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​​Someone Paid USD 1.7M In Litecoin For Tom Brady Football Card.

In what is called one of the largest "hard asset" transactions to be paid entirely in cryptocurrency, an unknown buyer purchased an autographed Tom Brady football card for about USD 1.68m worth of litecoin (LTC) at an auction hosted by Goldin Auctions.

The auction house says this marks the most expensive item to be paid in crypto since the company began to accept this form of payment last month.

“The hobby is undergoing incredible growth unlike anything I have seen in my 40+ years in the industry,” Ken Goldin, Founder of Goldin Auctions, told Sports Collectors Daily.

“What’s amazing to see is that the same thing is playing out with crypto. Trading cards and crypto are now two of the most rapidly growing alternative asset classes and we know there is a lot of overlap between the communities. We believe this may be one of the most expensive hard assets ever paid for in crypto,” he was quoted as saying.

Tyler Winklevoss, CEO and co-founder of Gemini, said that the 2000 Playoff Contenders card featuring Tom Brady, who was at that time a rookie drafted by the New England Patriots where he would spend a total of 20 seasons, was sold in partnership with his crypto exchange.

The card is “known as the "Holy Grail" of the collecting industry,” Winklevoss said.

This said, the item is not the most expensive card of this type to be bought at an auction. Earlier this month, a similar card autographed by the American athlete was sold for more than USD 2.25m at an auction hosted by Lelands Auctions. Both cards had a card grade of 8.5 out of 10, but the card auctioned by Lelands had a slightly lower autograph grade of 9 out of 10, compared with 10 out of 10 for the card purchased with litecoin.

At 09:58 UTC, LTC, ranked 10th by market capitalization, trades at USD 258 and is up by 2% in a day. The price is down by almost 1% in a week, trimming its monthly gains to 33%.
🤝 Currency.com announces a partnership with TradingView

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​​Are Wall Street Giants Playing the 'Make-Bitcoin-Cheaper' Game Again?

It seems that the Wall Street actors may be playing the same game seen in January - bashing bitcoin (BTC) when it looks relatively weak, while and/or before doing their own BTC-related move. We saw this from JPMorgan and Guggenheim Partners earlier, and now it's Goldman Sachs.

This week, US-based investment giant Goldman Sachs said that the competition from other cryptoassets, energy use, and lack of use cases are among the concerns surrounding bitcoin's long-term store of value demand.

It is too early for bitcoin to compete with gold for safe-haven demand, said the bank, but the two can co-exist, as Reuters reported. It added that the extensive energy use made it vulnerable to losing its store of value demand to a "better-designed" contender.

"While Bitcoin benefits from greater liquidity, it suffers from lack of real use and weak environmental, social, governance (ESG) scoring, due to its high energy consumption," the banks is quoted as saying. "The only way this record-sized and fast approaching supply crunch can be solved is via a surge in price to new record highs."

Furthermore, in the same note, Jeffrey Currie, Goldman's head of commodities research, said, per Kitco, that BTC "gave ground to other cryptocurrencies such as ether and altcoins. This, in our view, underscores the fact that competition among cryptocurrencies for the status of dominant long-term store of value is still on and adds an additional source of risk to holding bitcoin."

Just a month ago, it was reported that Goldman Sachs aims to offer its first investment vehicles for bitcoin and other unspecified digital assets to clients of its private wealth management group in the second quarter of this year. Some of the clients were reportedly considering BTC to be a hedge against inflation.

The bank also offers a crypto trading desk and is dealing BTC futures and non-deliverable forwards for their clients.

Furthermore, earlier in March, Goldman said it saw rising demand for BTC not only among institutional investors, but also in the private wealth management industry.

The company has delivered several relatively favorable views on crypto over the years. In late November 2017, Currie said that BTC was a commodity with many similarities to gold, and that the volatility that concerned investors stemmed mainly from its lack of liquidity. "I don’t see why there is all this hostility to it," Currie told Bloomberg back then. BTC is "not much different than gold." He added though that the "real innovation" is in the ledger, not in BTC itself.

In January this year, Currie stated that bitcoin was showing signs of maturity, but that the level of institutional investment in it was still very small - more is needed for it to stabilize. BTC had a market value of above USD 600bn at the time and over USD 1trn today. "That can give you some long-run equilibrium," Currie told CNBC. But the level of volatility and uncertainty in the market "makes it very difficult to forecast it."
​​South Korean Crypto Tax U-Turn Looking Unlikely, Despite Outcry.

Despite the recent outcry about crypto tax among younger South Koreans, a new small survey has found that most of the respondents are in favor of imposing taxes on crypto traders’ profits.

Per Segye Ilbo and Chosun, the survey quizzed 500 people aged 18 and over nationwide and was commissioned by the media network YTN and conducted by Real Meter.

And almost one in six respondents said they were in favor of the introduction of taxes – in line with the government’s plans. A new act on crypto taxes is set to come into force on January 1 next year. Less than 40% said they disagreed, with just 8% undecided on the matter.

And there appeared to be a firm gender divide on the issue. Despite a small army of South Korean crypto moms rushing into the crypto market, some 60% of female respondents said they backed taxes. Respondents aged in the forties were the demographic group most in favor of the tax measures, with over 62% backing the bill.

The measure has proven to be so decisive that it has sent the government into a spin, with some senior lawmakers saying that there is no going back on the tax plans – which will see higher-earning crypto traders forced to pay capital gains tax bills of 20% on their profits. But other figures from the ruling Democratic Party – afraid that a massive surge in online ire from the “2030” demographic (people aged 20-39) will turn on the party in the polls in next March’s general elections.

Some Democrat lawmakers have suggested conciliatory actions and have even talked vaguely about the possibility of delaying or amending the bill prior to promulgation. The main opposition party, meanwhile, has launched a “crypto taskforce” and has berated the Democratic Party for “betraying” young crypto-keen citizens.

But the survey appeared to show that not all people in their 20s are pinning their hopes on crypto riches: While 48% of twentysomethings respondents said they wanted the tax plans scrapped, 47.5% said they liked the idea of crypto taxes – with less than 5% stating they were unsure.

Meanwhile, a South Korean lawyer discussed the chances of a legal u-turn in crypto tax law plans in a column for Sisa Journal, Lee Kyung-geun, an Advisor at the Yulchon law firm, and the Vice Chairman of the Financial Tax Forum, pointed out that some ruling party officials have spoken of the possibility of deferring the new tax measures.

Lee wrote that politicians are likely to stick to the line that “wherever there is a source of income, it must be taxed,” and opined that to ensure “the sound development of the South Korean cryptocurrency market,” a framework of “laws and systems” was needed, as well as “legal mechanisms to prevent excessive speculation” on crypto trading platforms.
CryptEx is throwing $350,000 ☄️ into Staking on May, 10

What is CryptEx?
CryptEx is a B2B set of security services for Binance Smart Chain projects. CryptEx charges customers, and 50% of the fees go to its holders.

How to earn 50% of the fees?
All you have to do is stake CRX from your wallet, and every time a client pays for CryptEx services, the stakers get 50% out of this payment. All the rewards are paid in 💰BNB

Ask any question in the official CryptEx telegram chat 👉 @cryptexlocker

What about $100,000?
Since February 20, CryptEx provided services to 52 projects, charging them a total of over $100 000. However, staking has been released only on May 2.
After May 10, CryptEx will distribute 50% out of earned income between all CRX stakers. APY SHOULD BE ON FIRE 🔥.

Also, CRX Stakers are getting 1 000 000 DROPS (more than $250,000)during the airdrop. The snapshot will be recorded after May 10, at a random time.

Tiсker: $CRX
Max Supply: 100,000 CRX
Current Price: $36.88
FD MCap: $3,687,867
Network: Binance Smart Chain
Where to buy: 1Inch, ApeSwap, PancakeSwap V1

Join the chat: 🔥 @cryptexlocker
​​Investments news.

- An earnings report by e-commerce giant Mercado Libre shows that the company has purchased USD 7.8m worth of bitcoin (BTC). The purchase happened in the first quarter of 2021, as part of their treasury strategy.

- American financial services and bank holding company State Street Corporation has launched a Bitcoin Thematic Indicator series that quantifies media coverage of the asset to gauge the market sentiment. The tool’s purpose is to help institutional investors make informed decisions when planning their portfolios.

- Mexican crypto trading platform Bitso has become a unicorn as its valuation reached USD 2.2bn, following a Series C round of funding that injected them with a total of USD 250m, the Entrepreneur reported, adding that this deal makes them the first crypto company in Latin America to be valued more than USD 1bn.

- Swedish crypto broker Safello’s initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed by 1,240%—with a total of SEK 40.5m (USD 4.8m) available, the recorded interest came up to SEK 502m. The issue will see the company receiving around 1,500 new shareholders, but not all subscribers will receive the allotment.

- South Korean blockchain company Streami Inc. has announced that they’ve received a strategic investment from US-based major crypto company Digital Currency Group (DCG), making the latter their second-largest shareholder.

- Custom NFT startup Bitski has raised USD 19m in a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, according to TechCrunch. The startup is looking to simplify the entrance into NFT creation for brands and artists that may not be fully sold on crypto as a whole, with one of their early partners being Adidas.

- Upshot, a blockchain-based protocol that "incentivizes experts to answer subjective questions honestly," said it has raised USD 7.5m in Series A funding co-led by Framework Ventures, CoinFund, Blockchain Capital, and other investors. "The company’s first product - Upshot One - is specifically designed to tackle the problem of NFT price-discovery by incentivizing a community of experts to provide trustworthy, efficient appraisals of NFTs," they said in an emailed announcement.

- VanEck has launched a new thematic equity exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Europe providing exposure to companies deriving significant revenue from the digital assets ecosystem. The VanEck Vectors Digital Assets Equity UCITS ETF has listed on London Stock Exchange in US dollars (DAPP LN) and pound sterling (DAGB LN) and on Deutsche Börse in euros (DAVV GY), ETF Strategy reported.
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​​El Corte Inglés Fast-tracks Bitcoin-flavored Brand Name Registrations.

The Spanish retail giant El Corte Inglés has registered the business name Bitcor, in an indication that it could be prepared to take a further step into the world of crypto-related business.

Per El Pais, the firm has registered the brand name with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The report added that the firm had also registered the brand name Bitcor El Corte Inglés on March 23. The office, it claimed, is currently in the process of considering “possible oppositions,” to the registrations, although “to date, none have been put forward.”

The company has fast-tracked its applications, and unless last-minute obstacles appear, the brands will be formally registered on June 28.

The application, El Pais reported, detailed that the Bitcor brand will provide “financial services, financial transactions related to currency exchange and currency trading.”

The media outlet added that “together with the Bitcor name,” this “makes its connection with the world of crypto clear.”

It also quoted “sources close to El Corte Inglés” as confirming the brands will have a crypto bent although they explained that the firm had “no imminent plan on the table to launch a cryptocurrency or any service related to this activity.”

The company refused to comment on the matter when asked by El Pais. Cryptonews has also submitted a request for comment.

However, El Pais’ sources also confirmed the company may have made a “preventive registry,” hoping to restrict other companies from using before it had made up its mind about taking the crypto plunge.

Back in 2019, the firm announced that it would begin using blockchain-powered solutions to track its renewable energy usage, while in 2018, the retailer was reportedly held talks with Eurocoinpay, a Spanish crypto pay platform based in León, about possible crypto pay-related business.

But El Corte Inglés’ latest move is by far its most bullish to date, even if has yet to come to fruition: The firm’s popular Bricor brand retails a range of DIY and home improvement equipment and materials. The company also operates a number of other business arms, all of which end in the -cor suffix, such as the Supercor and Hipercor supermarket outlets.

A Bitcor brand could potentially seek to retail crypto, particularly given the success of other high-street crypto retailers. These include Bitbase, which now has physical outlets in most of Spain’s biggest cities, with multiple outlets now operating in cities such as Barcelona and Madrid.
​​Drops ($DOP) have opened the Whitelist for their IDO on Polkastarter.

IDO Drops on Polkastarter will take place on the 21st of May. In order to participate you will need to hold at least 250 POLS on ERC20 or BEP20.

🔹 Hardcap at IDO: $200,000 (333,333 DOP)
🔹 Price at IDO: $0.60
🔹 Max allocation: $210

Previously Drops announced that they closed a private round raising $1m from such investors as Axia8 Ventures, Bitscale Capital, Blocksync, AU21, X21, D64 Ventures, Genblock and Drops Ventures. Also, their strategic partners include Polkastarter, Quantstamp, 0xb1, Kyros Ventures, Zokyo, PetRock Capital and BlockStar Technologies, as well as a number of high caliber angel investors.

Drops is a platform, which will bring a much needed DeFi-style infrastructure to the NFT market, providing such products as NFT trustless loans, NFT staking, liquid NFTs, and NFT vaults.

Find out more about Drops: https://t.me/drops_nft
Follow on Twitter: @dropsnft
​​Bitcoin whale MicroStrategy buys additional 271 BTC.

CEO Michael Saylor disclosed the $15 million BTC purchase on Thursday.

Bitcoin whale MicroStrategy buys additional 271 BTCNEWS

MicroStrategy, a Virginia-based business intelligence firm, has added another 271 Bitcoin (BTC) to its strategic reserves, underscoring CEO Michael Saylor’s growing conviction in the digital asset.

The purchases were made through May 13 for an average price of $55,387, Saylor disclosed on Thursday. MicroStrategy now has 91,850 BTC on its books for an average purchase price of $24,403.

MicroStrategy also disclosed the purchase to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission through a Form 8-K filing that was submitted on Thursday.

Although MicroStrategy’s purchase appears to have coincided with the latest correction in Bitcoin’s price, which was spurred on by Elon Musk’s sudden decision to stop accepting BTC payments for Tesla vehicles, the business intelligence firm isn’t timing the market. Saylor indicated in February that he doesn’t intend to slow the rate of his company’s BTC purchasin as he snatched up another $1 billion worth of the digital asset.

MicroStrategy sits atop the Bitcoin corporate treasuries list, accounting for 0.437% of the asset’s circulating supply.

MicroStrategy is acquiring Bitcoin on the premise that the digital asset is a dependable store of value in the face of systemic dollar debasement. It has gone as far as issuing debt to expand its Bitcoin portfolio.

The United States’ M2 money supply has exploded since the 2008 financial crisis and, more recently, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since February 2020, the money supply has expanded nearly 30% to $19.896 trillion, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. To put that in perspective, the year-over-year increase in the M2 money supply had never exceeded 15% until 2020.
​​NYDFS taps former DOJ attorney as deputy virtual currency chief.

The former Department of Justice trial attorney has been with the New York State Department of Financial Services for eight years.

Debra Brookes’ new role with the New York State Department of Financial Services may suggest more of a focus on regulation through enforcement.

An attorney who has been working at New York’s Department of Financial Services, or NYDFS, since 2013, Brookes has served in key roles in the department’s Enforcement Division, Financial Frauds and Consumer Protection Division, and Consumer Protection and Financial Enforcement Division before becoming deputy virtual currency chief for its Research and Innovation Division in March. Prior to that, she worked as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice for five years, leading and participating in “complex white-collar investigations.”

Though the former DOJ attorney’s views on crypto have not been widely reported, she did contribute to a NYDFS report over the July 2020 hack on Twitter, which resulted in many high-profile accounts sending tweets fraudulently promising followers that they would double Bitcoin (BTC) payments sent to a specific address. That report concluded that “cryptocurrency companies had robust programs around cybersecurity, fraud-prevention, and anti-money laundering programs.”

With regulatory authority over many crypto exchanges and firms, the NYDFS has approved Goldman Sachs-backed crypto custodian BitGo to operate as an independent custodian in New York. The regulator has also granted BitLicenses — virtual currency licenses which allow firms to do business with customers and companies based in the state — to both global crypto payments processor BitPay and institutional cryptocurrency exchange Bakkt.

Brookes works under Jon Blattmachr, who has been the NYDFS' virtual currency chief since October 2020.
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​​'Crypto regulatory crackdown is starting' but it’ll be OK, says Avanti CEO.

Caitlin Long has stated she is optimistic about the crypto regulations that are taking shape in the United States as the focus is on taxation and compliance.

'Crypto regulatory crackdown is starting' but it’ll be OK, says Avanti CEO.

The founder and CEO of Avanti Financial, Caitlin Long says the “U.S. crypto regulatory crackdown” has begun, but emphasized it’s not a “Bitcoin ban.”

She said she was optimistic that the forthcoming regulations would simply bring crypto laws into line with standard financial rules around taxes and compliance.

There has been a renewed focus on regulations in recent weeks, with the brutal crypto market crash leaving left Washington fumbling for a response.

Avanti's CEO provided a chronology of nine news stories, public statements and announcements covering the IRS, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, FinCen, and the Secretary of the Treasury, among others, from May 5 to May 21, concluding the new regulations comprise a "compliance crackdown."

“It may not yet be over, but the pattern is pretty clear: it's a compliance crackdown for sure, but path for ‘responsible innovation’ in US does seem to remain open.”

Long highlighted a May 20 Department of the Treasury report that called for exchanges and custodians to report crypto transactions larger than $10,000.

“Leveraging this information — rather than introducing new requirements for taxpayers — is a proven way to improve compliance,” the report read.

Long also pointed out the Federal Reserve is taking aim at the stablecoin industry as well with the Fed chair Jerome Powell putting out a statement yesterday.

“As stablecoins’ use increases, so must our attention to the appropriate regulatory and oversight framework,” he said. He then remarked:

“This includes paying attention to private-sector payments innovators who are currently not within the traditional regulatory arrangements applied to banks, investment firms, and other financial intermediaries.”

Long characterized this as a “warning shot” saying that its “consistent w/ the theme-comply w/ laws & don't take shortcuts (i.e., get fully regulated as a bank & pay the full regulatory freight).”

In the statement Powell also revealed that the governing body is moving ahead with plans to research how to implement a U.S. central bank currency, or CBDC. The Fed chair noted the “key focus is on whether and how a CBDC could improve on an already safe, effective, dynamic, and efficient U.S. domestic payments system.”
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​​Domino's Pizza franchises in the Netherlands will offer workers Bitcoin salary.

Any employee who earns more than minimum wage will have the option for the excess salary to be paid in crypto.

Domino's Pizza franchises in the Netherlands will offer workers Bitcoin salary.

A franchisee of many Domino’s Pizza locations in the Netherlands announced today that its workers would have the choice of being paid in Bitcoin.

According to Immensus Holding, the franchisee behind 16 Domino's Pizza locations out of the more than 270 in the Netherlands, its employees will be able to choose between being paid in euros or Bitcoin (BTC) for all salary above the country’s minimum wage. BTC Direct, a Netherlands-based crypto firm with a fiat-to-crypto onramp, will handle the payments for any of the company’s more than 1000 employees who choose to participate.

"We are a modern company, and we work with a lot of young employees,” said Immensus co-owner Jonathan Gurevich. “We hear them talking about Bitcoin and we want to offer the opportunity to own cryptocurrency.”

Dutch law requires that companies pay minimum wage for employees in euros. The minimum monthly wage in the country depends on age and hours worked, but generally workers aged 15-18 could expect to earn more working at the pizza chain than required by local law, meaning they could potentially pocket a little Bitcoin monthly.

Immensus’ announcement it would offer BTC payments coincides with the 11th anniversary of the first successfully documented commercial transaction of cryptocurrency for two Papa John’s pizzas, an event now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day. However, it also comes the same week the price of Bitcoin and many cryptocurrencies experienced double digit percentage drops, with BTC almost dipping under $30,000.

"A monthly Bitcoin salary can be compared to dollar cost averaging into Bitcoin," said BTC Direct's Jerrymie Marcus. "So all the benefits are the same, you don't have to time the market, and in the long run you cancel out short and mid term volatility. This actually benefits the employee, they save value automatically in an ever-increasing asset."

In 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz’s purchase of those pizzas cost him 10,000 BTC — worth hundreds of millions of dollars now. However, even some Bitcoin bulls and pizza lovers are seemingly hesitant to use BTC as a medium of exchange.

On Tuesday, Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano, known for his educational podcasts on crypto, announced he was launching a pizza company aimed at supporting small business and the Human Rights Foundation's Bitcoin Development Fund. However, customers at the Bitcoin Pizza venture can only use crypto cards for payment. Pomp later explained his reasons for not accepting BTC:

"We don't want people giving up their Bitcoin for pizza, but rather we are working to raise money in the form of depreciating fiat dollars to help fund Bitcoin development.”
​​Fed-Published DeFi Study By a European Professor Boosts Industry Morale.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) remains a niche market, but its efficiency, transparency, accessibility, and composability make for interesting characteristics, enabling it to potentially contribute to a more robust and transparent global financial infrastructure, according to a study published by the St. Louis branch of the US Federal Reserve (Fed).

However, it is written not by the Fed but by Fabian Schär, Professor of distributed ledger technologies and fintech and Managing Director of the Center for Innovative Finance at the Faculty of Business and Economics of Switzerland’s University of Basel.

“DeFi still is a niche market with relatively low volumes — however, these numbers are growing rapidly. The value of funds that are locked in DeFi-related smart contracts recently crossed 10 billion USD,” the author said.

“The spectacular growth of these assets alongside some truly innovative protocols suggests that DeFi may become relevant in a much broader context and has sparked interest among policymakers, researchers, and financial institutions.”

Also, in his research, Schär used a multi-layered framework to analyze DeFi’s architecture and building blocks. These include token standards, decentralized exchanges, decentralized debt markets, blockchain derivatives, as well as on-chain asset management protocols. The framework enabled him to highlight the opportunities and potential risks within the DeFi ecosystem.

“DeFi has unleashed a wave of innovation. On the one hand, developers are using smart contracts and the decentralized settlement layer to create trustless versions of traditional financial instruments. On the other hand, they are creating entirely new financial instruments that could not be realized without the underlying public blockchain,” according to the paper. “Atomic swaps, autonomous liquidity pools, decentralized stablecoins, and flash loans are just a few of many examples that show the great potential of this ecosystem.”

This said, the researcher recognized that, while “this technology has great potential, there are certain risks involved. Smart contracts can have security issues that may allow for unintended usage, and scalability issues limit the number of users.”

eanwhile, the paper is already echoing through the cryptosphere, triggering the enthusiasm of various industry representatives, including Jay Hao, CEO of crypto exchange OKEx who called the study “the gem of the day”. Others, such as a DeFi investor who tweets as Arthur, admitted they “didn't expect it to come this early”.

Some industry observers even claimed that the study’s publication could indicate a forthcoming re-orientation in the Fed’s conservative approach to DeFi.

“Someone at the Fed had to accept the article for publication. Someone at the Fed decided it was adequately reviewed. The St. Louis Fed is promoting the article through its Twitter feed. Don’t downplay it too much,” a user who goes by the name Notorious PtG, replied to a remark that the Fed is not the author of the report.
​​Vitalik argues that proof-of-stake is a 'solution' to Ethereum’s environmental woes.

The stakes are high for the chain to transition, as those that don't risk getting 'left behind.'

At a conference yesterday, Ethereum co-founder and unofficial figurehead Vitalik Buterin argued that Ethereum’s upcoming transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism is a “solution” to the blockchain’s rampant energy consumption that has been incensing critics as of late.

In an interview at the StartmeupHK virtual conference hosted from Hong Kong, Buterin said that while proof of stake is “still in its infancy and less battle-tested” than Ethereum’s current proof-of-work model, it can ultimately reduce the chain’s energy consumption by upwards of 10,000x.

The comments come amid a period of rampant criticism of blockchain technology for its ecological impact — including from some erstwhile supporters. Tesla founder Elon Musk recently undertook an about-face in regards to the car company accepting Bitcoin payments, saying that he could not encourage the use of fossil fuels via Bitcoin mining. In other threads, he also called for Dogecoin to increase its efficiency across several key metrics.

Buterin directly responded to these comments about scalability in a blog post on his website, laying out the problems with trying to scale by simply tweaking the parameters around blocksize.


Earlier in the month, Buterin also argued that Bitcoin’s continued use of proof-of-work means that the chain, which is currently the world’s largest, will eventually get “left behind” as users increasingly demand more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly options — a phenomenon he says makes it “possible” that Ethereum eventually eclipses Bitcoin and the largest digital asset.

Ultimately, Buterin seems to agree with critics regarding the need for blockchains to adopt newer, more efficient models — especially as the chain grows in volume and becomes a widely relied-upon computational network.

"This thing we’re building isn’t just a game anymore. It’s a significant part of a new era.”
​​Dogecoin surges 40% on back of Coinbase Pro listing, Musk tweets.

The meme coin’s renewed surge comes shortly after a listing on Coinbase and renewed meme posting by Elon Musk on Twitter.

Meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) gained more than 40% early on Wednesday morning, following its listing on Coinbase Pro and yet another flurry of tweets from self-appointed DOGE spokesperson Elon Musk.

Coinbase announced the listing of Dogecoin on its pro trader platform, Coinbase Pro, on Tuesday, sparking a swift revival in the coin’s fortunes. DOGE’s price sank 59% over the course of the previous month, following the wider market crash in early March.

On Tuesday, the coin’s price jumped from $0.3137 up to $0.4398 in the hours following the Coinbase announcement, resulting in 40% growth overnight.

Coinbase is now accepting inbound deposits in anticipation of Dogecoin trading starting in earnest on Thursday, assuming enough liquidity is present. Trading will commence across five trading pairs: DOGE/USD, DOGE/BTC, DOGE/EUR, DOGE/GBP and DOGE/USDT.

Tesla’s Musk may have lent further exposure to DOGE on Tuesday when he posted yet another Dogecoin meme. This time, the meme showed the eponymous dog huddled over a 1980s computer setup accompanied by the caption: “I have to keep my passion hidden from the public or I’ll be socially ostracized.”


Musk also retweeted an old Dogecoin meme he first tweeted in 2020, depicting the dog sweeping across the world as it replaces the existing financial system.

In between moving the coin prices of both Dogecoin and Bitcoin (BTC), Musk has also taken care to remind his 56 million followers that he isn’t officially connected to the project in any way and that his ability to affect change on it was limited.
​​Bitcoin 2021 Miami continues with Tony Hawk, Kevin O’Leary and more.

Saturday’s programming will also feature Bobby Lee, the former CEO of China’s first cryptocurrency exchange.

Bitcoin 2021 Miami continues following Friday's massive opening of the historic event.

The events kick off at 9:00 am Eastern Time (1:00 pm UTC) with opening remarks by a Miami-Dade County commissioner. Cointelegraph will continue posting Bitcoin 2021 updates on Twitter as well as the YouTube channel.

One of the key speakers for day two will be Tony Hawk, an American skateboarding icon and entrepreneur. Hawk made a major move into the cryptocurrency industry earlier this year, releasing an NFT drop via Ethernity Chain in March featuring a tokenized video of his final 540-degree ollie.

The famous skateboarder will deliver a speech on “When A Counterculture Goes Mainstream” at the Nakamoto Stage at 9:45 am ET (1:45 am UTC). Hawk will also have a meet-and-greet session offering attendees the chance to get a limited-edition skateboard deck signed by the legend.

Hawk’s speech will be followed by a panel discussion devoted to cryptocurrency mining — one of the hottest topics in the crypto community. Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary will discuss crypto mining by public companies with Marathon CEO Fred Thiel, Riot Blockchain CEO Jason Les, and Frank Holmes, executive chairman of Hive Blockchain Technologies.

Saturday's event will also feature Bobby Lee, the former CEO of China’s first cryptocurrency exchange, BTCC, which was founded back in 2011. Currently the CEO of cryptocurrency hardware wallet Ballet, Lee will participate in the “Onboarding One Billion Bitcoiners” panel at the main stage at 11:40 am ET (3:40 pm UTC). He will later give a speech on the “Freedom of HODLing” on the End of Fiat Stage at 3:00 pm ET (7:00 pm UTC).

Lightning Labs co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Stark will continue the event with a panel discussion titled “Bitcoin For Billions, Not Billionaires” alongside strategic investor Lyn Alden. Other notable Bitcoin 2021 day-two speakers include Bitcoin programmer Jimmy Song, Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz, Paxos co-founder and CEO Charles Cascarilla, OKCoin CEO Hong Fang, and Google product director Steve Lee.

The last Nakamoto Stage panel called “Evolution Of Exchanges” will start at 3:35 pm ET (7:35 pm UTC) and will feature Avanti CEO Caitlin Long, Alameda Research founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Huobi Global vice president Ciara Sun, and ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees.
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