Blockchain Industry Update(Matrixport, Coinbase, Messari)

This week find out reasons for Bitcoin price variation which is momentarily or collective market behavior.

Bitcoin

• Matrixport raises $100M and hits Unicorn status with $1B Valuation. The two-year-old company was launched in 2019 by Bitmain co-founders Jihan Wu and Ge Yuesheng and has raised $129 million to date.
• Bitcoin price clings to $38K, but Dollar Index bounce could put BTC under pressure. Bitcoin is in wait-and-see mode as the dollar trades near two-month lows on warnings that the Fed would continue its stimulus programs.
• Public Miner HUT 8 now holds over 4,000 Bitcoin worth $150 Million. Publicly traded Hut 8 has seen its Bitcoin mining production increase by 50 percent in the wake of China’s crackdown on its domestic industry.
• Fashion designer Philipp Plein with 2.5 million followers is now accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other cryptos. Luxury fashion and crypto collide to make adoption happen.
• Bitcoin and Ethereum hit resistance with $42.5K flip needed for BTC longs. One analyst says he is “not interested at all” in trading current levels as clear long-term resistance stays in play for both cryptocurrencies.
• Bitcoin whales have moved huge sums of BTC transactions in a period of one hour. The whale’s transactions amount to 41,671 BTC worth $1.78 billion.

Ethereum

• Coinbase expands Apple Pay options for Bitcoin and Ethereum buys. Apple Pay has been available on Coinbase but only for those with the company-branded debit card. Now, anyone with a Visa or Mastercard debit card can use it too.
• Ethereum approaches $3K resistance as Bitcoin price rebounds toward $40K. A sudden change of sentiment on lower timeframes gives bulls something to smile about after a downtrend is swiftly cancelled out.
• Ethereum network burns $12 million in ETH in first 24 hours since EIP-1559. The upgrade happened yesterday.
• Ethereum price soars above $3K into ‘red zone’ triggering sell-off fears An on-chain indicator, notorious for accurately predicting Ether tops, returns amid the ongoing price rally.

Crypto

• Monero’s former maintainer arrested in the US for allegations unrelated to cryptocurrency. An arrest warrant for Riccardo Spagni was issued on July 20, 2021, at the request of the South African government.
• Messari, which gathers and explains data about cryptocurrency markets, has raised $21 million in Series A funding, according to a press release today from the company.
• CryptoQuant has just completed a successful funding round. The funds racked up to $3 million with leading investor — Hashed.
• New bill in Ukraine to allow payments in cryptocurrency. The deputy minister of Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation believes that crypto payments will be allowed in Ukraine similarly to payments deriving from the U.S. dollar.
• Global investment bank JPMorgan is now offering six cryptocurrency investment funds to clients despite its CEO, Jamie Dimon, continually advising against investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
• US Binance CEO Brian Brooks steps down amid rising regulatory scrutiny.
• The biggest challenge for crypto exchanges is global price fragmentation. For decentralized markets to scale globally, the interoperability between cryptocurrency exchanges must be seamless.
• Ukraine’s draft law on virtual assets is now being prepared in the second reading. Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation says it’s possible to legally pay with crypto.

NFT

• Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. will purchase 30,000 additional bitcoin miners for $120.7 million. The new machines would further increase the scale of the Marathon mining operations by 30%.
• FTX is creating an NFT-focused sports and entertainment marketplace. FTX is partnering up with entertainment company Dolphin Entertainment to create the marketplace.
• CryptoPunk NFT mania drives average punk price up to $135,000. Buoyant demand for CryptoPunks shows revival of interest in NFTs.
• NFT marketplace MakersPlace has raised $30 million in a Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Pantera Capital.
• Tencent and Alibaba try to pursue NFT Business. Two of China’s biggest tech giants have quietly launched their own NFT trading platforms in recent weeks – despite the fact that the country’s authorities are currently waging an all-out war on crypto.
• 7 NFT markets saw over $356M in monthly value transferred. The quantity of monthly USD value transferred from seven leading non-fungible token marketplaces has reached a otal of $356 million during the first week of August.
• Yahoo Japan and Line, a messaging giant, aims at enabling NFT trading on the Line’s blockchain.

Others

• Rothschild’s trust led funding round for Aspen Digital’s London expansion.
  Aspen Digital aims for the Europe, Asia and Middle Eastern markets, leading the initiative by establishing headquarters in London and Singapore.
• DeFi platform Popsicle Finance suffers $20 million exploit. This adds to the list of more than 20 DeFi hacks that have happened so far this year, pushing the total haul north of $310 million.
• In the latest Insured Finance Newsletter, the Popsicle Finance attack is detailed, and it’s explained how investors can protect against such risks. Further the Insured Finance Teams presents major development updates.
• Insured Finance to host AMA led by Chief Information Officer and Lead Developer. The AMA will allow community members and prospective users to pose their questions regarding the upcoming marketplace. 12th of August at 7PM HK Insured Finance Telegram

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