United States data transfer network Plaid has added four major cryptocurrency exchanges to its platform, giving users the ability to connect their digital asset portfolios to other applications more easily. Crypto platforms Binance.US, Gemini, Robinhood and SoFi are now supported by the Plaid network, the company announced Thursday. Support for additional platforms, such as Blockchain.com and BitGo, is scheduled to commence later this year. We now support leading digital asset exchanges on the Plaid network, including @BinanceUS, @Gemini, @Robinhood & @SoFi with plans to support additional crypto providers like @Blockchain and @BitGo later this year. https://t.co/I1QlXmL8hQ — Plaid (@Plaid) July …

Natural disasters in the United States are becoming more prevalent, resulting in increasing costs, a lack of transparency between state and government organizations, and a slew of other issues impacting relief systems. The Pew Research Center found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) public assistance program spent 23% more on natural disasters between 2010 and 2019 than it did from 2000 to 2009. Data from Climate.gov further shows that 2021 was the third-costliest year in history for natural disasters in the U.S., totaling over $145 billion in damages from 20 weather-related incidents. But as disasters become more common and …

Blockchain analytics service Nansen has published its NFT Indexes Report for the second quarter of 2022, showing the market dynamics and quantitative performance of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) over the last three months. The report identifies and determines key factors contributing to the well-documented NFT bear market, including Ethereum-based volume and transactional metrics, as well as market capitalization, among others. Commencing with an analysis of NFT volume statistics on Ethereum measured per week across a monthly time frame, the report found that June recorded the lowest figure of the calendar year. Calculated across six marketplaces — OpenSea, LooksRare, Mints, X2Y2, 0x …

Digital identity has been a fraught subject since the earliest days of the internet. Web2 bridged the gap between people’s offline lives, online identities, and creative and consumer habits, which has given way to a thoroughly integrated internet experience designed to be as personalized and targeted as possible. As a new phase of virtual interaction and digital identity appears on the horizon — one even more interconnected than Web2 — we need to rethink personalization and ownership with an eye to what did and didn’t work in the world of Web2. While there is no blueprint for the Web3 identity …

OpenSea, the world’s largest nonfungible tokens (NFT) marketplace, has issued a warning to customers after it was discovered that an employee of Customer.io, a platform for managing email newsletters and campaigns, leaked the list of OpenSea customers’ emails to an outside party. The breach has affected all of the users who have given their email to the marketplace, whether it's for the platform or its newsletter. Following the breach, OpenSea advised customers against potential phishing attempts. The NFT marketplace announced on Thursday that it has contacted law enforcement officials about the breach and that an investigation is in progress. An …

Blockchain analytics firm Flipside Crypto has launched an online Software Development Kit (SDK) called ShroomDK, which is based on nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and provides an automated means to pull “comprehensive” blockchain data via software. Being NFT-based enables the SDK to be on-sold or upgraded more easily, according to the company. Co-founder Jim Myers said that the ability to query blockchain data from multiple chains in an automated (programmatic) fashion has been a “critical piece of missing infrastructure for blockchain developers and analysts.” Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, refers to software delivered over the web instead of locally on machines. An SDK generally …

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub announced the launch of a new set of projects targeting various aspects of traditional and crypto payments — including a cryptocurrency market intelligence platform and security for retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). BIS’s cryptocurrency market intelligence platform will be launched under the Eurosystem Centre initiative, which aims to provide vetted data about crypto projects. One of the key drivers for the project’s commencement is the collapse of numerous stablecoins projects and decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platforms such as Terra and USDD. As explained in the official announcement: “The project’s goal is …

Nonfungible token (NFT) trading volume has surged over the past 24 hours as crypto markets tank taking floor prices of many top NFT collections along with it. A long list of top NFT projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), Crypto Punks and Sorare have all seen more than 100% increases in 24-hour trading volumes as investors look to snap up cheaper NFTs as floor prices tumble. According to data from CryptoSlam, eight of the top 10 NFT projects in terms of 24-hour sales volume have posted at least a 115% increase in trading …

Illicit cryptocurrency activity in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 has declined as a percentage of overall crypto activity, according to blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace. The cryptocurrency industry has long held a reputation in some jurisdictions as a haven for illegal activity. However, CipherTrace estimates that illicit activity was between 0.62% and 0.65% of overall cryptocurrency activity in 2020. The firm reported that it has now fallen to between 0.10% and 0.15% of overall activity in 2021. In its “Cryptocurrency Crime and Anti-Money Laundering” report released Monday, CipherTrace outlined that the top ten decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks in 2021 …

Zcash (ZEC), a privacy coin that launched in 2016, unveiled an upgrade to its system on May 31 that will allow users to more easily make private, trustless digital cash payments on mobile phones. Not everyone would view this as a good development. The unfamiliarity, uncertainty and public intrigue surrounding privacy — including its complexity, misuse and speculative activity — presents a number of challenges and reputational issues for innovating crypto projects. While a core tenet and source of pride among crypto projects such as Zcash, privacy has been demonized by those in power, including lawmakers, regulators, banks and academics. …

Financial and technical information platform Bloomberg has vastly expanded its coverage of crypto markets after a decision to include data on the top 50 crypto assets in the Bloomberg Terminal. Product manager for cryptocurrencies at Bloomberg Alex Wenham suggested that as “the global institutional investor” community’s interest in digital assets continues to grow, they will need a way to “seamlessly incorporate digital assets into their workflows.” Bloomberg already had 10 cryptocurrencies in its terminal as of 2018, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Ripple (XRP). The expansion adds an additional 40 coins to the mix such as Solana (SOL), allowing …

Passive income opportunities are one of the biggest draws in the cryptocurrency ecosystem because it gives investors an easy opportunity to grow their portfolio size regardless of the day-to-day price action. The latest token to get a bump in its price after announcing the upcoming implementation of staking is Chainlink (LINK), the decentralized oracle network that provides important off-chain information needed for the proper functioning of smart contracts. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since bouncing off a low of $6.67 on June 4, the price of LINK has increased 35% to hit a daily high of …