Ripple Labs Inc, which is embroiled in a high-profile battle with the U.S. securities regulator, is interested in potentially purchasing assets of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, according to a company spokesperson.
“We are interested in learning about Celsius and its assets, and whether any could be relevant to our business,” the spokesperson said, declining to say if Ripple was interested in acquiring Celsius outright.
Ripple has continued to grow through the crypto market turmoil and “is actively looking for M&A opportunities to strategically scale the company,” the spokesperson said.
New Jersey-based Celsius froze withdrawals in June citing “extreme” market conditions and filed for bankruptcy in New York last month, listing a $1.19 billion deficit on its balance sheet.
Last week, lawyers for Ripple submitted filings to the bankruptcy court seeking to be represented in the proceedings. The court approved the filing earlier this week. Ripple is not among Celsius’ major creditors, Celsius’ bankruptcy filings show. Ripple provided the comment in response to Reuters’ queries regarding the court filings.
A lawyer approved to represent Ripple declined to comment. Celsius did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cryptocurrencies have had a rocky year, with the world’s largest, bitcoin, down nearly 70% from its all-time high of $69,000 in November. Markets were shaken by the collapse of the popular terraUSD and luna tokens in May, which caused widespread losses for several major industry players.
According to bankruptcy filings, Celsius’ assets include digital assets held in custody accounts, loans, a bitcoin mining business, the company’s own CEL token and bank cash and cryptocurrencies that Celsius has on hand.
Privately owned Ripple has not previously done any major deals. It was valued at around $15 billion following a private stock buyback in January, the company said, although industry valuations have fallen significantly during a cryptocurrency price crash over the past few months that helped topple Celsius and other cryptocurrency firms.
Ripple’s total sales of its cryptocurrency XRP, net of purchases, were $408.9 million in the second quarter, compared with $273.27 million in the first quarter, according to a report the company put out in July.
The company was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2020 over XRP. The agency alleges that Ripple and its current and former chief executives have been conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering by selling XRP, which Ripple’s founders created in 2012.
Ripple and the executives have denied the allegations, and the company has argued that XRP has traded and been used as a digital currency.
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Hundreds of Blockchain specialists are heading to Santa Clara in California on Oct. 5 and 6, 2022 to share their insights about the most recent developments within the blockchain ecosystem. This year’s edition will include high-level speakers representing some of the most exciting brands in the industry, including Pfizer, Oracle, PayPal, Johnson and Johnson and many more.
The event serves as the perfect opportunity to network with the sector’s leaders, learn more about the newest developments and join thought-provoking discussions about blockchain. Visitors will benefit from two days of interactive panel discussions and inspiring presentations delivered by leading industry experts.
The Blockchain Expo is part of six co-located events, all taking place at the same time. This includes IoT Tech Expo, AI and Big Data, blockchain, cyber security and cloud congress, Digital Transformation Week and the Edge Computing Expo.
This year’s edition is bringing some of the biggest blockchain specialists. During the event, the attendees will have a chance to listen to talks from:
- Chris Johnson — director, head of international data governance at Walmart
- Flora Nanda — blockchain technology lead at Pfizer
- Anita Rao — director at PayPal
- Mark Christianson — digital experience delivery senior lead at Mars
- Medha Parlikar — chief technical officer and co-founder of CasperLabs
Not to mention representatives from Oracle, Wells Fargo, Johnson and Johnson, LinkedIn and many more.
Lia Richards, head of conference at Blockchain Expo, said, “It’s great to be back in North America with such an exciting lineup. We are expecting 5,000 attendees, with over 250 speakers spread across six co-located events — for everyone involved in digital technologies, this expo is a must-attend.”
Tickets for the expo floor are available free of charge, while one-day passes for conference tracks start from $399. However, TechEx is offering complimentary two-day passes for industry leaders and senior executives. The number of complimentary passes is limited and can be requested.
Registration for free expo passes is open.
The tech investment world has grown rapidly in the 20 years since the Dotcom boom. Investors have gone from investing in microchip manufacturing companies to internet marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
Even though investors understand the rapid changes and growth of the tech world, they have been apprehensive about investing in Web3 (crypto, blockchain, etc.) and the Metaverse. However, this all changed when Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is building the Metaverse.
The Metaverse concept coming to reality helped investors understand how the world will shift from Web2, which runs on a centralized internet, to Web3, which works seamlessly in a decentralized fashion.
Moreover, this has allowed investors to see that the value crypto brings is not just about tokens that rise and fall in price, but that crypto is about a peer-to-peer transaction system that is fast and connected to all aspects of Web3 and the Metaverse, and that this is how tech will evolve and be pushed to the next level.
Since then, governments around the world have announced billions of dollars in funding for Metaverse and Web3 development.
In fact, the Dubai government aims to create 40,000 jobs in the Metaverse over the next five years as well as add $4 billion into the economy through Metaverse and Web3 development. It’s for this reason that a summit such as MetaVSummit exists. MetaVSummit helps bring the top Web3 and Metaverse companies from over 20 countries to meet investors and strategic partners in Dubai.
With the help of title sponsor CyCoin, which is one of the largest Web3 ecosystem projects with its own Metaverse, MetaVSummit will bring together hundreds of founders and engineers from the Metaverse and Web3 world to showcase companies and innovations in Dubai on Sept. 14 and 15, 2022.
MetaVSummit continues to focus on making sure that Dubai and GCC investors and strategic partners are being educated to maximum capacity on Web3 and Metaverse developments.
The event will continue to push for this mission, as the belief in a Web3 decentralized world is strong and much-needed for humanity to progress without borders.
America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has reported a massive loss in both revenue and profit in the June quarter – logging $1.1 billion in net loss as revenue declined from $2.033 billion to $803 million from a year-ago quarter which is a drop of nearly 60 percent.
In quarterly terms, net revenue of Coinbase was down 31 percent compared to Q1, driven by lower trading volume.
“Q2 was a tough quarter, with trading volume and transaction revenue each down by 30 percent and 35 percent sequentially, respectively. Both metrics were influenced by a shift in customer and market activity, driven by macroeconomic and crypto credit factors alike,” the company said after reporting its Q2 results late on Tuesday.
“On the expense side, we’ve taken several steps to streamline our cost structure, including an 18 percent employee reduction in June,” it revealed.
“The current downturn came fast and furious, and we are seeing customer behaviour mirror that of past down markets,” the company said in its shareholder letter.
Total trading volume declined to $217 billion, down 30 per cent compared to Q1. In contrast, total crypto spot trading volume declined 3 percent on a sequential basis, resulting in lower trading volume market share, said the company.
“Q2 was a test of durability for crypto companies and a complex quarter overall. Dramatic market movements shifted user behavior and trading volume, which impacted transaction revenue, but also highlighted the strength of our risk management programme,” said Coinbase.
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Trippin’ Ape Tribe, a community-first profile picture nonfungible token (NFT) project recently launched on Solana, is already shattering records. With hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter before its mint event even began, this community-backed project broke Solana’s record for 24-hour sales volume on its first day in the market. At OpenSea and Magic Eden, it topped the charts for 24-hour sales volume and seven-day sales volume, beating blue-chip Ethereum projects by a large margin.
These overwhelming sales numbers also supplemented Solana’s run to surpass Ethereum’s daily NFT sales volume for the first time. With $14.5 million in sales, Trippin’ Ape contributed more revenue to this total volume than any other NFT collection.
Trippin’ Ape Tribe breaks records at Solana
As 10,000 Trippin’ Apes ascend into the NFT realm, this list of broken records doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. The collection also broke the record for the highest opening price on the secondary market, trading several times the mint price.
One of the critical factors of the collection’s success and continuous growth is its engaged community. Community members and believers take to social media, especially Twitter and Discord, to show their support and raise awareness for the project, often by using the artwork as a profile picture.
Talking about the overwhelming response the collection has received, Fenrus, the marketing lead behind Trippin’ Ape Tribe, said, “It’s been exciting to see our project break all sorts of records for hype and sales volume right out of the gate. It shows how much the community has connected with the art, storytelling and mystique — really, the brand — we’ve been building. At the same time, it’s humbling to recognize we’re standing on the shoulders of giants. Solana is going through a massive influx right now, and it feels good to be a part of it.”
Building exciting new partnerships
To continue with an approach of building relentlessly, the Trippin’ Apes team is creating exciting new partnerships with the best projects in the industry. This includes Magic Eden, a key NFT marketplace on Solana; NFT Technologies, a leading investor and incubator; IBC Group, an industry-leading incubator and accelerator in the blockchain space; and numerous collaborations with Solana NFT projects and known personalities in the space. These partnerships will help Trippin’ Ape Tribe catalyze its operations, community and marketing growth.
Moreover, Lysergic, the co-founder of the collection, owns and operates various music festivals and live events in the United States, boasting a decade of experience. Backed by Lysergic’s expertise, the team also partnered with some of the biggest names in the Solana ecosystem to organize a major event at NFT NYC 2022 last month.
About Trippin’ Apes
Aside from its central focus on community development, what sets Trippin’ Ape Tribe apart from other Solana NFT projects is its strong and ownable branding, cheeky storytelling and innovative long-term utility. The project is built around the story of 10,000 apes who have fallen under the trance of a mysterious, charismatic leader, Chorles, who promises salvation to his followers but insists he is building a tribe, not a cult.
Operating under a parent company, Valhalla Labs, the founding team has ambitious plans to leverage its diverse experience in software development, branding and event production to add tangible value to Trippin’ Ape holders and the ecosystem as a whole. Most recently, Valhalla Labs has added its new creative director Tim Deasy, former design director for luxury fashion brand Off-White. Deasy will draw from nearly 13 years of experience to create a standalone apparel brand that appeals not only to the Web3 community but also to the global mainstream.
Trippin’ Ape holders have already received a free, mysterious airdrop that has led to speculation and fan theories around its role in the project’s lore and a gamified quest to ascension. Bucking the trend of a traditional roadmap, the team has maintained an air of mystery surrounding the next steps for the project in the spirit of storytelling and rewarding holders with the strongest conviction.
The project will continue to focus on developing rich lore and engaging on-chain utility that moves the entire space forward. In addition, Valhalla Labs intends to onboard new community members into Web3 by launching and establishing connections to physical brands and live events and eventually fueling the community’s growth and sustainability.
The first edition of Next Block Expo will be held in Berlin on Nov. 23 and 24, 2022 with more than 5,000 attendees. In four months from now, the Berlin Station will be the most important place in the European blockchain map, linking together the most important names in the industry.
“We are bringing founders, investors and blockchain experts together to redefine and discover Web3’s future,” said Next Block Expo co-founder Tom Kopera.
Along with the 5,000 in-person attendees, another 10,000 will be watching online. The venue has ample space to host more than 100 exhibitors and sponsors, while everyone will get the chance to listen to more than 50 top blockchain speakers.
Next Block Expo is the biggest blockchain festival in Europe dedicated to Web3 startups, no matter the stage of development. The event brings together founders, angel and retail investors, venture capital firms, developers and software houses, and all kinds of industry experts.
There will be six types of events to attend. The most influential people in the blockchain space will share their visions about Web3 from the main stage in the form of presentations, while round tables will provide an opportunity to understand different perspectives from specialists and experts. During Workshops, experts will share their insight and knowledge with participants. All exhibitors will be able to submit their projects to the pitch contest, where the best startups will be selected by experts. Hackathons are also planned for hardcore developers who want to learn hands-on, as well as side events organized directly by startups for their communities.
The conference will be divided into six content tracks:
- DeFi
- Blockchain gaming
- Metaverse/NFTs
- Scaling and infrastructure
- Web3 discovery
- Fundraising and investing
“It is a unique opportunity to either find partners for your project, talk to investors and venture capital firms, see what is ‘hyped’ and maybe find the next big thing to invest into,” said Kopera. “But most importantly, we want to focus on the future of Web3 — we are witnessing a new economy that is a combination of what Web3 already created, and now traditional sectors are jumping in. So let’s discuss, brainstorm and share our vision of the future.”
Next Block Expo is an extension of a previous event series held under the name Cryptocurrency World Expo over the last six years.
After bitcoin fell as much as 75% from its peak, crypto markets appear to have “found a floor,” JPMorgan said in a note on Monday.
Bitcoin and ether have surged 36% and 102% from their mid-June lows, respectively, and the total market value of cryptocurrencies has reclaimed the all-important $1 trillion level, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Analysts at JPMorgan said there are two reasons driving the recent strength in the cryptocurrency market.
“What has helped, we think, has been more limited new contagion from the collapse of Terra/Luna,” JPMorgan said, referring to the stablecoin implosion that led to tens of billions of dollars in losses and sparked a leverage unwind that wiped out crypto firms like hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and crypto broker Voyager Digital.
“However, we think the real driver has been the Ethereum merge and positive data following the launch of the Sapolia testnet in early July and Ropsten testnet in June, indicating the merge is viable in 2022,” JPMorgan said.
The upcoming Ethereum event has been highly anticipated by investors. The merge is designed to transfer the Ethereum blockchain away from a proof-of-work network and instead to a proof-of-stake system, which is supposed to be faster and more efficient from an energy consumption perspective when mining.
A successful Ethereum merge later this year should help boost sentiment in the crypto markets, JPMorgan said. The merge is currently expected to take place in September, depending how the upcoming Georli testnet performs. That test is schedule for August 11 and is one of the last steps before the merge.
While ether sees a strong resurgence, there’s still a long way to go before it and the broader crypto market recover recent losses. Trading volumes in crypto continued to fall in July, and daily trading volumes in NFTs have collapsed 84% year-over-year, JPMorgan said.
Ultimately, the ongoing recovery of the cryptocurrency market could hinge on the upcoming Ethereum merge in the short-term as crypto investors look for a much-needed boost in sentiment.
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Nuls Blockchain is delighted to announce its partnership with Suisse Blockchain. The partnership is a blend of expertise, as Suisse Blockchain is rooted in marketing and regulatory compliance while Nuls is grounded in blockchain and multichain technologies. Both are committed to a future where blockchain startups are enabled to grow and market their visions for the future of blockchain.
Together, Nuls and Suisse Blockchain are creating and supporting an initial decentralized exchange (IDO) and incubator platform.
Blockchain is known for its technical and legal complexities — high barriers for blockchain startups to navigate. The mission of Suisse Blockchain is to lower those barriers and enable startups to grow without the limits of potential roadblocks — in other words, to facilitate blockchain startups shaping their futures.
Streamlining the incubation process
The Suisse Blockchain team works hand-in-hand with the Nuls team, continually strengthening the security and future of upcoming projects. Blockchain is an evolving technology with constantly changing rules and regulations. It is important to navigate the immediate while keeping sight of the future.
Suisse Blockchain takes care of that through code auditing, due-diligence research and a deep commitment to regulation. The foundation of Suisse Blockchain is the legal framework of the forward-looking Swiss distributed ledger technology (DLT) law.
This collaboration enables blockchain ideas and visions not yet dreamed of to flourish. As more blockchain startups appear with new ideas and concepts combined with a metaverse-bound future, Suisse Blockchain will be there to provide assistance and guidance.
Nuls is excited to join with Suisse Blockchain in contributing to the predictable and unpredictable shape of the future of the blockchain space.
About Nuls
Nuls, based in Singapore, provides a blockchain infrastructure boasting cross-chain consensus, a multichain mechanism and smart contract support. Its combination of two blockchains, the Nuls and the NerveNetwork blockchain, allows for fast speeds and comparatively low transaction costs.
Its multichain wallet Nabox provides Suisse Blockchain with the ability to interact with multiple chains. This enables the blockchain startup incubator to host IDOs for projects from a variety of platforms and is not restricted to BNB or Ether (ETH). Being able to utilize 20-plus blockchains is a technical advantage uncommon in the industry.
About Suisse Blockchain
Suisse Blockchain is a company based in Chur, Switzerland. Founded in 2022, Suisse Blockchain is the first blockchain startup incubator created on the Swiss DLT law framework, allowing the project to be secure and progressive when it comes to regulations. The blockchain-experienced team takes care of the creation, acceleration and later expansion of the company, utilizing one of the most cost-effective and future-proof blockchain platforms.
For more details, visit the Suisse Blockchain website here.
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Working toward its stated goal to build the highest-performing, most reliable blockchain application programming interface (API) platform, Bware Labs, the company behind Blast, is launching the Houston Incentivized Testnet.
The purpose of the testnet mainly revolves around verifying all the technical aspects involved in the decentralization of the Blast API Platform, from the proprietary Node Integrity Protocol to the staking mechanism. At the same time, it aims at preparing future node providers for the mainnet launch while giving them the option to obtain enough funds to join the platform in its production state.
In terms of rewards, the total amount reserved for the entire Houston Testnet is 1 million Bware Tokens (BWR), which is 1% of the total token supply. The tokens received during the testnet will be sufficient for each participant to be able to run at least one node when the mainnet is live.
Bware Labs claims that — thanks to its integrity protocol and incentivization mechanism — the Blast API platform will be able to keep the highest level of performance in the industry even after decentralization takes place. This means that no change in the quality of service will be visible to its constantly growing number of adopters and customers, among which it can already enumerate CoinGecko, Decentralized Information Asset, Connext Network, Moonwell, Subscan, DappRadar and many others.
The first phase — dubbed the launch phase — of the Houston Testnet will be restricted to the companies’ closest partners from the infrastructure and node-operating segments. The list includes reputable companies with vast experience in running blockchain infrastructure such as Dokia Capital, Stakin, P2P, Hashquark, Hypersphere and Woodstock. Once this preliminary stage is completed, Bware Labs will welcome independent node runners to onboard the testnet in the orbit phase, or phase two, and earn rewards while helping the company achieve its mission of providing quality-driven, decentralized services.
The Houston Incentivized Testnet will end with the landing phase — the third phase, where the creativity of participants is required in finding improvements, corner cases or other feedback that will help the platform become more robust and easier to use by both API consumers and node providers.
All details for the Houston Testnet — as well as the schedule and missions for those interested in becoming Blast partners as node providers — are available on the Houston Testnet landing page at houston.blastapi.io/houston-testnet.
About Bware Labs
The mission of Bware Labs is to create an infrastructure and development ecosystem that can help Web3 builders throughout their entire blockchain journey. The company aims to play a decisive role in worldwide blockchain adoption.
Proving its commitment to bringing true reliability and quality to Web3, Bware Labs has partnered with some of the greatest names in the industry, such as Polygon, Avalanche, Elrond, Moonbeam and Fantom. This will further support blockchain development efforts by providing the highest quality infrastructure services in the crypto space.
Bware Labs also supports Blockchain projects from a validator role. Capitalizing on its engineering team’s vast blockchain experience, the company is trusted by more than 15 blockchain networks to run validators for its projects.
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Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has watched his investment in SafeMoon (SAFEMOON) crash by over 94%, proving to crypto enthusiasts that he is, in fact, capable of hodling during the bear market.
The stock trader and media personality took to Twitter Monday to lament his $40,000 investment in the meme coin, which has fallen to just $2,370.94 after he didn’t withdraw a single token. “Still holding by the way,” Portnoy said. “Diamond hands.”
Portnoy claimed that he’s also being sued by SafeMoon, possibly for “trashing” the project on his show, but didn’t elaborate much further. In a separate tweet, Portnoy shared a screenshot of SafeMoon’s sales manager expressing displeasure with the Barstool frontman for giving the company “a bad look and unfair representation.” Portnoy “mentioned his SafeMoon losses on air but failed to mention he hasn’t upgraded his holdings to V2 yet,” the manager complained.
Portnoy is no stranger to cryptocurrencies, having bought Bitcoin (BTC) in August 2020 only to sell it one week later due to volatility. He later expressed regret over his lack of conviction and went on to make several additional bets on cryptos, which included SafeMoon.
As far as prices go, SafeMoon is down over 99% from its all-time high of $0.00001399 in April 2021, according to CoinMarketCap. The coin has a lifetime return on investment of negative 86%.
SafeMoon was audited in May 2021 by blockchain security firm HashEx. At the time, the firm identified 12 smart contract vulnerabilities, including a “temporary ownership renounce” that made it especially prone to a rug pull.