Author: Arch Crypton

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes that Ethereum to tech giant Microsoft in a recent memo, asserting that the blockchain giant’s foundational role in the ecosystem is being underestimated amid current bearish sentiment. In the memo titled “A Contrarian Bet on Ethereum,” Hougan argued that Ethereum continues to lead in key sectors despite growing competition and skepticism. Market challenges Ethereum has faced significant headwinds in recent months, with the ETH/BTC ratio recently hitting a three-year low, reflecting its underperformance relative to Bitcoin. Ethereum’s price remains flat year-to-date, while Bitcoin has surged 38%, and competitors like Solana are up 31%.…

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), co-founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, has filed an appeal challenging his fraud conviction on Sept. 13, arguing that the trial was tainted by judicial bias and procedural errors. The appeal, submitted to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 13, alleged unfairness during the legal proceedings that resulted in SBF’s 25-year-long prison sentence and requested a new trial. SBF was convicted on multiple charges in October 2023, including fraud and conspiracy, for his role in FTX’s dramatic collapse in the previous year. Presumed guilty In March, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced him to…

Blockchain gaming has reached a new milestone with 4.2 million daily active users in August, according to a recent DappRadar report. The web3 gaming industry saw a 5% increase in daily unique active wallets (dUAW) last month despite falling to second place in terms of the most active crypto sector amid the AI boom. Ronin keeps its dominance Ronin continues to dominate the blockchain gaming landscape with the highest average number of Unique Active Wallets (UAW), which grew 24% in August to 1.32 million. Pixels and Forgotten Runiverse were the main games driving activity on the network during the month. The second…

The Stand With Crypto Alliance, a Coinbase-backed non-profit organization, is leading efforts to establish the Creator Defense Fund initiative that has raised $6 million from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and NFT marketplace OpenSea. According to a Sept. 13 press release, a16z contributed $1 million to the fund, while OpenSea pledged the remaining $5 million. The alliance said that legal pressures — like the SEC’s recent Wells Notice to OpenSea — signal that blockchain-based creators will continue to face significant regulatory threats, and the fund aims to help those who need it. Creator Defense Fund The fund aims to…

MicroStrategy acquired approximately 18,300 Bitcoin for $1.1 billion between Aug. 6 and Sept. 12 at an average price of $60,408 per BTC, according to a Sept. 13 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Coinflip data shows the company’s latest purchase already has a paper loss of $2.2 million due to the top digital asset’s current volatility. Funding The firm stated that the purchase was funded by selling more than 8 million company shares via a sales agreement with several financial institutions, including TD Securities, The Benchmark Company, BTIG, Canaccord Genuity, Maxim Group, and SG Americas Securities. The capital…

Coinbase’s newly launched wrapped Bitcoin product, cbBTC, has seen rapid adoption within its first 24 hours, with a market capitalization nearing $100 million. Data from Dune Analytics shows the circulating supply of cbBTC has reached 1,720 tokens, valued at $99.8 million. Of this, 43% is on Base, while 57% resides on Ethereum. Coinbase cbBTC Supply (Source: Dune Analytics) Base’s DeFi growth Industry analysts have noted that Coinbase’s cbBTC growth could significantly boost DeFi activities on the exchange’s layer-2 network, Base. Luke Youngblood, a contributor to Moonwell DeFi, highlighted the product’s impact. He pointed out that cbBTC’s fungibility with Bitcoin on…

Asset manager 21Shares has added Anchorage Digital Bank and BitGo as custodians for its spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) and the 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF (CETH). According to a Sept. 12 statement, Anchorage Digital Bank and BitGo will now work alongside current custodian Coinbase to enhance 21Shares’ spot ETP operations in the US. The firm chose them based on their robust regulatory compliance, security, and reliability records. This move brings the number of ETFs for which BitGo serves as custodian to four. BitGo already works with two other ETF issuers, including Hashdex and…

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame faces potential sanctions after admitting to making false statements during his 2023 guilty plea for campaign finance and money-transmitting crimes. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, overseeing the case, expressed concerns about Salame’s earlier testimony, where he denied any promises made by prosecutors to secure his plea. Concerns of perjury At the Sept. 12 hearing in Manhattan, Salame acknowledged that he had lied to the court during his plea hearing last year. He had previously testified that federal prosecutors had made no promises to secure his guilty plea. However, Salame has since claimed that he was…

Soneium, an Ethereum Layer-2 network, has joined Chainlink’s Scale program, according to a Sept. 12 statement shared with CryptoSlate. This move grants the blockchain network’s Minato Testnet access to Chainlink’s Data Feeds and also makes the Oracle network’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) services its canonical cross-chain infrastructure. Chainlink’s Data Feeds provide decentralized off-chain data to support various smart contract use cases, particularly for DeFi applications. Meanwhile, CCIP will enable seamless interoperability between Soneium and other blockchains, enhancing Web3 and traditional systems integration. Over the past year, the technology has witnessed significant adoption from major traditional institutions, including South Korean gaming…

For many years, blockchain gaming remained in the foregrounds of other Web3 novelties, until in 2024 its potential was finally recognised.  To explain the reasons behind success, the article carries out a retrospective journey to the roots of GameFi, unveils play-to-earn concept, highlights key milestones of a formerly niche sector.  CryptoKitties and Axie Infinity: How It All Began While blockchain-based gaming has tapped to score mass recognition, these attempts did not seek any remarkable success until 2017 – the year when renowned CryptoKitties was launched.  Powered by Ethereum blockchain, CryptoKitties gameplay was put simply: players could purchase, breed, and trade virtual…