Bitcoin crowdfunding is Lightning 💰, Microsoft axes Bing wait list 🙅♂, SEC has 10 days: Legal exec 🗣
Daily Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 Update 2023-05-05
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Bitcoin crowdfunding is Lightning: El Salvador school program hits 1 BTC in donations (3 min read)
There’s a beacon of light in the bear market tunnel. The Salvadoran nonprofit program Mi Primer Bitcoin, or My First Bitcoin, has raised over 1 Bitcoin in donations — not from venture capitalists and investors but from generous Bitcoin education advocates worldwide.
Donations flooded in from countries like Venezuela, Poland and Canada as hundreds of people worldwide sent satoshis (Bitcoin’s smallest denomination) over the Lightning Network to fund the expansion of My First Bitcoin’s Bitcoin Diploma program.
How are Bitcoin options traders positioning for the US banking crisis? (5 min read)
For the past 14 days, cryptocurrency markets have been trading within an unusually tight 7.1% range. In other words, investors are unwilling to place new bets until there’s additional regulatory clarity, especially in the United States.
The recent crypto sideways trend suggests that investors are hesitant to place new bets until there’s more clarity on whether the U.S. Treasury will continue injecting liquidity to contain the banking crisis, which favors inflation and positive momentum for scarce assets.
Bitcoin drops with stocks as analyst warns of banking crisis ‘endgame’ (5 min read)
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD losing ground as the S&P 500 shed 0.7%. The risk asset comedown accompanied more mayhem for U.S. regional bank stocks, with PacWest Bancorp once again leading the way, falling over 50% on the day.
The embattled lender had already seen major losses and, at the time of writing, was down 86.5% year-to-date. In a statement, the bank nonetheless described its position as “solid.”
As Cointelegraph reported, reassurances of U.S. authorities over the banking system stability appeared at odds with reality for many commentators, with confusion only increasing as the crisis continued.
BLOCKCHAIN
SEC has 10 days to respond to Coinbase complaint: Legal exec (2 min read)
According to a May 4 announcement from Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit responded to the complaint against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the need for clear rules for trading digital assets. This marks a development in the legal battle for regulatory clarity.
According to Grewal, the court’s response to their complaint against the SEC was a text-only order. The court has instructed the SEC to respond to Coinbase’s writ of mandamus within ten days. A writ of mandamus is a court order addressed to an inferior government official, ordering them to fulfill their official duties properly.
Bitget pledges $10M for Blockchain4Youth corporate responsibility project (2 min read)
On May 4, cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitget announced it would allocate $10 million over five years for its novel corporate social responsibility project. Dubbed "Blockchain4Youth," the project will provide blockchain courses and certifications through Bitget Academy and host campus lectures in partnership with universities worldwide. In addition, Bitget staff wrote:
"The platform will also collaborate with other leading blockchain firms to incubate innovative projects by young entrepreneurs and host U30 (Under the age of 30) hackathons to identify the most promising ones."
NFTs
A new frontier for collectibles: Preserving music history in NFTs with Legends of Rock (4 min read)
Music memorabilia has entered the digital age as NFTs, giving fans and collectors secure access to rare music history.
Legends of Rock, which was acquired by Globe Entertainment and Media back in 2020. The collection, which had been owned by British photo agencies and archives for decades, was then shipped to Las Vegas. Packed in standard postal containers, it looked unlikely to contain anything of high value or importance.
BUSINESS
Microsoft axes Bing wait list, giving users free access to GPT-4 (4 min read)
Microsoft recently announced a slew of new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered features for its Bing chatbot and Edge web browser. Chief among the changes, Bing users now have full access to the GPT-4 model — the same underlying engine that powers ChatGPT’s “Plus” subscription service.
Aside from giving Bing, Edge and Windows users free, unfettered access to the GPT-4 model, Microsoft also announced upcoming support for multimodal outputs, chat history and plug-ins.
Arbitrum’s Chronos reaches $217M TVL with staking, becomes 8th largest DEX (3 min read)
Chronos set a new TVL milestone just seven days after its launch on the Arbitrum blockchain as DEXs draw traders amid regulatory uncertainty in the United States.
With the new TVL figures, Chronos ranks eighth among the largest decentralized exchanges, according to DefiLlama. In DeFi, TVL represents the funds held or staked within a protocol.
The TVL milestone was reached in the first few hours after Epoch 1, initiating the emission of Chronos (CHR) tokens into liquidity pools. The initiation of Epoch 1 also allowed stakers to begin collecting rewards.
How to attract and retain top Web3 talents — Intropia Report (5 min read)
“Web3 is like a club, with smart, like-minded individuals who are working toward a common goal,” the report summarizes, noting that more than half of the respondents (over 57%) rated their enjoyment of working in the Web3 space at 10 out of 10. The main concerns that stood out were scam projects, the fear of missing out (FOMO), and the slow rate of adoption.
The report urges projects seeking to hire Web3 professionals to embrace the diversity of the ecosystem. Because word-of-mouth is strong in the Web3 space, the top talent primarily uses referrals as a way to find their next gig. With a deeper understanding of the available talent pool, the industry will move forward with the next wave of innovation.