Some critics deem nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to be totally worthless. They don’t see the point. Why should they? The industry hasn’t covered itself in glory with countless rug pulls and celebrity endorsements with prompt pump-and-dumps. But, this is missing the point. Already most of the digital and physical objects we use in real life are unique, they are not fungible: this means they cannot be copied, substituted or subdivided. Detractors might still say, well, what’s the point? NFTs are immutable and verifiable assets on the blockchain — these sound like industry buzzwords with little meaning. However, they go a long …

Public blockchains can be accessed and read by anyone but creating meaningful insights from this data is no mean feat. Millions of transactions are recorded across a variety of chains and layer-2 protocols, creating petabytes of data daily. Services like Google transformed the early internet, accomplishing a significant engineering task by structuring and curating millions of websites to serve simple user queries. A handful of blockchain analytics platforms are looking to do the same, with Nansen distinguishing itself by processing on-chain data into a growing database of wallet labels. Cointelegraph visited the Singapore office of the growing firm during Token2049 …

Ganesh Swami, CEO of blockchain data aggregator Covalent says there continues to be an “intense demand” for on-chain data analysts, that is yet to be satisfied. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Swami said that analysts are in “intense demand” as there’s a “real need” for data experts to “make sense” of on-chain data, explaining: “There is an unresolved backlog of unfilled data-driven roles. This demand is a testament to how eager blockchain and non-blockchain companies alike are to make sense of their own and competitors’ on-chain data.” Swami explained that while the demand for on-chain data analysts has yet to eclipse their …

It’s time to move on from the Bored Ape Yacht Club. They’re bad for nonfungible tokens (NFTs). They give critics ammo and distract from the technology, which is where the real value lies. For those on the outside looking in, NFTs are nothing more than overpriced monkey JPEGs. Or whichever choice of animated animal profile picture is in the firing line. NFTs, of course, are much more than that. But, because of Bored Apes, and the countless imitations they’ve spawned, NFTs are getting a bad rep. “Bubble,” “money laundering” and “scams” are all terminology associated by critics with the new …

Insurance is key for financially securing important assets. Yet, the cryptocurrency sector — which is predicted to reach a global market size of $4.94 billion by 2030 — may be lagging behind when it comes to insuring digital assets. For instance, it’s been noted that less than 1% of all crypto investments are currently insured. This statistic is alarming, considering the rapid growth and high-risk profile associated with today’s cryptocurrency market. Ben Davis, team lead for digital assets at Superscript — a British startup and Lloyd’s of London-licensed insurance broker — told Cointelegraph that crypto has been marginalized when it …

Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis has suggested that the price of Ether (ETH) could decouple from other crypto assets post-Merge, with staking yields potentially driving strong institutional adoption. In a Sept. 7 report, Chainalysis explained that the upcoming Ethereum upgrade would introduce institutional investors to staking yields similar to certain instruments such as bonds and commodities, while also becoming much more eco-friendly. The report said ETH staking is expected to offer a 10-15% yield annually for stakers, therefore making ETH an “enticing bond alternative for institutional investors” considering that treasury bonds yields offer much less in comparison. “Ether’s price could decouple …

The demand for organizations to adopt blockchain technology is growing rapidly. Recent findings from market research and advisory firm Custom Market Insights found that the global blockchain technology market size was valued at $4.8 billion in 2021, yet this amount is expected to reach $69 billion by 2030. While notable, it’s become critical for the industry to enable rigorous research into the development of the blockchain sector. Tim Harrison, vice president of community and ecosystem at Input Output Global (IOG) — the developer arm behind the Cardano blockchain — told Cointelegraph that during the past year, the blockchain ecosystem has …

Studies show that most people who attempt to wash trade nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are unprofitable. But that doesn’t stop them from trying, which makes it a glaring regulatory and enforcement issue for the industry. In wash trading, manipulators buy and sell an asset between themselves to create the appearance that the asset is in higher demand and, therefore, worth more than it would be otherwise. With NFTs, wash trading is fairly straightforward: Imagine an investor holds $1 million in Ether (ETH). The investor mints an NFT and proceeds to sell it to themself for all the ETH they own. The …

The Ethereum ecosystem continues to witness a flurry of activity that has individuals and organizations deploying token contracts, adding liquidity to pools and deploying smart contracts to support a wide range of business models. While notable, this growth has also been riddled with security exploits, leaving decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols vulnerable to hacks and scams. For instance, recent findings from crypto intelligence firm Chainalysis show that crypto-related hacks have increased by 58.3% from the beginning of the year through July 2022. The report further notes that $1.9 billion has been lost to hacks during this timeframe — a figure that …

Protecting user data and private keys is crucial as Web3 advances. Yet, the number of hacks that have occurred within the Web3 space in 2022 alone has been monumental, proving that additional security measures, along with greater forms of decentralization, are still required. As this becomes obvious, a number of organizations have started leveraging multiparty computation, or MPC, to ensure privacy and confidentiality for Web3 platforms. MPC is a cryptographic protocol that utilizes an algorithm across multiple parties. Andrew Masanto, co-founder of Nillion – a Web3 startup specializing in decentralized computation – told Cointelegraph that MPC is unique because no …

Shiba Inu (SHIB) broke out of its prevailing "cup-and-handle" pattern on Aug. 14, raising its prospects of securing additional gains in the coming weeks. Shiba Inu could soar 50% A cup-and-handle appears when the price falls and rises in a U-shaped trajectory in the first stage, followed by a swift move sideways or downward in the second. Notably, the price trend develops under a common resistance level. Typically, cup-and-handle patterns resolve after the price breaks above the resistance level; SHIB did the same on Aug. 14 after rising 27% to $0.000016, as shown below. Per the rule of technical analysis, …

In this weeks episode of Market Talks we welcome senior market analyst at Cubic Analytics, Caleb Franzen. Caleb is a Senior Market Strategist at Cubic Analytics, analysing new data/charts on the economy, the stock market, and Bitcoin to make better investment decisions. He is also a former corporate banking & portfolio analyst. The main topic of discussion with Caleb will be the new CPI data and what they mean for the crypto market, specifically Bitcoin (BTC). Is there a correlation between the data and the recent price pump? How sustainable is this price action? We also go over a few …