How the SEC lawsuits will affect global crypto market

Our Crypto Upvotes experts analyzed the claims of the regulator and told about their impact and implications for the entire crypto industry

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed lawsuits against two of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges – Binance and Coinbase. The regulator is making a number of allegations against both. And the main ones are the recognition of a number of cryptocurrency assets that are traded on the platforms as unregistered securities. Which fall under the jurisdiction of the regulator.

In the June 5 lawsuit against Binance and the June 6 lawsuit against Coinbase, the regulator named several cryptocurrencies as securities:

In the first case they were Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Filecoin (FIL), Cosmos (ATOM). And Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), Algorand (ALGO), Axie Infinity (AXS) and COTI (COTI).

The second added Chiliz (CHZ), Flow (FLOW), Internet Computer (ICP), NEAR Protocol (NEAR). And Voyager VGX (VGX), Dash (DASH) and NEXO (NEXO).

Speaking on CNBC after the Coinbase lawsuit was filed, SEC head Gary Gensler said that cryptocurrencies are essentially unnecessary at all. “We don’t need more digital currency. We already have a digital currency. It’s called the U.S. dollar. It’s called the euro or the yen. They’re all digital now,” the head of the commission said. On Bloomberg, he later advised the cryptosphere to bring its business in line with government policy. Otherwise it risks “falling apart like a house of cards.”

SEC targets seriously and will not back down

The lawsuits have just been filed, and there is no court precedent yet to say how the process will go and what decision will be made. But based on the trend, the SEC is aiming seriously and will not back down.

But respondents (Binance, Coinbase and other companies) can refer to the fact that the regulation does not contain clear criteria for classifying this or that cryptocurrency as a security. And because of that, each company decides for itself which cryptocurrencies to work with and which not.

If there is at least one positive decision in favor of the SEC. In that case, the precedent system will play against exchanges working with the same cryptocurrencies. Binance and Coinbase are not the only companies being sued, the regulator’s website shows. But these two companies are the largest in the world and work with clients from a large number of countries. And that is why there is more interest in them.

This method of regulation shows that the regulator does not want to limit itself by the law, each time solving the issue through the courts. This approach expands its opportunities in relation to specific players in the market. And which contradicts the stability of the civil turnover.

We can expect a large number of lawsuits from the SEC

The new lawsuits are almost a classic SEC claim about trading securities in the absence of registration. In the case of crypto-assets, any level of dispute will require a determination. Whether the crypto-assets traded on the site are securities in terms of U.S. law.

Moving the SEC’s claims to court might be necessary, for example, to give precedent to the recognition of a particular crypto-asset as a security. This would make it easier to prosecute other venues that trade similar crypto-assets in the future.

Our experts note that similar claims were made in April against a number of companies and citizens. Which are related to crypto exchange Bittrex, we can expect a large number of lawsuits against other major crypto exchanges as well. That said, as we can see, the SEC is not limited to U.S. jurisdictions.

Historic event

In the US, there is still no separate legislation for the cryptocurrency industry. The situation is still at the stage of trying to divide influence between the SEC and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission). Both agencies would like to have control and influence over the cryptocurrency industry. And so both regularly issue statements along the lines of “all cryptocurrency falls under securities law” or “all cryptocurrency is a commodity”.

As a result of this confrontation, there are still no clear norms for valuation and assignment of assets to a particular class. Whereas in the European Union, a set of rules has already been developed. And even signed a set of rules for crypto-business called Markets in Crypto-Asset (MiCA).

The opposition is interesting and in some ways even historic in the development of the crypto industry. It really is a kind of fateful moment. And that will determine the vector of further development for several years. However, it will not take a week or a month for the situation to develop and the first decision on such a lawsuit will be a precedent.

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How zkSync project makes Ethereum faster and when it will release its token

Our Crypto Upvotes experts tell us how Ethereum zkSync scaling project with $458 million investment is organized. Why it is used by leading players of the cryptosphere and what conditions the developers name for launching their own token

The mass distribution of cryptocurrencies and Web3 projects is held back by the relatively slow performance of blockchains and high fees, especially during periods of heavy network load. One of the popular technical solutions to increase Ethereum blockchain throughput is the so-called ZK rollups. And the implementation of which is a key part of the Ethereum roadmap. And also about which the co-founder of the project Vitalik Buterin repeatedly spoke.

Such solutions exist on top of the main Ethereum blockchain. And they combine a set of transactions into packets, process them in their own network and then transmit them to the main network. By doing so, they increase the speed of transfer processing and significantly reduce fees. This fee is paid by users every time they interact with the blockchain. For example, when transferring coins, transactions in credit protocols. Or during an NFT purchase or any other Ethereum usage scenario.

If at the base level Ethereum processes no more than 15 transactions per second. The so-called Layer 2 (L2) solutions allow tens of thousands of transfers per second with multiples of smaller fees. There are many competing startups in the race to create the most successful Ethereum scaling solution. For example Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Scroll, StarkWare, Fuel Network and others. They have formed an entire industry. And the largest projects are valued in the billions of dollars.

zkSync project

The most famous solution involving those same ZK rollups. And of which Buterin speaks is zkSync from Matter Labs. Last November, Matter Labs closed a $200 million investment round led by major crypto venture capital funds Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly. Other investors include LightSpeed Venture Partners, Variant and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Matter Labs raised a total of $458 million, and that in itself is one of the largest venture capital investments in the history of the crypto business.

Commenting on the closing of the investment round, Matter Labs product director Steve Newcomb told Fortune. About how most of the funding will go to “building a team, further growing, scaling and developing a full-fledged company.” Newcomb founded Powerset before working at Matter Labs. Which was bought by Microsoft and later became part of the search engine Bing. Anthony Rose is also on the zkSync development team. He also led engineering teams at Ilon Musk’s SpaceX, creating software solutions for Falcon, Dragon and Starlink.

The zkSync project roadmap and its development

After reaching several roadmap milestones, the zkSync project has two networks in its current form, Lite and Era. The capabilities of zkSync Lite are limited, and it is essentially the first version of the protocol.

However, zkSync Era is a more mainstream product, opened to a wide range of users and developers in March of this year. The network was the first fully launched software environment with support for Ethereum applications. And thus beating out competitors like Starknet or Polygon. This means it will be easier for developers to migrate applications to zkSync Era. And where they can take advantage of faster transactions and lower fees.

Many of Ethereum’s biggest projects are already deploying on zkSync Era. Among them are popular decentralized finance (DeFi) services such as Uniswap, Curve, Balancer, Maker and SushiSwap. In addition, zkSync Era is used by Circle, cryptocurrency wallet creator Argent or liquid staking service Rocket Pool.

An important feature of zkSync Era is the so-called account abstraction.

And with the help of which it is possible to introduce to crypto-purses the features familiar to more mass users. For example, two-factor authentication or simple access to the wallet through login and password. As a rule, most of crypto-purses are just standard addresses. Which can send and receive funds and interact with smart contracts. With zkSync Era’s solution, developers can adapt to the needs of a wider audience.

Matter Labs representatives say in various interviews that the company is generally geared toward working with traditional businesses. They are particularly interested in the game development industry. In late May, the company hired former Activision Blizzard vice president of community engagement Michael Lee as senior vice president of development. To focus on attracting game developers to the zkSync platform. Earlier, Wemade, a leading Korean blockchain game developer, announced a partnership with Matter Labs. Which is developing the WEMIX PLAY platform. And which, according to the company’s website, has more than 20 million active users.

Launch of zkSync token and airdrop

zkSync has long been considered in the cryptocurrency community as one of the first candidates for mass airdrop . Several large blockchain projects, among them Optimism, Aptos, Blur or Arbitrum, have conducted airdrops for early and active users. And who have received rewards worth thousands of dollars. This has sparked speculation that other projects will follow suit.

Given the impressive amount of investment raised and several other circumstantial signs. And that’s why zkSync is considered one of the most obvious contenders to issue a token and conduct an airdrop. At the end of March, the zkSync ecosystem projects saw a marked increase in activity and turnover following Arbitrum’s sensational token giveaway. At the time of publication, turnover in the zkSync Era network, according to analytics service DefiLlama, exceeds $157 million and continues to grow.

The community notes that the main reason for this may be the accrual of activity. Or so called airdrop pharming. This is when users create a lot of wallets, from which they spend a certain set of actions in network projects. And in doing so, expecting to get more tokens as a reward in the future if the project decides to do an airdrop.

The zkSync developers themselves are apparently aware of what’s going on. As Matter Labs’ Anthony Rose said in a comment for DL News, project teams “should always monitor speculation around tokens and airdrops.”

The company removed the “tokenomics” section from the zkSync website, which was present there until last October. The documentation stated directly that the network’s own token was planned to be used for staking and as collateral for the network’s validators.

Our experts note that the ZkSync Era network remains largely centralized for now. And Matter Labs can arbitrarily update its software code. The company still controls the so-called sequencer and prover. These are the two main components of the network. As Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski clarified, the project will only need a token when it becomes necessary to make the sequencer decentralized. He estimated that this will happen in about a year.

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UK parliament proposes appointment of a Сrypto Tsar

The Crypto Tsar would be the official who would ensure a coordinated approach. For various government agencies to regulate this sector. And this is necessary to turn the country into a cryptocurrency hub, lawmakers say

A parliamentary group in the UK has proposed the appointment of a ‘Crypto Tsar’. And to ensure a coordinated approach by various agencies to regulate the digital currency industry. Parliamentarians say this is necessary to ensure UK leadership in the cryptocurrency industry and to protect consumers.

The Crypto & Digital assets All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) has published a report containing more than 50 recommendations to government on the industry. Among them is the appointment of an official. And that will ensure a co-ordinated approach by various government departments and agencies.

The report points to the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency market. And the fact that “this sector is now with us for the long haul”. As such, the report argues that the sector needs to be regulated to protect consumers. And the implementation of the government’s vision to make the UK a global cryptohub.

“The government should consider appointing a ‘crypto tsar’ who could help coordinate the work of various agencies to ensure a consistent approach,” the APPG report says.

The positions of regulators and other government bodies in the United Kingdom on cryptocurrencies are divergent, creating uncertainty in the market.

Our experts note that at the end of October last year. And  MPs in the lower house of parliament supported recognizing cryptocurrencies as another type of financial asset rather than singling them out as a separate class.

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Major events in the cryptocurrency world in June

Several events are taking place this month that could affect both the value of individual cryptocurrencies and the cryptocurrency market as a whole

 

Optimism Main Network Update

Optimism (OP) – Main Network Update

The Optimism main network, called Bedrock, is scheduled to be updated on 6 June 2023. During the update, the blockchain will be suspended for approximately 2-4 hours. During this time, users will not be able to make transactions and other interactions with the blockchain.

Also operators of validation nodes need to update their software to the current version to work with Bedrock. This Bedrock update aims to improve network security and resilience. And it is also expected to reduce commission costs by 47% after the Bedrock update.

IDO of Neon Protocol project on Coinlist

IDO of Neon Protocol project on Coinlist

The IDO of the Neon Protocol project will take place on 8 June on the Coinlist platform. Neon Protocol is Ethereum’s first virtual machine (EVM) on the Solana blockchain. This protocol will allow developers to create decentralised applications (dApps) that are compatible with the Ethereum network. And in doing so, gain access to fast and low-cost transactions on the Solana network.

Also here, a total of 50 million NEON tokens (5% of the total supply) will be offered for sale at $0.10 per token. Both the minimum and maximum redemption amounts are $100 and $500, respectively. Additionally, users are scheduled to receive 100% of the NEON tokens purchased during the IDO on July 17 this year. Registration for this event closed on 5 June.

Vega Protocol (VEGA) - Reducing the reward for staking

Vega Protocol (VEGA) – Reducing the reward for staking

The developers of the Vega Protocol project have announced that starting on 12 June, the fees for staking VEGA tokens are to be reduced. This will reduce inflation by reducing token issuance.

Also Vega Protocol is a decentralised blockchain-based trading platform. It allows users to create their own assets and act as both market maker and trader. The project’s IDO took place on Coinlist in early June 2021.

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One of this month’s big events is IDO of Archway project on the Coinlists

IDO Archway will take place on 15 June. The Archway project is a Tier 1 blockchain. It uses the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm and is powered by the Cosmos SDK. It also aims to provide developers with a user-friendly platform. Which rewards them for creating decentralized universal (cross-chain) decentralized applications (dApps).

And a total of 30 million ARCH tokens (3% of the total offer) will be offered for sale at $0.20 per token. Also the minimum and maximum amounts for redemption are $100 and $1000 respectively. It is planned that users will receive 25% of the redeemed tokens after 40 days of locked up. And the remaining tokens will be distributed evenly over the next 8 months. Registration for IDO Archway will close on 12 June. In our opinion, this is one of the important events of this month

Unlocking Blur tokens (BLUR)

Unlocking Blur tokens (BLUR)

NFT-marketplace Blur will unlock 195.99 of its own $101.8m worth of BLUR control tokens on 15 June. Therefore, more than 6.5 % of the total supply of tokens will additionally enter the market.

Recognition of Bitcoin as official payment instrument in Brazil

One of the most awaited events: Recognition of Bitcoin as official payment instrument in Brazil

On 21 December 2022, President Jair Bolsonaro signed a law into law. And in which it enshrines BTC as a means of payment and an investment asset. This law will enter into force 180 days after the signing, on 16 June 2023.

Also, the Bank of Brazil will be responsible for and oversee the use of Bitcoin as a means of payment. And the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be responsible for overseeing the use as an investment asset.

 

Optimism (OP) tokens unlocked

Optimism (OP) tokens unlocked

Our experts note that the Optimism project will unlock 195.99 of OP own management tokens worth about $35 million. Also, this would amount to 0.56% of the existing tokens. And some of it will go to developers and some to investors.

 

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Cryptocurrencies closed in the negative in May. What awaits cryptocurrencies in early summer

Our Crypto Upvotes experts summed up results of May on the crypto market. And gave their forecasts for leading cryptocurrencies for the nearest future

May was the first month this year that Bitcoin closed with a loss in price. On January 1, BTC was trading around $16.5 thousand, on February 1 – $23.13 thousand, on March 1 – $23.15 thousand, on April 1 Bitcoin rate reached $28.5 thousand, and on May 1 – $29.3 thousand. By the last day of spring the price of BTC went down to $27.7 thousand.

But despite the BTC price decrease by 5.5% in May, it has grown by 67% since the beginning of the year. The total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency decreased by 3.3% in May, but has increased by 41% since the beginning of the year.

Last month on the cryptocurrency market went mainly in the decline in the prices of leading assets

The growth was observed only in certain projects, such as Ripple. And it was primarily due to internal fundamental reasons.

Otherwise, the correction in the cryptocurrency market within the uptrend of the beginning of the year continues. And to say that the market has found the bottom and will go into active growth, it is not necessary yet, says our expert.

May has not been very good for BTC so far this year, with almost 6% fall of the exchange rate. Despite this, we have not seen a strong collapse. For example, as it was in May of the previous few years. Over the past month, BTC and other major cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were in consolidation phase.

On May 25 the price of Bitcoin updated minimum of two months, sinking to the point of $25.8 thousand. But by the end of May BTC got out of this pit, and steadily crossed the point of $27 thousand.

This decline can be attributed to market instability caused by problems in the U.S. banking sector, says our expert. Recession inevitably leads to higher borrowing costs for individuals and companies. And investments are losing yields. So investors tend to invest in conservative instruments. Cryptocurrency traditionally fades into the background at this time.

The U.S. Treasury Department is actively working to reduce inflation. And if it succeeds, then the cryptocurrency segment of the market will go back to growth

Our experts say that even with the current Fed rate, Bitcoin will be able to stop the decline. And even begin to rise in price, albeit slowly. The same will happen to Ethereum and other popular cryptocurrencies.

The most important key events for the crypto market in June. These are reports on the U.S. business activity, inflation and unemployment index, which are published at the beginning of the month. Then after these reports, on June 14, there will be a Fed meeting on the interest rate. And the change of which could very strongly influence the rate of BTC and altcoins.

In case of good economic reports we may expect that the current price level will be kept. In this case, it will be a positive signal for the crypto market. And that will push the BTC price up, to the current resistance level of $31,000, and possibly higher.

Historically, June is considered a low month for Bitcoin. And for the past three years, its exchange rate has fallen in June, our experts remind us.

In May, Bitcoin was supposed to show BTC down to the $25k level. However, it fell slightly short of that target. At the same time, as in the case with Bitcoin, our experts also expect other assets to decline in prices in June.

For example, the correction target for Ethereum is at $1.6k. And other assets with high market capitalization, such as BNB, XRP, ADA, MATIC may also decrease by 5-15% in the first month of summer, our expert thinks.

As for the fundamental aspects, the attention of market participants remains focused on macroeconomics in the USA. Because the pause in rate hike at the June FED meeting is already built into the current prices. But in case of divergence with market expectations, cryptocurrency may decline synchronously with stock assets.

Important events in June among other top 30 cryptocurrencies

Among all cryptocurrency assets from the top 30, Litecoin (LTC) may be stronger than the market. That’s because the LTC network will be halving in August. It is historically bullish on the cryptocurrency exchange price. Also LTC can become one of the leaders of the subsequent market growth. And even if it won’t show good growth in June.

Our experts Crypto Upvotes note that in June several major unlocks of cryptocurrencies are expected. For example such as 1inch Network (1INCH) here will be released 16.6% of the total supply. And Blur here will unlock 6.62% of the total supply. Our expert warned that after unlocks there is usually a fall in asset prices.

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How cryptoprojects fight airdrop farms of thousands of wallets

Our experts tell us how blockchain developers are identifying farms of thousands of wallets. Which are designed to artificially inflate the volume of token distribution activity

Distribution of tokens to active users in the form of airdrop. That is, encouraging the activity of early users, has become a trend on the cryptocurrency market. Decentralized exchanges, NFT-marketplaces, games, wallets, social networks and other services are created on blockchains of ecosystem cryptoprojects. At the early stage of development, all of them need active users and testing. It is for activity in such projects that tokens are eventually distributed. But recently one project decided to distribute rewards to those who helped identify the wallets of so-called drophunters. Or sybil – those who engage in aggressive scrambling for activity in the blockchain project ecosystem. In order to maximize the number of tokens that the developers will give away in the form of airdrop.

In order to maximize potential rewards, sibyls use farms of thousands of accounts to artificially inflate project activity. Who can organize token distributions.

A whole industry of crypto wallet farms

When creating the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) in 2022, the developers of Hop Protocol issued $3.5 million in tokens. This was done to give away among active users. However, they discovered thousands of addresses that were trying to cheat the system. In doing so, aiming to get a larger share of the airdrop. Volunteers helped developers identify the interconnections of multiple wallets and weed out farms from these accounts. Which were involved in tapping into the activity in order to get tokens in the giveaway. This ended up saving the project about $1 million. And the developers decided to give away tokens to those who helped uncover dishonest participants.

Hop Protocol co-founder Christopher Winfrey, in an interview with DL News, called the sybil address activity “an entire industry, not a random collection of crafty hackers.” “I suspect they’re running a set of sophisticated operations using multiple accounts on exchanges. And they pattern their behavior at random to make the activity indistinguishable from that of real users,” Winfrey told reporters. He added that the failure to filter out sybil could have a “devastating impact on projects.” As airdrop hunters tend to sell the resulting tokens en masse as soon as they are listed on cryptocurrency exchanges, collapsing the exchange rate.

Despite the relative success in weeding out dishonest users, Winfrey believes That sybils definitely have an advantage. He admits that “it’s an impossible battle to win.” And detecting sybil activity is getting harder and harder. He estimates that their farms have collectively made hundreds of millions of dollars on big giveaways.

A surge of activity in another project

The Stargate cryptocurrency bridge, which allows to move tokens between incompatible blockchains. It processed more than 300,000 transactions with more than $100 million in assets every day over the past week, surpassing the record highs set more than a month ago. And far outpacing direct competitors in terms of user activity.

Stargate uses the LayerZero protocol, a development by LayerZero Labs. The project is valued at $3 billion after an April $120 million investment round led by venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz. And is considered in the cryptocurrency community to be one of the first contenders for a massive airdrop.

According to Messari analyst Chase Devens, the vast majority of deals and volumes at Stargate. It’s most likely coming from ” airdrop hunters.” In the program code of the LayerZero project. Which is publicly available on the Github repository, mentions the yet to be announced ZRO token. The head of LayerZero, Brian Pellegrino, did not respond to a request from reporters.

The performance of LayerZero ecosystem projects and other candidates for airdrop began taking off in March. This was immediately after the successful token giveaway from Arbitrum, whose fame went beyond the cryptocurrency community precisely due to news about the big giveaway.

Such a profitable surge of activity to the projects gave rise to a marketing ploy – a hint of an airdrop. The ecosystem projects zkSync, Starknet and Polygon zkEVM saw a significant increase in user activity in May. Earlier this month, Polygon Labs co-founder Sandeep Nailwal hinted at the possibility of issuing tokens to the first Polygon zkEVM users.

The fight goes on

Airdrops are designed to reward early adopters. And also for testers and liquidity providers for new projects. But free giveaways largely attract users who are not interested in the project. And whose activity disappears after the token giveaway.

For example, monthly trading volume on decentralized exchange aggregator Paraswap peaked in November 2021, when the developers conducted an airdrop of the PSP token. Within a year after that, the project’s turnover dropped by 75%. And have not returned to the earlier figures. But there are also reverse examples: the value of assets (TVL) in Arbitrum’s turnover reached an all-time high on May 6 – more than a month after the ARB token was released.

Hop Protocol was one of the first blockchain projects to openly fight the mass influx of activity. Earlier cryptoprojects didn’t pay attention to the account farms participating in airdrop. And distributed tokens even for a single interaction with the ecosystem.

Projects like Safe or the same Arbitrum adapted sybil detection methods from Hop Protocol during their giveaways. Optimism Foundation, the organization behind the blockchain project of the same name. It has also campaigned to disqualify many of the token applicants the developers deemed sybils.

Our experts note that as more airdrops are expected, cryptoprojects will apparently continue to fight aggressive drophunters. And their clusters of wallets deployed for high-yield giveaways.

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Where to best register a cryptocurrency business

Crypto Upvotes experts told which jurisdictions are comfortable for cryptocurrency to live and work in. And also told what factors determine the choice to register a crypto project in the chosen region

The regulation of cryptocurrencies around the world ranges from a complete ban on digital tokens to their recognition as legal tender. From time to time, governments pass laws that force crypto-businesses to migrate.

For example, China’s 2021 ban on cryptocurrency mining caused a mass exodus of miners from China. In 2023, due to stricter regulation in Canada and the U.S., many exchanges stop operating there. And now they are moving to countries in Asia and Europe. Binance and Bybit have already announced their departure from the Canadian market, Coinbase plans to open an office in Dublin.

On the other hand, certain regions are adopting clear regulatory rules for the crypto industry. And this also attracts cryptocurrencies. Hong Kong has allowed retail trading of digital assets since June 1. Huobi, Gate.io, OKX and many other exchanges are already entering the local market. Gemini and Bybit are opening offices in Dubai, while Binance has been operating there since last spring.

Most projects choose two simple rules simply and cheaply

Any cryptocurrency startup wants to cut costs as much as possible at the initial stage. This includes legalization of their activities.

For a cryptocurrency company, registration and licenses are primarily needed to interact with the outside world. For example, to place their applications in the App Store or Google Play. Or opening corporate accounts on major exchanges, our expert explains.

The most important criteria for selection are three parameters:
– Ease of opening a legal entity (ideally distant registration).
– Speed (ideally a few days)
– Price, which does not exceed a few thousand dollars.

As a bonus may be the presence in the company’s charter of the prescribed cryptocurrency activity. And especially in jurisdictions where obtaining a cryptolicense is impossible or not required. Because this process usually requires much more time and expenses than the registration itself.

Popular jurisdictions for crypto business registration

It is because of the speed, simplicity and low-cost of doing business that regions such as Georgia or the Seychelles are popular. Because these countries win in comparison with, for example, Dubai or Hong Kong. So there everything is a little bit more complicated, longer and more expensive.

The most favorable jurisdictions are the ones that support the crypto market. And they have special regulation and, in addition, they provide preferential tax treatment for such businesses. The most obvious example of such a region is Dubai. In addition, the Arab Emirates is relatively neutral in the international financial market in terms of various geopolitical aspects.

Our experts point out that Hong Kong, Switzerland and the Netherlands also have a positive attitude to cryptocurrency business. And they have regulation, but their taxation regime is not as favorable.

There are countries that are not against cryptocurrency. But at the level of regulators they warn both businesses and consumers about the high risks of such assets (e.g., Georgia). Such jurisdictions, as a rule, are against the use of cryptocurrency on their territory. And especially use as a means of payment.

Some cryptocurrency exchanges choose Ireland’s capital Dublin for the fact that the country is part of the EU. And has an established reputation as a financial and technological center. It also provides a favorable tax regime for its residents.

Our experts note that Dubai, Hong Kong and Georgia are increasingly in the news as cryptocurrency-friendly regions. But not just because they are somehow particularly favorable to cryptocurrencies. Rather, it is because they are generally friendly to relocating businesses, including cryptocurrency businesses.

There are no special preferences for cryptocurrency projects. As well as there are no prohibitions preventing the activities of cryptocurrency companies. Practice shows that the absence of bans is enough. To attract a significant number of companies in the current situation. Who are looking for their new place to work.

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Nvidia stocks rise with AI popularity

Our experts tell us how the record rise in Nvidia stocks and hype around AI affected prices of cryptoassets

Nvidia has become the first graphics processor manufacturer whose market capitalization has approached $1 trillion. Its devices have recently been used by cryptocurrency miners. But now the growth of the company’s shares is due to the growth of artificial intelligence technology.

On Tuesday, May 30, price of Nvidia stocks skyrocketed to a historic high. In its quarterly report, the company said that the proliferation of artificial intelligence technology is translating into record sales. And its net income for the quarter was markedly higher than what analysts had predicted.

Nvidia’s developments have spread in the video game industry, the field of professional visualization. As well as in the field of high-performance computing and the automotive industry. In this case, Nvidia’s onboard computers are used as the basis for unmanned cars. The company supplies technology to major market players such as Apple, Microsoft, Alibaba and Amazon.

In late 2006, Nvidia allowed third-party developers to use the processing power of its graphics processing units (GPUs) not only for graphics optimization but also for other purposes. Nvidia processors are good at a lot of simultaneous calculations. And in this they noticeably lose to central processors, the leading manufacturer of which is Intel.

Notable success of Nvidia outside of the video game industry has brought the company mining cryptocurrencies. And where the GPU has also proven its effectiveness. In 2020, amid rising prices for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Nvidia surpassed Intel in market value. And its quotes continued to rise, reaching a record high of almost $330 per stock at the end of 2021.

Demand for Nvidia graphics cards was supported by miners. Who assembled cryptocurrency mining farms based on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm from the devices. The most profitable of these has always been Ethereum (ETH). But last September, developers planned to move it to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). After that, the need for mining to issue new coins disappeared. And miners were forced to switch to much less profitable coins or refused to mine cryptocurrencies using GPUs in principle.

The fall in excitement around video card mining, as well as the collapse of the crypto market last year, brought down Nvidia’s stocks. But now the wave of AI has reawakened investor enthusiasm. Since the beginning of the year, the company has increased its market share by $220 billion. By comparison, Ethereum has a market capitalization of $228.3 billion. Nvidia stock is up 165% in 2023 alone. Nvidia’s capitalization now stands at $939.3 billion, which brings it closer to the $1 trillion mark.

AI and cryptocurrencies

On May 28, Nvidia unveiled several technologies related to artificial intelligence at Computex 2023. Among them is the Avatar Cloud Engine service. Which allows you to give the intelligence of side characters in video games. As well as the DGX GH200 supercomputer for generative AI, the Spectrum-X platform for cloud providers. And the MGX architecture for creating metaverse and a few others.

The flow of news around Nvidia has also affected the cryptocurrency market. Project tokens, which aggregators categorize as “artificial intelligence,” rose in value in less than a week. And some of them showed up to 60% growth. An example of such an asset was the AKT token of the Akash Network project. The developers position it as an open network for trading computing power.

The most capitalized assets in the category also benefited from positive news from Nvidia. The token of the SingularityNET project (AGIX), “the first decentralized artificial intelligence marketplace.” Which runs on the Cardano blockchain, rose in value by 10%. Fetch.ai (FET), a coin platform with machine learning algorithms, gained more than 6% in less than a week. And the OCEAN token used by the Ocean Protocol data economy project rose nearly 9%.

Similar trends took place in the market at the beginning of the year amid the mass spread of chatbots with artificial intelligence ChatGPT. Which still enjoys notable popularity, including in the cryptocurrency community.

Largest crypto asset in AI category

The largest crypto-asset in the AI category is the Render token (RNDR) of the Render Network project from OTOY. Its capitalization exceeds $900 million and it is traded on leading cryptocurrency exchanges. And its price has risen almost seven-fold since the beginning of the year.

OTOY provides cloud-based graphics rendering solutions. These are used by visual effects creators, artists, animators, designers, architects and engineers, according to the company’s website. Its products, which also involve AI. The company Meta also uses them.

As part of the Render Network project, OTOY developers have modified the code of their cloud computing platform for GPU rendering. And they did it so that RNDR tokens could be used to pay for the service, thus creating demand for the asset.

In 2021, OTOY released the Octane X Classic rendering app on the App Store. And which also uses Render Network technology. Also getting the project into Apple’s app store was a successful marketing move for RNDR. The token has risen more than 60 percent since May 13. This happened when The Wall Street Journal’s sources reported. That Apple would unveil a mixed reality headset at the WWDC 2023 event in early June. This was largely contributed to by a number of speculations that. That the device could, in theory, also use some of the Render Network’s developments.

Our experts note that in general, the coins of blockchain projects, which in one way or another involve artificial intelligence. Since the beginning of the year proved to be the group of the most successful in terms of crypto-assets investment. Along with tokens of the management of liquid stacking services.

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Tether has decided to go into Bitcoin mining

Tether chose Uruguay to mining cryptocurrency. Review by Crypto Upvotes experts

Tether has decided to get into Bitcoin mining and announced. It is investing in green power generation and launching bitcoin mining in Uruguay. As part of the project, the issuer of the leading stabelcoin USDT is partnering with a local licensed company.

Tether has thus expanded its scope to include energy and mining. The report states that the company’s goal is. It is to become a global technology leader and this investment demonstrates Tether’s “commitment to innovation in energy and the future of cryptocurrency.”

The Tether noted that it chose Uruguay, which is rich in natural resources. Because the country offers ideal conditions for renewable energy production. These are the creation of wind farms, solar parks and hydropower projects. 94% of the country’s electricity production comes from renewable energy sources. And that makes it a world leader in this area.

Our experts note that the USDT token issued by Tether has remained the largest stablecoin by market capitalization for many years. And third among all cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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Tourists will be deported from Bali for paying for products and services in crypto

Cryptocurrency are not banned in Bali, but paying for products and services with them is prohibited

Bali authorities will fight against foreign tourists. Who pay with cryptocurrency in hotels, restaurants, tourist centers, stores and other places, the Indonesian edition of Antara reported. Cryptocurrencies are not banned in the country, but they cannot be used as a means of payment from 2021.

“Foreign tourists who behave inappropriately. And violate visa restrictions and other regulations and use cryptocurrency as a means of payment, will be severely punished.” This was announced by Bali Governor Wayan Koster at a press conference on tourism development in Bali.

Koster recalled that in Indonesia it is illegal to use currencies other than the local rupiah as a means of payment. Violation of the law is punishable by imprisonment of 1 to 5 years. And also a fine from 50 million rupees ($3.3 thousand) to 22 billion rupees ($1.4 million).

Tourists can be deported, and violators also face administrative and criminal penalties. As well as the closure of commercial premises, bans on payment transactions and other harsh sanctions, Koster said.

Our experts note that cryptocurrency trading is allowed in Indonesia. In January, the country’s government announced plans to launch a national cryptocurrency exchange by the end of 2023.

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