Mic Drop

PSA: if you use fidelity, ask your employer to enable bitcoin as a 401k option If people in your company complain bitcoin is bad for the environment, respectfully point out that they are free not to invest in bitcoin, and that a respectful work environment can't have employees trying to control other employees' choices and beliefs. Then share a link to the human fight's foundation's video which says opposition to bitcoin comes from a place of enormous financial privilege.

Translation: https://www-tagesschau-de.translate.goog/wirtschaft/finanzen/kryptowaehrungen-privatanleger-commerzbank-101.html?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband "Kryptowährungen sind keine Geldanlagen, die ihre Kunden anbieten wollen. Die Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Bayern Mitte eG bietet ihren 174.000 Kunden Bitcoins zum Kauf an. "Wir wollen Kunden nicht dem Risiko aussetzen."

For the second time in April, the Bitcoin network reached a new all-time high (ATH) in network difficulty, increasing from the previous ATH of 28.587 trillion to 29.794 trillion. This is positive as a greater network difficulty demands greater computational power to successfully mine a Bitcoin (BTC) block, leading to increased security and decreased vulnerability to network takeovers by malicious actors. https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-network-difficulty-breaks-into-a-new-all-time-high-of-29-794t

In an effort to boost throughput and Dapps performance on the Cardano network, IOHK developers have locked in a proposal to raise the network’s block size by 8kb, from 80kb to 88kb. The upgrade kicked into effect on 25th April at UTC 20:20:00. IOHK confirmed that the upgrade was part of a series of planned network optimisations to scale Cardano that will be executed throughout this year. Cardano infamous for its long development time now hosts hundreds of different Dapps, including decentralised exchanges (DEXs), wallets, metaverses, social platforms, games, NFT services, payment systems, and more. Founder Charles Hoskinson in a tweet last month stated, “Remember when I predicted thousands of assets and DApps on Cardano? Well I was wrong, there are now millions of native assets issued and DApps are now in the hundreds.” https://www.coinbureau.com/news/cardano-increases-block-size-to-enhance-dapp-performance/

Fidelity Investments, a U.S. financial services firm, will allow investors to put Bitcoin (BTC) in their 401(k) retirement savings accounts later this year. 401(k) accounts are company-sponsored retirement accounts in the U.S. to which employees can contribute income, while employers may match contributions. As per Fidelity’s plan, a maximum of 20% of contributions can be allocated to investments in Bitcoin. However, this limit may be lowered by employers. This move is expected to allow several first-time investors to gain exposure to bitcoin and other digital assets that may potentially be included by Fidelity in the future. According to Dave Gray, Head of workplace retirement offerings and platforms. “There is a need for a diverse set of products and investment solutions for our investors. We fully expect that cryptocurrency is going to shape the way future generations think about investing for the near term and long term.” https://www.wsj.com/articles/fidelity-to-allow-retirement-savers-to-put-bitcoin-in-401-k-accounts-11650945661/

Warren Buffett says he wouldn't pay $25 for all the bitcoin in the world — and Charlie Munger blasts the crypto as 'stupid' and 'evil' "Whether it goes up or down in the next year, or five or 10 years, I don't know. But the one thing I'm pretty sure of is that it doesn't produce anything," Buffett said. "It's got a magic to it and people have attached magics to lots of things." It’s funny they call Bitcoin evil in relation to the US financial system, but they say nothing of the evil of the US debasing the currency and draining the value from our money and all of the ills that come with it Warren Buffet called Bitcoin Rat Poison when Bitcoin was 3k He was wrong. Why are we still listening to people's bitcoin opinions when these people don't even know how to open Facebook?

Via Guy from Coin Bureau: https://twitter.com/optimismPBC/status/1519001562345005057 This is essentially their attempt at a DAO structure but with several twists. These include taking the revenue created from Optimism's transaction fees and transforming it into grants for "public goods." Moreover, they are addressing some of DeFi centralisation concerns by introducing "quadratic voting". This basically increases the cost of voting the more tokens you hold and reduces the voting power of those who hold large stakes in the network. This is particularly relevant today given some concerns that there are about VC control of Web3 protocols. It’s a voting mechanism that Vitalik Buterin is quite optimistic about – no pun intended. https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1519012381581463552 The DAO structure is really interesting, and I hope to cover it in more detail in the next few days. But what is perhaps most exciting about this launch is that it will of course include a governance token - OP. If you will recall from my Airdrops video last year, I speculated that the ETH Layer 2 rollup solutions were likely to do an airdrop at some point: https://youtu.be/H5n8-2iVJNM?t=1151 OP will be airdropped in the near future to over 250,000 ETH addresses. It was based on several different criteria which they outlined in their original tweet thread. Even if you are not eligible for the airdrop, Optimism has stated that a full 14% of the allocation will be held in reserve for future airdrops. How these airdrops will function is hard to tell - and that's by design. They don't want people to try and game it. One more point that I will add is that if you viewed my airdrop video, you would have seen that I also speculated that Arbitrum could consider something as well. Now that Optimism has laid out their plans, many are wondering whether Arbitrum could follow suit. Between Polygon, Loopring, Optimism & Arbitrum, the latter is the only one that won't have a native token. It's of course complete speculation on my part and you shouldn't just be using any protocol because of hopes of an airdrop. I would discourage anyone from trying to game these. But the point here is that there are additional benefits that come from using ETH layer 2s. Not only do you save gas fees and help with the growth of these Layer 2s, but you could also get awarded tokens that would allow you to be a part of the governance of said protocol. If you are looking for a guide on how to use ETH Layer 2s then I also have you covered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L52zhkDYzvM

DeFi project Teller has officially made the "first unsecured DeFi mortgage;" possible via USDC.homes, a company that partners with mortgage lenders and brokers to facilitate crypto home loans. The new owner purchased an apartment valued at $680,000 in Austin, Texas, using a $500,000 USDC stablecoin mortgage issued by Teller via the Polygon network. The platform allows cryptocurrency holders to obtain regular uncollateralised mortgages based on their credit scores. According to Ryan Berkun, Founder and CEO of Teller, it blends the best of both worlds, "This innovative mortgage loan market, built on the Teller protocol, integrates a mainstream user experience with the digital asset backend infrastructure of DeFi." https://decrypt.co/98655/ethereum-defi-project-teller-facilitates-first-uncollateralized-mortgage-loan

Fort Worth, Texas is getting into the bitcoin mining business, and will officially be the first city in the U.S. to do so. On Tuesday, council members voted unanimously to accept a donation of three Bitmain Antminer S9 bitcoin mining equipment valued at $2,100 from the Texas Blockchain Council. The mining equipment will be kept in a climate-controlled area of Fort Worth City Hall and will be connected to a private network to reduce security risks. The city’s mining program will be experimental and will be reviewed and evaluated in 6 months. According to Mayor Mattie Parker, “These small but powerful machines mark Fort Worth’s larger commitment to becoming a leading hub for technology and innovation.” https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/26/fort-worth-to-become-first-us-city-to-mine-bitcoin/

The much-awaited debut of crypto ETFs in the Australian market seems to have been pushed off for later this week. According to the Australian Financial Review, the delay is being blamed on a "prime" or "executing" broker who has failed to approve the products due to a delay in appointing a market maker for the product's launch. According to a spokesperson from 21shares, “The delay is no fault whatsoever of 21Shares, the funds or the exchange. As crypto ETFs are completely new to Australia and the infrastructure is being built from the ground up, a service provider downstream needs more time to support the launch. The issue affects all fund managers equally and has caught everyone by surprise.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/crypto-etfs-roll-out-in-australia-hits-snag-amid-inaugural-push

According to a new report from Bitstamp, the vast majority of large investment firms are bullish on the future of crypto markets. According to Bitstamp’s survey, eight out of ten institutional investors predict that cryptocurrencies and blockchain will dominate traditional financial products within the next decade, however, only 54% of retail investors concur. The survey also notes that 88% of institutional investors and 75% of retail investors expect crypto will become mainstream in the same time frame. Interestingly, it appears that institutions are more trusting of cryptocurrency and related technology than retail investors. https://www.coinbureau.com/news/majority-of-major-investment-houses-bullish-on-crypto-new-bitstamp-report/

The Bill for a two-year moratorium on crypto mining has been passed by the New York State Assembly. According to the bill, new crypto mining facilities that wish to be set up and depend on carbon-based or fossil fuels for mining activities will be denied permits to operate. Existing mining facilities and those that run on renewable energy will remain unaffected by the bill. However, existing sites that want to raise their energy consumption will not be allowed to renew their permits. The bill aims to effectively freeze existing levels of crypto mining carbon emissions until the state can act on the findings of a comprehensive impact study. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/04/27/new-york-state-assembly-passes-bill-blocking-new-cryto-mines-that-use-non-renewable-power/

Digital asset custody platform Fireblocks has added support for the Terra blockchain as institutional demand for decentralised finance (DeFi) rises. This means institutional clients of Fireblocks will now have access to all the Dapps on the Terra ecosystem, such as Anchor Protocol and Lido. According to Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks “As their[institutions] appetite expands, so will their desire to be able to access all of the latest and greatest innovations across different blockchain ecosystems." https://cointelegraph.com/news/fireblocks-expands-institutional-access-to-terra-s-defi-ecosystem

According to a Twitter announcement from Otherside, KYC verification is a must for those who wish to bid in the auction of the metaverse’s land NFTs. However, BAYC and MAYC holders can claim land NFTs for a period of 21 days after the auction without KYC verification. The KYC requirements are only for those wishing to mint the Land NFT at the auction. The auction which is scheduled for 12 pm ET on Saturday will follow the Dutch-style auction format, a bidding war where the asking price starts high and then falls toward a minimum reserve price. Auction participants are required to exclusively bid in APE coins for the auction. https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/143535/yuga-labs-otherside-metaverse-land-auction-imposes-kyc-checks/

Dragonfly Capital, a well-known crypto venture capital firm founded in 2018 by Bo Feng and Alexander Pack, has announced its third fundraising round valued at $650 million. Tiger Global, KKR, Sequoia China, and Invesco were among the investors in the $650 million round According to Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly, the new fund will focus on the new wave of crypto entrepreneurs who are forming in web3 and other more fledgling areas of the market. Qureshi believes that most web3 entrepreneurs need investors and their guidance to participate in token economics, go-to-market, product strategy, and hiring. According to Qureshi, “That's why Dragonfly is often the first port of call for these entrepreneurs—unlike many of the generalist VCs, we've been doing this for many years now, we've backed many of the generational protocols and companies in this space, and we've seen the whole journey from seed to multi-billion dollar outcomes, Dragonfly has invested in a wide range of companies, including blockchains like Terra and Near and financial services like Matrixport and Paradigm. https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/143633/multiple-ivy-league-universities-kkr-back-dragonflys-new-650-million-fund/

Michael Hsu, acting chief of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), states that companies which issue stablecoins should come up with a common technical standard, comparable to what was done in the early days of the internet. He believes that stablecoins currently lack inter-operability and need shared standards. Hsu at a symposium in Washington, D.C stated, “To ensure that stablecoins are open and inclusive, I believe a standard-setting initiative similar to that undertaken by [the Internet Engineering Task Force] and [World Wide Web Consortium] needs to be established, with representatives, not just from crypto/Web 3 firms but also including academics and government,” As a part of such an initiative, he stated that the OCC is willing to work with other government offices such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology on the matter. https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/04/27/stablecoins-need-standard-setting-effort-us-banking-watchdog-suggests/ .

In a leaked video from Zcash Media, Edward Snowden, the famed NSA whistle-blower on government surveillance, revealed his core involvement in the launch of the privacy coin Zcash. Snowden, under the pseudonymous John Dobbertin, joined Zcash creator Zooko Wilcox, Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd, Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh and two others in launching the Zcash blockchain in 2016. The six participants were each given a fragment of the private key needed to produce the coin in a procedure known as "trusted setup." After the launch of the blockchain, each of them destroyed their fragment of the private key in order to secure Zcash from being counterfeited in the event of a wallet breach. Zcash is a decentralised blockchain that conducts transactions using zero-knowledge proofs. Unlike the comparatively transparent Bitcoin, ZEC transactions cannot be tracked and the amounts sent cannot be established (BTC). https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2022/04/27/edward-snowden-revealed-as-key-participant-in-mysterious-ceremony-creating-2-billion-anonymous-cryptocurrency/

On Wednesday, Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook, announced its first-quarter 2022 results, declaring a $2.9 billion loss in its Reality Labs division (formerly Facebook’s Oculus division). That's a 61% increase over its $1.8 billion loss in the first quarter of 2021. The Reality Labs division has been spending increasing sums of capital on developing virtual reality and metaverse-related products. Nonetheless, Reality Labs exceeded projections in the first quarter of this year, bringing in $695 million in revenue from sales of VR headsets and Meta Portal hardware. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains confident about the company’s direction stating that losses are expected in the division, adding "I recognise it’s expensive to build this, it’s something that’s never been built before. And it’s a new paradigm for computing and social connection.” “We expect to be meaningfully better at monetisation than others in the space, and we expect that should become a sustainable advantage for our platforms as they develop.” https://cointelegraph.com/news/meta-s-reality-labs-posts-2-9b-loss-i-recognize-it-s-expensive-says-zuck

Asset management behemoth BlackRock has launched its new iShares Blockchain and Tech (ILBC) exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to BlackRock, the new product seeks exposure to global companies at the forefront of blockchain and crypto technology development, innovation, and application. Notably, the ETF will not invest in cryptocurrencies directly but rather into companies involved in the industry. Along with the launch of its ETF, BlackRock produced a paper emphasising what it sees as imminent "permanent" changes to market economies, including the proliferation of blockchain technology. According to the report, “Digitisation has transformed nearly every facet of consumerism.” BlackRock’s new ETF comes as Fidelity also races to introduce crypto-focused ETFs. Last week, Fidelity released ETFs for its Fidelity Crypto Industry and Digital Payments Index (FDIG), and its Fidelity Metaverse Index (FMET). https://www.coinbureau.com/news/worlds-biggest-asset-manager-blackrock-lists-new-blockchain-etf/

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced a roundtable discussion on May 25 to deliberate on a ‘non-intermediated’ model of crypto derivatives trading. This announcement was sparked by FTX US’s recent proposal to modify its Derivatives Clearing Organisation (DCO) license. Under the proposed ‘non-intermediated’ model, the current Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) intermediary would be eliminated, which would streamline trading by reducing the number of times assets change hands, each layer of which entails separate requirements for liquidity holding. According to the CFTC, “A number of registered entities have discussed with CFTC staff proposals to offer ‘non-intermediated’ or direct trading and clearing of margined products to retail customers.” https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/04/27/cftc-sets-may-roundtable-to-weigh-ideas-sparked-by-ftxs-derivatives-push/

The Central African Republic has become the first country in Africa to adopt Bitcoin as a payment currency. The National Assembly of the Central African Republic unanimously passed the bill,

Gate Ventures, the venture arm of crypto exchange gate.io is all set to raise $200 million for its crypto fund by the end of Q3 2022. According to Kevin Yang, the managing partner of Gate Ventures, the fund will be focused on identifying and investing in alternative layer 1 and layer 2 protocols. Specifically, the firm is looking to invest in protocols that focus on cross-chain interoperability. The firm also has its eyes set on the blockchain gaming sector. According to Kevin Yang, “We have this vision that it will be a multi-chain and multi-layer future, with an open internet which also respects privacy,” https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/29/gate-ventures-on-track-to-close-200m-crypto-fund-by-q3/