The cryptocurrency ecosystem as a whole has taken a back seat to events in the larger world but this is not stopping developers from building. One project that has recently begun to gain traction thanks to its focus on creating a high throughput, low-cost blockchain network is Bitgert (BRISE), a crypto engineering organization that has set out to build a blockchain network capable of processing 100,000 transactions per second for little to no cost for the user. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and CoinGecko shows that since hitting a low of $0.000000157 on Feb. 8, the price of BRISE has …

The geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine has resulted in investors seeking safe-haven assets. Contrary to expectations by crypto investors, Bitcoin (BTC) has failed to rise along with gold and it remains closely correlated with the U.S. stock markets. Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, said that the actions of governments freezing accounts, blocking payments and the inflating U.S. dollar should all be positive for crypto but the price action suggests a lack of large inflows. On-chain data suggests that investors may be accumulating Bitcoin for the long term. Data from Santiment shows that 21 out of the past …

Bitcoin (BTC) plunged below $40,000 on March 4 and has been trading below the level throughout the weekend. Although the crypto price action has been volatile in the past few days, Glassnode data shows that institutional investors have been gradually accumulating Bitcoin through the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares since December 2021. Another positive sign has been that fund managers have not panicked and dumped their holdings in GBTC. This suggests that managers possibly are bullish in the long term, hence they are riding out the short term pain. Bloomberg Intelligence said in their crypto market outlook report on March …

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with other recent events, have revealed the need for a fully digital economy, giving rise to Metaverse ecosystems, Web3 platforms and the adoption of digital currencies. For example, the Ukrainian government recently reached out to the crypto community on Twitter asking for donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT). Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have also gained mainstream adoption as artists and creators across the globe have discovered new forms of monetization with these models. While innovative, these use cases also demonstrate the notion that blockchain-based concepts that emerged early on often take years to …

2022 has not been a good start for cryptocurrencies and to date, the total market capitalization has dropped by 21% to $1.77 trillion. Solana's (SOL) correction has been even more brutal, presenting a 48.5% correction year-to-date. Solana leads the staking charts with $35 billion in value locked, which is equivalent to 74% of the SOL tokens in circulation. Multiple reasons can be identified for the underperformance, including four network outages in late 2021 and early 2022. The latest incident on Jan. 7 was attributed to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, causing Solana Lab developers to update the code and consequently …

The layer-one (L1) ecosystem has received increased attention in recent months as users search for new investment opportunities in the Cosmos (ATOM), Fantom (FTM) and NEAR. Following January's market sell-off, where Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped to bottom below $34,000, much of the L1 field has struggled to regain its momentum. According to data from Delphi Digital, since the BTC bottom on Jan. 24, the only L1 to experience a notable gain in price include Terra (LUNA), Avalanche (AVAX) and Ethereum (ETH). Terra ecosystem growth The price growth seen in LUNA was in large part due to the announcement from the …

Impermanent loss is one of the most recognized risks that investors have to contend with when providing liquidity to an automated market maker (AMM) in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Although it is not an actual loss incurred from the liquidity provider’s (LP) position — rather an opportunity cost that occurs when compared with simply buying and holding the same assets — the possibility of getting less value back at withdrawal is enough to keep many investors away from DeFi. Impermanent loss is driven by the volatility between the two assets in the equal-ratio pool — the more one asset …

Despite the ongoing volatility plaguing the digital asset sector, one niche that has undoubtedly continued to flourish is the nonfungible token (NFT) market. This is made evident by the fact that a growing number of mainstream mover and shakers including the likes of Coca-Cola, Adidas, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and McDonalds, among many others, have made their way into the burgeoning Metaverse ecosystem in recent months. Also, owing to the fact that over the course of 2021 alone, global NFT sales topped out at $40 billion, many analysts expect this trend to continue into the future. For example, …

The United States Senate unanimously approved a bill amendment request that now allows traditional banks operating in the Commonwealth of Virginia to provide virtual currency custody services. Delegate Christopher T. Head introduced the bill (House Bill No. 263) back in January 2022, seeking an amendment to allow eligible banks to offer crypto custody services: “A bank may provide its customers with virtual currency custody services so long as the bank has 26 adequate protocols in place to effectively manage risks and comply with applicable laws.” The bill passed Senate with a sweeping 39-0 vote and is waiting to be signed …

Decentralized finance projects like Ren pumped in 2021, only to finish the year right back when they started as high fees on Ethereum (ETH) led to decreased activity for many protocols and DeFi took a backseat to more popular sectors like nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Now, it appears as though that downtrend is in the process of reversing course after recent global events highlighted the benefits of DeFi and holding assets outside the traditional financial system. This week REN price climbed 69% from a low of $0.247 on Feb. 24 to a daily high of $0.418 on March 3. Three reasons …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) was the talk of the town in early 2021, but it has since taken a back seat to more appealing sectors like nonfungible tokens (NFTs), memecoins and blockchain gaming. Now that cross-chain bridges and interoperability have allowed for the easier migration of assets to competing chains, a new class of DeFi protocols is arising to challenge those left from 2021. Here’s a look at three DeFi projects that have launched on some of the up-and-coming layer-1 blockchain networks, catching the eye of the crypto community. VVS Finance VVS Finance is the largest DeFi protocol on the Cronos …

The equity markets in Europe and the United States are seeing a sea of red as traders continue to sell risky assets due to the geopolitical situation. Bitcoin (BTC) and several major cryptocurrencies are also witnessing profit-booking after the recent rise. Another reason that could be keeping investors on the edge is the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on March 16. A statement from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on March 2 highlighted that the central bank is likely to hike rates this month. Fitch Ratings chief economist Brian Coulton expects core inflation to remain high in 2022 and …