different jurisdictions.

Keonne Rodriguez’s bail terms

Despite being released on a $1 million bond, Rodriguez was restricted to only travel to certain areas of New York and Pennsylvania. He will be confined to his residence in Harmony, Pennsylvania, and required to wear a location monitoring device.

Additionally, Rodriguez is prohibited from engaging in any cryptocurrency transactions without prior approval from the court.

Rodriguez’s case is scheduled to proceed in the Southern District Court of New York, with Rodriguez set to appear again on May 14 with the involvement of Judge Richard M. Berman, known for presiding over high-profile cases, adding to the weight of the proceedings.

The outcome of the legal proceedings against could have far-reaching implications for the cryptocurrency industry.

William Hill, the co-accused and chief technology officer of Samourai Wallet, despite being arrested on the same day as Rodriguez has not yet been presented in a any U.S. courtroom. This could be because of Hill having been arrested in Portugal meaning authorities are possibly working through extradition proceedings.

Implications of the Samourai Wallet legal proceedings

The arrests and subsequent legal proceedings against Rodriguez and Hill have sparked debates regarding the definition of non-custodial wallets as money service businesses.

The allegations of Samourai Wallet facilitating money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets raise questions about the broader implications for self-custodial tools in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

As reported earlier, Self-custodial crypto wallets like Wasabi Wallet and Phoenix have gone ahead to restrict U.S. users fearing legal proceedings following the arrest and prosecution of the Samourai Wallet founders and a possible Metamask investigation.

The case challenges the interpretation of guidelines issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) regarding money transmission services with the Department of Justice (DOJ) arguing that the operation of Samourai Wallet’s services, including the broadcasting of transactions and collection of fees, falls within the scope of a money service business.

The indictment also raises concerns about potential efforts to KYC (Know Your Customer) the Bitcoin network, with implications for miners, node operators, and other entities involved in cryptocurrency transactions.

The FBI has already issued a public service announcement urging caution regarding cryptocurrency money service businesses that do not require KYC information.

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Bitget Wallet COO Alvin Kan Is Confident Bitcoin Runes Are Here to Stay

In the wake of the Bitcoin halving on April 19, the price of BTC has failed to maintain its upward trajectory, but the network has continued to generate headlines and transactions in equal measure. Much of this activity has been thanks to Bitcoin Runes, the protocol created by Ordinals imagineer Casey Rodarmor which went live post-halving.

Runes have been responsible for $135M in miner fees in the wake of the halving, proving their ability to subsidize reduced block rewards moving forwards. While it remains to be seen whether the robust interest in Runes can be maintained, the signs are promising so far. One figure who’s predicting a bright future for Bitcoin Runes is Alvin Kan. The Bitget Wallet COO has been following the sector closely due to its integration into the wallet’s dapp browser.

Making Sense of Runes

Runes were designed to support fungible tokens on Bitcoin without clogging up the network. They’re a more efficient and natively integrated solution than BRC20, which has been the dominant fungible token standard up until now. Runes have the potential to do for tokens on Bitcoin what Ordinals did for NFTs.

Unlike other Bitcoin token standards, Rune uses the same UTXO model as BTC itself. This results in more efficient transaction ordering and UTXO management. As a result, bitcoiners can enjoy experimenting with memecoins and other tokens without congesting the network in the process.

Bitget Wallet has long been a supporter of Bitcoin innovation, having been quick to endorse Ordinals and BRC20s. It’s one of the first wallets to have integrated Runes, allowing users of the non-custodial wallet to buy and sell Runes assets using the built-in dapp browser.

According to COO Alvin Kan, there are several reasons why Runes have proven so popular straight out the gate, racking up 300 BTC in trading volume within the protocol’s first 24 hours. He points to Runes’ status as the leading Bitcoin tokenization protocol, prompting a string of platforms and wallets to quickly roll out support. The fact that many Runes projects have airdropped tokens to existing Ordinals holders has also helped onboard bitcoiners in their droves.

Putting a Price on Bitcoin Fees

While the uptick in network activity has been good for miners, who’ve pocketed tens of millions of dollars in additional fees, users have been obliged to pay over the odds to have transactions processed. Alvin notes that fees spiked to as high as 2,000 sats/byte as Runes interest reached fever pitch. The activity was particularly intense due to developers competing to mint inscriptions in the first block published following the halving. Nevertheless, the Bitget Wallet COO believes that these teething problems can be overcome as fees subside and developers take full advantage of Runes’ ability to deliver efficient UTXO usage.

“​​I’m confident of the future of the Runes Protocol,” said Alvin. “This is just the beginning of a global phenomenon that will surely be a prominent sector in web3 for innovation.”

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Crypto fear and greed index slips as the BitBot raises $3M

A sense of fear is creeping up in the cryptocurrency market as investors focused on the upcoming Federal Reserve decision. The closely-watched crypto fear and greed index has crashed from the extreme greed zone of over 80 to the neutral phase of 58. 

This price action happened as the price of Bitcoin remained in a tight range between $70,000 and $60,000 and other altcoins like Solana, Avalanche (AVAX), and Cronos (CRO) have all plunged hard recently. Still, there are some positive signs, with BitBot raising over $3 million in its token sale.

Federal Reserve decision ahead

Bitcoin and other altcoins have retreated sharply ahead of this week’s interest rate decision. Economists expect that the bank will continue with its hawkish tone in this meeting since inflation has remained stubbornly high.

Data released this month revealed that the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 3.5% in March while core CPI jumped to 3.8%. A separate report released last week showed that the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) rose to 2.5% while core PCE jumped to 2.8%.

These numbers mean that inflation has remained stubbornly high and is above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2.0%. There are signs that inflation will remain higher for longer now that the price of crude oil and industrial metals continued rising.

Further, the prices of key services like rent and insurance have continued to rise in the past few months. Therefore, there is a likelihood that the Federal Reserve will point to higher rates for longer. 

In most cases, risky assets like Bitcoin, Solana, and Avalanche tend to retreat when the Fed has embraced a hawkish tone. For one, such tone, when other central banks are thinking of cutting interest rates, will push to a higher US dollar. 

BitBot token sale continues

Meanwhile, BitBot has continued its token sale, raising over $3 million, signaling that there is strong demand for newer coins. 

BitBot is a platform that seeks to disrupt the trading and investing industry. It is building a trading bot that will help traders profitably execute trades. BitBot’s technology is based on technical analysis and artificial intelligence (AI).

The bot will be distributed in Telegram, an app that is used by more than 900 million users a month. This is a big industry that is growing at a fast pace as it has helped to facilitate over $19 billion in trades. These trades have led to over $100 million in revenues for their developers.

BitBot aims to solve some of the top challenges in the trading bot market. In the first place, the developers aim to make it more profitable than other bots in the market by using artificial intelligence and other technologies. 

It also aims to be faster than other bots by leveraging its custom RPC node and institutional infrastructure. The network also ensures strong security features by being non-custodial. You can buy the BitBot token here.

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