USDT market 🔺 USDC 🔻, Beijing releases White Paper 🏯, Reddit Collectible Avatars 10M 🎈

Daily Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 Update 2023-05-29

CRYPTOCURRENCY

Bitcoin can bring ’cause and consequence of cyberspace,’ boost security — Michael Saylor (2 min read)

Bitcoin may be the answer to combating cybersecurity threats driven by artificial intelligence, such as deepfakes, Michael Saylor, executive chairman of MicroStrategy, said during a recent interview with Kitco News.

Saylor illustrated his views by using social media accounts created by robots as an example. According to him, billions of fake accounts are behind a digital “civil war” in today’s society, stirring up hatred among real users of digital platforms.

Another dormant Ethereum wallet reawakens after 8 years, moving millions (4 min read)

An Ether wallet that has been inactive since 2015 has suddenly awoken after eight years of dormancy, moving a total of 8,000 ETH in just two minutes.

The wallet received 8,000 ETH after participating in Ethereum’s ICO (initial coin offering) in 2015 and remained inactive until May 27. On that day, its owner began with a cautionary transfer of 1 ETH to a new wallet. One minute later, they transferred the remaining 7,999 ETH to the new wallet address.

USDT market share jumps amid economic uncertainty, but USDC shrinks (3 min read)

The market dominance of stablecoins pegged to the United States dollar has undergone some changes over the past year. While most of them are in a downward trend, Tether has climbed back to its all-time high, as data from CoinGecko shows.

In the past 12 months, Circle’s USD Coin has seen its market share decline from 34.88% to 23.05%. Tether’s USDT is meanwhile gaining ground. The stablecoin’s market dominance currently sits at 65.89%, from 47.04% one year ago.

Beijing releases white paper for Web3 innovation and development (2 min read)

Beijing’s municipal government has unveiled a white paper to foster innovation and advance the Web3 industry.

The “Web3 Innovation and Development White Paper” was revealed at the Zhongguancun Forum by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, also known as the Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park. According to a local news outlet, The Paper, the document recognizes Web3 technology as an “inevitable trend for future Internet industry development.“

BLOCKCHAIN

Institutions seek detailed blockchain analytics for crypto adoption, Elliptic (6 min read)

Large financial institutions are getting involved in digital assets by investing capital, time and effort into on-chain analytics solutions.

As more institutions explore digital assets, the need for on-chain analytics platforms has never been higher. Compliance experts, investigators and regulators employ these blockchain analytical tools to better understand the patterns and entities in cryptocurrency transactions.

Environmental impact of AI: Pioneering solutions for a sustainable future (8 min read)

The past several years have seen artificial intelligence (AI) emerge as a global transformative force possessing the power to revolutionize several industries. From autonomous vehicles to smart home devices, AI-driven solutions have permeated various aspects of our lives, promising increased efficiency and convenience. 

However, alongside these advancements, the environmental impact of AI has also come under scrutiny.

Nvidia introduces AI supercomputer to create ChatGPT successors (2 min read)

Nvidia continues to push forward in the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) tools and applications, as the company revealed plans to release more AI products. 

Speaking at the Computex show in Taiwan on May 28, the CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang unveiled a new AI supercomputer platform called DGX GH200. The supercomputer’s primary purpose is to aid tech companies in developing successors to the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, according to Huang.

NFTs

Reddit collectible avatars onboard nearly 10M into the crypto, NFT space (3 min read)

Social platform Reddit is close to breaching 10 million holders of its collectible avatars, or “Reddit NFTs,” nearly 11 months after its launch in July 2022. 

According to Dune Analytics, there are currently a total of 9,909,465 million Reddit collectible avatar holders. Around 7.7 million of these are identified as single collective avatar holders, or those that do not have multiple wallets.

BUSINESS

BNB NFT marketplace Tabi raises $10M in angel funding (2 min read)

Tabi, the nonfungible token marketplace previously as Treasureland, has completed a $10 million angel funding round, the BNB Chain-based platform announced on May 10.

According to developers, the funds will be primarily used to develop Tabi’s gaming ecosystem and construct its upcoming on-chain identity protocol.

Bybit gets pre-approval in Kazakhstan as crypto custody service provider (2 min read)

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit continues the expansion of its operations after receiving “in-principle” approval from regulators in Kazakhstan.

On May 29, the exchange announced its pre-approval from Kazakhstan’s Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) to operate as a digital asset trading facility and custody services provider at the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou sees great potential for crypto growth in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region.

Temasek slashes compensation for execs responsible for its $275M FTX investment (3 min read)

Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings has reduced compensation for the execs responsible for the firm’s investment in the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX. 

Temasek was once the second-largest outside investor in FTX, owning 7 million shares, according to Forbes. The firm, however, was forced to answer for its investment play after the exchange collapsed.

Turns out, it’s pretty difficult to insure crypto users and platforms (4 min read)

Crypto insurance providers spend enormous amounts of time judging whether to provide coverage to a crypto company, and almost none of them offer assurances to individuals, insurance and crypto executives told Cointelegraph.

Last year saw $3.9 billion stolen from crypto companies, decentralized finance platforms and users, a massive 22% rise from the prior year — and that’s only counting hacks and exploits. Some believe 2023 could be even worse.

QUICK LINKS

Tourists are unhappy with crypto payments ban in Bali (2 min read)

The government of Bali, Indonesia, recently cracked down on crypto payments for goods and services, reminding tourists that the Indonesian rupiah is the only legal tender. Some tourists were dissatisfied with the decision, saying that they would not visit again.

‘Dealt with firmly’ — Bali governor issues warning to tourists using crypto (2 min read)

Cryptocurrency trading is legal in Indonesia, but the use of crypto for payments carries hefty penalties, including jail time.

Debt ceiling, bank crisis set for ‘powder keg’ explosion: BitMEX co-founder (3 min read)

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes believes it will cause significant volatility in Bitcoin as well, suggesting it won't likely reach a new all-time high this year.

Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade made it easier to detect criminals (7 min read)

Staking rewards following Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade have made it easier for investigators to spot counterintuitive behavior by ETH holders.

Arbitrum-based Jimbos Protocol hacked, losing $7.5M in Ether (3 min read)

Adding to the growing number of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol hacks in the crypto industry, Jimbos Protocol is the latest to suffer an attack resulting in a significant loss of funds.

Lawyer uses ChatGPT in court and now ‘greatly regrets’ it (2 min read)

A New York attorney has been blasted for using ChatGPT for legal research as part of a lawsuit against a Columbian airline.

7 presidential candidates have dropped clues about their crypto stance (7 min read)

In late 2024, citizens of the United States will take to the voting booths to elect their next president — a four-year term that could have a vast impact on the next crypto bull run.