The launch of the Bitcoin ETF could boost daily demand for bitcoins by $100 million, analysts predicted

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) can grow by 521% from current values to $180 thousand before the planned April 2024 halving. This is reported by Business Insider with reference to the data of the research company Fundstrat.

Now the daily demand for BTC in the amount of about $25 million is equivalent to the daily reward for mining in the amount of about $25 million. But the situation may change in the case of the launch of the Bitcoin-ETF, the analysts of the company believe.

In their opinion, Bitcoin funds can increase the daily demand for BTC by $100 million. Such growth taking into account the halving in April 2024. And which will reduce the daily reward for mining to $12 million. It means that the price of BTC must grow significantly for an equilibrium between buyers and sellers to be reached.

In July, NYDIG analysts said that spot Bitcoin-ETFs will provide demand for cryptocurrency for $30 billion. Experts came to this conclusion after the largest management companies submitted applications for the launch of such funds.

Our experts note that at the same time, Bloomberg senior analyst Eric Balchunas believes. That the approval of applications for the launch of spot exchange-traded BTC funds (ETFs) in the United States will open the bitcoin market access to capital of $ 30 trillion.

In July, two venture capital funds raised more than $350 million to invest in cryptocurrency and blockchain startups.

The volume of investments in crypto startups has fallen for five consecutive quarters. But some venture capitalists are still making multi-million dollar bets on blockchain projects.

Fortune’s source said Polychain Capital, one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the cryptocurrency space. And has raised about $200 million in its fourth fund. This fundraising can be considered a positive signal for the industry. The event indicates continued investor interest, despite a period when the volume of funding has decreased for both startups and venture capital firms.

The event indicates the continuing interest of investors. And despite the period when the volume of funding has decreased for both startups. As well as for venture capital firms.

Founded in 2016 by Olaf Carlson-Wee – one of the first employees of the Coinbase exchange – Polychain Capital has quickly joined the list of leaders in the cryptocurrency venture capital market. The firm has invested in Coinbase, Uniswap, CoilnList, dYdX, Matrixport, Scroll and dozens of others.

According to Pitchbook, Polychain has raised three funds with $2.6 billion in assets under management, and while this amount is volatile due to the fact that some of the Polychain funds are held directly in a few liquid crypto stocks. Several services, such as CoinMarketCap or Messari, separately highlight Polychain’s portfolio. According to them, the company invests in bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Polkadot (DOT), Avalanche (AVAX), Cosmos (ATOM), Filecoin (FIL), Maker (MKR), Tezos (XTZ), Compound (COMP) and other assets.

Polychain has deployed most of the previously raised capital in 2022 and 2023, according to a Fortune interviewee.

And before starting to raise a fourth $400 million fund, which reporters have now learned about. As for the $200 million already raised, Polychain has signed new agreements with investors or partners to begin placing those funds. At the same time, the company will continue to attract new investors in order to raise the full amount.

The attraction of new financing was accompanied by a reorganization of Polychain’s team of about 25 people, about 15 of whom are engaged in market research. According to the interlocutor of the publication, three employees from the research group were dismissed. And another with a background in data science was hired. One of the general partners also left the company to start his own project.

According to Fortune’s source, Polychain will primarily consider Ethereum-based “second-tier” infrastructure solutions for investment. And such as Arbitrum or Scroll, as well as in projects such as EigenLayer.

According to Pitchbook, global cryptocurrency VCs raised just $1.7 billion in 12 funds in the first half of 2023.

In comparison, they raised $22.5 billion in 91 funds over the course of 2022. On the same day as the new fund raising from Polychain was announced. And Bloomberg reported that another cryptocurrency venture capital firm, CoinFund, raised $158 million to support early-stage crypto startups.

According to the company’s CEO Jake Bruchman. That for the new fund managed to attract more funds than originally planned. Investor interest in the fund was higher than expected.

The last year and a half in the cryptoindustry was held in the crisis. But during this time CoinFund managed to raise $550 million, Brukhman told reporters. The year 2022 was “extremely challenging,” he said. Part of the problem was that major players in the market became interested in cryptocurrencies at the stage of their growth. But they changed their minds about investing when they saw prices fall sharply.

The new investment fund CoinFund is also the fourth for the company. Under the previous funds, the company supported startups such as, for example, Dapper Labs (creators of the FLOW blockchain). Or the blockchain infrastructure service Blockdaemon. Funds from the new fund have already been partially invested in the startup Giza. And which deals with the implementation of artificial intelligence in smart contracts. And in the company Superstate, which plans to combine decentralized finance (DeFi) with mutual funds.

More investments

CoinFund plans to invest the raised funds in startups. Which are at the intersection of cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. Previously popular areas such as NFT are now not interesting to investors due to the market lull and capitalization decline of the largest projects.

Our experts note that CoinFund will also continue to invest directly in cryptocurrencies and tokens. And the company has an advantage here. When it comes to crypto market regulation in the US, there is uncertainty over whether cryptocurrency tokens are considered securities. And that was vividly demonstrated in the recent ruling by a judge in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuit against Ripple Labs. However, CoinFund is a registered investment adviser. And can make investments in securities, so even equating their portfolio crypto assets with securities shouldn’t pose a problem.

According to Alex Felix, CoinFund’s chief investment officer. That now about 90% of the company’s transactions are directly related to the purchase of cryptocurrencies and tokens. According to him, the company still believes that this industry can coexist with traditional finance in a regulated manner.

Our experts tell you what you need to know about Sam Altman’s blockchain project Worldcoin. And who supports it financially, and when it will have its own token

In addition to leading the development of ChatGPT and GPT-4. Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, is also a co-founder of Tools for Humanity. It creates technologies for the blockchain project Worldcoin. And its tokens will be distributed among users in a rather unusual way.

According to the developers’ plans, the future WLD token will be issued to those who will be identified by iris scanning. The company’s own device called Orb scans the eye. And based on that, creates a digital World ID for the user. And which can be used “in a wide range of everyday applications without revealing identity.”

About 2 million people are already expecting to receive their share from this airdrop of Worldcoin tokens

Airdrop was planned back in the first quarter of this year, but was later postponed. However, this project has big ambitions.

“Once launched, we will begin to rapidly expand market by market, connecting more and more people,” reads a presentation distributed to potential investors in the project late last year.

In May, the project said it had raised $115 million in an investment round. Which was led by Blockchain Capital, a venture capital firm focused on the crypto market. For it, this is the second largest investment package, second only to investments in Matter Labs, the developer of the zkSync solution.

Worldcoin as a project consists of several components

First is Tools for Humanity, co-founded in 2020 by Alex Blania, Max Novendstern and Sam Altman. Acting as the lead developer of the Worldcoin project. Tho the company has raised over $240 million to date from venture capital funds including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Tiger Global, Khosla Ventures and the venture capital arm of the Coinbase exchange.

Worldcoin is now valued at $3 billion at the end of its latest fundraising. This is the same amount as in March 2022, when the company raised the first $100 million. Previously, the project was funded by Khosla Ventures, crypto fund Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto) and the founder of the bankrupt FTX exchange Sam Bankman-Fried. Spencer Bogart of Blockchain Capital joined the board of directors of Tools for Humanity after the new investment round closed. And a16z crypto managing partner Chris Dixon has joined as an observer.

Sam Altman is the co-founder of Worldcoin. His main contribution to the project is to create a strategy for how best to scale it.

“Internally, we call it the Sam Altman effect,” Blockchain Capital’s Bogart wrote in a comment to The Block. “Focus on scaling. Everything else is irrelevant,” he quoted Altman as saying.

Structure and products of Worldcoin

Worldcoin also has a non-profit foundation, the Worldcoin Foundation, registered in the Cayman Islands. According to its website. It is engaged in “protocol support and development of the Worldcoin community until the community becomes self-sufficient”. The foundation is a step toward creating a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) under Worldcoin. Worldcoin’s website states that the foundation is designed to “enable prioritization of the protocol based on DAO decisions.” Next steps, according to the description, include transferring intellectual property to the fund. And a grant program for developers.

As for the product, there’s World ID, an identification protocol. And with which people can prove their identity on the Web. It’s also a proprietary software creation package, the World app. Which allows you to manage the confirmed ID and a number of cryptocurrencies and, the actual token Worldcoin. All of these tools, with the exception of the token, appeared earlier this year.

A company called Tools for Humanity is responsible for the app. And it is likely that in the future it will earn on commissions on transactions or exchanges within the wallet. According to the company, by May this year, more than 500,000 people used the app at least once a month.

Black market accounts

Worldcoin’s chosen method of token distribution is that. People are asked to prove their identity by scanning their retinas with an Orb device. In March, Worldcoin struck a deal with manufacturer Jabil to ramp up production of its devices. According to The Block’s sources, Worldcoin could produce up to 400 Orb per month.

Worldcoin has an operator program where companies are paid in stablecoins. For performing eye scanning procedures on volunteers. So far, about 2 million people have joined the program. And mostly in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe. For example, in Kenya, by December last year, about 250 thousand people were registered. And only 45 devices were in circulation among operators in the country.

However, Worldcoin faced a black market of verified accounts. In May, there were reports that in China, where it is still impossible to register in Worldcoin. People are now buying iris scans taken in Cambodia and Africa for as little as $30. The buyers were probably expecting to get airdrop tokens. Which, when released on crypto exchanges, could return on their investment many times over.

The company then took a number of steps to try and address this issue. And including “adjusting the initial in-person registration process” and introducing dynamic and static QR codes.

Token and Airdrop

The token launch is a watershed moment for the project. Airdrop has already been postponed multiple times. A Worldcoin spokesperson told The Block that the exact launch date will be chosen by the Worldcoin Foundation. According to his other source of the publication, the launch is expected soon. And possibly as early as the third quarter of this year.

In exchange for eyeball scans, registered users will receive Worldcoin tokens. In investor documents published last December, it is assumed. That users will be able to request tokens every week. And their total number will decrease over time.

The same document reveals more details about the future tokenization of the project. Our experts note that the total number of WLD tokens will be 10 billion pieces. And of which 80% will be intended for users, operators and ecosystem. And 20% – for the Worldcoin team and investors. The tokens of team members and investors will be unlocked gradually over three years. The developers also intend to make WLD a governance token. That is, to give holders the ability to vote on proposals in the DAO. WLD tokens will not be available in the US and other countries.

Our experts explained the intricacies of Ripple Labs’ (XRP) important lawsuit for the crypto industry

The court of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the blockchain company Ripple Labs in a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At the regular hearing, Judge Analisa Torres issued a verdict that no sales or other forms of distribution of XRP tokens issued by the company. As well as sales of these tokens to private investors do not equate to transactions with investment contracts. That is, in fact, tokens are not recognized as securities.

Ownership of tokens, their placement on exchanges, payment with them, algorithmic distribution of coins and other retail transactions are not equated to such transactions. However, the court recognizes as an investment contract transaction the sale of tokens to institutional investors under a preliminary contract.

The XRP exchange rate reacted to the news with an 80% increase in less than a day. The main US exchange regulator has been suing Ripple Labs for several years. On December 22, 2020, the agency accused the company of selling $1.3 billion worth of unregistered securities under the guise of XRP tokens.

Over the years, the SEC’s case against Ripple has become one of the most important proceedings in the crypto industry. In June lawsuits against major crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase, the commission equated a whole list of crypto assets to securities. The end result of the Ripple case could have serious implications for digital asset rules both in the U.S. and globally.

Why this decision is important

The US SEC’s multi-year lawsuit against Ripple Labs is a significant case because of the fact that its results can be used as a precedent for similar cases. Its results can be used as a precedent for similar cases. At the moment, the SEC alone decides on the status of a particular cryptocurrency. And in doing so, guided by the so-called Howey test.

Given the weight of these events, the immediate course of the process is also important in this situation. And its correct coverage in the media. Often information reaches retail investors in an incomplete or distorted form. This is partly what happened with the so-called victory over the SEC. Which was actually a motion to expedite the case. And the denial of some of the claims and the referral of the case to trial. Of course, the lightning-fast spread of the “news” caused an active rise in the price of XRP and the growth of the entire crypto market. Locally, this event manipulated the growth by bringing back the interest of retail traders.

However, globally, it can indeed be considered a positive decision. It may indirectly indicate that the judge is really getting into the process. And this case will not be considered superficially. This is generally positive for the industry itself, which is obviously experiencing difficulties in the absence of clear. And specific legislation directly for a new type of asset, which is cryptocurrency.

What will happen to other cryptocurrencies

Ripple Labs only partially won the court case. The judge ruled that the XRP token was not a security. But that only applies if it was sold on cryptocurrency exchanges to the general public or “through algorithms” .

The decision is significant because it rejects the SEC’s argument that XRP should be classified as a security. At the same time, the court recognized that Ripple Labs violated the Securities Act. And when it sold XRP to institutional investors. This means that selling the token to hedge funds or venture capital firms was considered a violation of US securities laws.

There is a certain irony in this: now the classification of an asset, its classification as a security, depends not so much on the characteristics of the asset itself. But rather on the characteristics of the investor who bought it. In general, the court’s decision for the crypto industry is quite important and positive.

The fact that the court partially sided with Ripple Labs, suggests that many altcoins, which are the most popular in the cryptocurrencies, are not the only ones. That many altcoins, which were also mentioned in the lawsuit against Coinbase as securities. And would eventually be recognized as cryptocurrencies if their underlying sales took place on public exchanges among the general public or through algorithms.

How the final outcome of the case will affect the crypto market

The final court ruling in favor of Ripple Labs in the case against the SEC could have a big impact on the entire crypto market. And if there is no appeal from the regulator.

The court’s decision could help establish the legal status of cryptocurrencies. And especially in the context of their classification as securities. This will create more clarity and predictability for other cryptocurrency companies and investors.

The court’s decision in the Ripple and SEC case will serve as a precedent for future litigation. Which are related to cryptocurrencies and their compliance with securities laws. If other companies can cite this decision in their cases. This could change the dynamics of cryptocurrency regulation and litigation.

A final favorable outcome for Ripple could impact regulatory policy regarding cryptocurrencies. Regulators may reconsider their approaches to categorizing and regulating cryptocurrency projects. And based on this court ruling. The right actions by the SEC will lead to a favorable environment in the cryptosphere.

Our experts note that this decision may still be subject to appeal. And the final status of the case may take a lot more time. Therefore, it is important to keep an eye on developments and take into account possible changes in the regulatory environment.

The launch of a new Arkham project to trade data on cryptocurrency wallet owners has raised questions about the ethics of disclosing such information

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance reported on July 18 that it has completed the public sale of tokens of the Arkham Intelligence (ARKM) analytics service. The token trades opened at $0.05, but shortly after the start of trading on the exchange, the ARKM rate soared to $0.75.

Arkham Intelligence has developed its own platform to visually analyze data in the most popular blockchains. With its help, you can view data about cryptocurrency wallets and movement of funds. And in doing so, matching wallet owners and analyzing their actions. This is applicable, for example, for investors when studying the chain of transactions of successful traders. Or for exchanges and law enforcement agencies when tracking the movement and conversion of stolen cryptocurrency.

Wide functionality and successful marketing strategy. Which includes a referral system and airdrop of future tokens, helped the project attract a user base.

Together with the announcement of the launch of the token, which received the ticker ARKM. And its distribution via airdrop and presale on the Binance Launchpad platform, the developers also announced the launch of the Arkham Intel Exchange marketplace. And on which the token will be used. On the site will be organized data marketplace, where buyers will be able to put up a reward for information. Which can be obtained from the analysis of cryptocurrency wallets, including for the identification of specific individuals who own these wallets. The service itself is promoted under the banner of ” deanonymizing the blockchain.”

This provoked a wave of discontent in social media discussions. And the company began to be accused of an unethical approach to personal data and privacy.

Despite the fact that data on all transactions in blockchains is public. But linking them to real people is often difficult. And privacy for many people is one of the fundamental factors in using cryptocurrencies as opposed to existing banking and payment systems.

There is no direct prohibition on “de-anonymization of blockchain”. However, it is related to the personal data of users on the web. And which clearly did not give consent for someone else to have access to them. Our experts believe that it will be important to distinguish between the personal data of users on this platform and those that they have provided to exchanges.

From an ethical point of view, this approach infringes on the basic principles and fundamentals of blockchain. Such as privacy and simultaneous transparency. When law enforcement obtains information about user accounts on exchanges.This becomes a kind of restriction of rights for the greater good. In the situation of selling data, not everything is so clear-cut. Because sellers and buyers operate with other people’s data, obtained not always in a legal way.

Our experts believe that many ordinary users will not be happy to find themselves and their wallet in such a database. This increases the risk that a person will become an object of attack of fraudsters. And they will know who owns the wallet and how much money he has.

Law enforcement agencies, cryptocurrency tracking systems or private researchers could act as such a platform’s services.

At the early stage, the use of the service will be limited to a narrow circle of users, our experts believe. Cryptocurrencies were created as an alternative to centralized systems. And many users want to remain anonymous and do not want to disclose data about themselves and their transactions. On the other hand, regulators have policies aimed at disclosing user data for the sake of their own safety. And they are introducing mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures on marketplaces to identify malicious users and hold them accountable.

A promising technology that would help both parties. According to our experts, the Zero Knowledge Proof (ZK) protocol is a promising technology that would help both parties. With it, it is possible to develop a technological solution that balances human privacy for the general public. And by allowing limited fragments of data to be disclosed to government agencies.

Sound music NFT startup raises $20M in another round of funding helped by a16z fund and Snoop Dogg

The a16z crypto fund (Andreessen Horowitz) led the round. Other investors included Sound Ventures, Collab + Currency, Scalar Capital, rapper Snoop Dogg, and Ryan Tedder.

According to Sound co-founder David Greenstein. And the funds will be used to hire new employees and expand in the online music space. And including on mobile devices.

All music on the Sound platform can be listened to for free. But when downloading them, the authors also issue NFT. Which gives the right to own the song. The price of the NFT is set by the author, and the platform takes a fixed commission for the issuance of each token. Songs in this format can be traded on the secondary market on NFT-marketplaces. The total revenue of musicians who have uploaded works to Sound, according to the platform, already reaches $5.5 million.

In December 2021, the startup led a $5 million seed investment round, which was also led by a16z.

In April, a16z also led a $120 million investment round for LayerZero Labs, the company behind the development of the LayerZero project. The project has raised more than $250 million from venture capitalists and is valued at $3 billion.

Our experts note that venture capital funding for the Web 3 segment fell sharply in the first quarter of this year. And that there is an 80% decrease compared to the same period last year. In the first three months of 2023, cryptocurrency venture capital funds made 353 transactions worth $2.6 billion. The number of transactions was 12.2% lower than in October-December 2022.

Wallet Pay tool can be integrated into any bot or service in Telegram to pay in Bitcoin or USDT

Messenger Telegram has introduced a new Wallet Pay cryptocurrency payment service in Bitcoins. As well as the cryptocurrency Toncoin (TON) and the Tether USD (USDT) stablecoin.

Wallet Pay is a tool that can be integrated into any bot or service in Telegram. And giving users the ability to pay in the three cryptocurrencies through the messenger interface.

The list of jurisdictions supported by Wallet Pay includes most countries in the world.

But with the exception of the United States and those states that are blacklisted by the Money Laundering Task Force (FATF). In particular, the technology does not work in Iran, Myanmar and North Korea.

The restrictions do not apply to Russia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt. And other states where paying for goods and services with cryptocurrency is officially prohibited.

A Wallet Pay spokesperson said that the support team has received “several hundred” applications to join the service, but the developers have not yet implemented the Know your customer (KYC) service. And they are not yet ready to say who exactly will be the first users.

The Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain was launched by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov in 2018. However, in 2020, the Durovs abandoned the project due to litigation with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The TON network was supported by members of the TON Foundation community and they continued its development.

Our experts note that although Telegram is not directly involved in the development of the TON ecosystem, it remains interested in this network.

This is the approximate amount of assets controlled by US investment firms that have applied to launch Bitcoin-ETF funds

The approval of applications to launch spot exchange-traded Bitcoin-ETF funds  in the U.S. will open the Bitcoin market to $30 trillion in capital, Bloomberg senior analyst Eric Balchunas told Cointelegraph.

This is the approximate amount of assets controlled by US investment firms. And which have filed applications to launch such products with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These include BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, Bitwise, ARK Invest, WisdomTree, 21Shares, VanEck and Valkyrie.

Also according to Balchunas, older investors and financial advisors often place investments with ETFs. Exchange Traded Bitcoin funds will provide access to the cryptocurrency without having to buy it directly.

The analyst believes that the participation of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. Is enough to increase the chances of such products being approved from 1 percent to 50 percent.

Our experts note that cryptocurrency trading volumes rose in June for the first time in three months. The optimism of crypto traders is specifically due to BlackRock’s filing of an application to open a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Also the total volume of spot and derivative trading on centralized exchanges increased by 14% to $2.71 trillion.

Our experts have assessed how realistic the forecast from Standard Chartered looks. And what we can actually expect from the price of the first cryptocurrency

Bitcoin (BTC) may reach $50 thousand this year and $120 thousand by the end of 2024. This was stated in a recent report by analysts at Standard Chartered. The bank back in April published a Bitcoin price forecast for the end of 2024 – $100 thousand, explaining that the crypto winter is coming to an end. One of the bank’s leading currency analysts, Jeff Kendrick, says that now 20 per cent should be added to this forecast.

Standard Chartered is a large British bank with operations around the world. The company’s assets, according to Forbes, amount to $820.7bn. Standard Chartered has a network of 1.2 thousand branches in more than 70 countries.

A conservative enough scenario

We believe this scenario is quite realistic given the approaching halving in April 2024 and the inflow of capital into the crypto market by large investment funds such as BlackRock and Fidelity Investments.

Bitcoin will gradually rise to the $50k level. But the really noticeable growth is expected in mid-August. And when the first deadline of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the Bitcoin-ETF decision will pass. Growth could then continue into September and October. And when, according to many analysts, the Fed’s rate hike cycle will end. And already next year, on the background of halving, the price of BTC, quite probably, can reach the mark of $100-120 thousand.

The market has been in a state of consolidation for several weeks. And the BTC rate is fluctuating around $30,500. The nearest important events that can affect the market are reports on the consumer price index (CPI). And producer price index (PPI) in the U.S. on 12 and 13 July, respectively, which may affect the Fed’s rate decision.

Our experts note that the meeting itself will be held on 26 July. Both experts and traders are already confident in raising the current rate from 5.25 to 5.50%. And that could potentially cause a slight correction in the Bitcoin rate.

The number of active developers in cryptocurrencies is now higher than it was before the crypto market’s record growth in 2021

The number of developers in the field of cryptocurrencies has almost doubled in three years. This data follows from the report of the venture capital company Electric Capital. The growth of the indicator from June 2020 to the same month of this year was 92%.

Now the number of active developers is still higher than it was before the crypto markets hit record growth in 2021.

As of 1 June, the figure stood at 21,300. And that’s a quarter more compared to the same period in 2021. And about five months before Bitcoin set a record high above $69 thousand.

The authors of the report track the number of so-called commits – public edits and updates to the software code of projects. And which are placed in the public domain on the Github site. Analysts consider those developers who have continued to participate in writing the code of crypto services for at least a year to be beginners. Beginners are programmers with an experience of one to two years. And seasoned professionals are those whose experience exceeds two years.

Our experts note that professionals who have worked in the field of cryptocurrencies for at least one year. They also continue to make the majority of code commits.