A “killer app” for consumers is what will be needed to bring the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector to a level that draws in a mainstream audience, said Ripple Lab’s head of DeFi markets Boris Alergant. Alergant nade the comments during a panel at the Blockchain Futurist Conference titled "The Future of Decentralized Finance" on Aug. 9, which was covered by Cointelegraph reporters on the ground in Toronto, Canada. Alongside Alergant, Aventus Ventures CEO Kevin Hobbs, FLUIDEFI co-founder and CEO Lisa Loud, and Teller Finance CEO and co-founder Ryan Berkin also featured on the panel. The general sentiment among the panelists …

On Aug 9, automated market maker Curve Finance took to Twitter to warn users of an ongoing exploit on its site. The team behind the protocol noted that the issue, which appears to be an attack from a malicious actor, is affecting the service’s nameserver and frontend. Don't use https://t.co/vOeMYOTq0l site - nameserver is compromised. Investigation is ongoing: likely the NS itself has a problem — Curve Finance (@CurveFinance) August 9, 2022 Curve stated via Twitter that its exchange — which is a separate product — appeared to be unaffected by the attack, as it uses a different DNS provider. …

Web3 has become the most sought-after investment sector of 2022, as use cases for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), the Metaverse and other blockchain applications come to fruition. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that different segments of the publishing industry have begun to use Web3 technologies to transform traditional models. For example, the textbook publishing giant Pearson recently announced plans to use NFTs to track digital textbook sales to capture revenue lost on the secondary market. Time magazine, which was founded 99 years ago, has also been using NFTs to create new revenue streams, along with a sense of community …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has massive potential to transform traditional financial services. Data from Emergen Research recently found that the global DeFi platform market size is expected to reach $507 billion by 2028. Moreover, the total value locked within DeFi currently exceeds $75 billion, demonstrating fast-paced growth compared to previous months this year. Yet, DeFi’s potential may still not be realized by business leaders unfamiliar with the blockchain ecosystem. This notion is highlighted in Alex Tapscott’s recent book, Digital Asset Revolution. Tapscott, co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute and managing director at Ninepoint Digital Asset Group, told Cointelegraph that he believes …

In the fourth episode of Market Talks, we welcome YouTube media creator and crypto educator Crypto Wendy O. Wendy became interested in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in November 2017. She has been into crypto full-time since the summer of 2018 and focuses on providing transparent marketing and media solutions for blockchain companies globally. Wendy also offers free education via YouTube and Twitter to her growing audience of over 170,000, giving her the largest following of any female crypto influencer in the world. Some of the topics up for discussion with Wendy are the new consumer price index numbers and how …

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 …

The excitement surrounding Web3 is palpable — and undeniable. Projects are flooding into the space to build cutting-edge versions of the sites and apps served up by centralized Web2 rivals, covering every sector imaginable. But at this point, it's worth taking a step back and reflecting on the challenges that the Web3 world still needs to tackle. This technology isn't inherently private — and the transactions bouncing around on blockchains are mostly transparent. Privacy coins, and the anonymizing blockchains they're normally based on, are normally viewed with suspicion by critics. They point to how cryptocurrencies like Monero are increasingly being …

Blockchain analysis firm Glassnode recently characterized the 2022 bear market as the worst on record. This seems to be the case due to events such as the war in Ukraine and rising inflation, coupled with serious problems among centralized crypto exchanges. Yet, the bear market hasn’t negatively impacted all players in the crypto ecosystem. Hardware wallet providers seem to be benefiting from the massive amount of crypto withdrawals from centralized exchanges. Pascal Gauthier, CEO of hardware wallet crypto firm Ledger, told Cointelegraph that the company’s revenue dropped about 90% during the 2018 crypto winter, but this hasn’t been the case …

Market maker Kairon Labs have been working with projects such as StepApp (FitFi) and Ergo, providing liquidity on over 30 exchanges. Kairon Labs and most other market makers agree that “liquid markets are healthy markets,” as when the markets are liquid, it allows for lower slippage and faster trades to occur, which allows for the fair trade of a token. Cointelegraph spoke with the managing partner Jens Willemen for his comments on current market conditions and a brief explanation of how market makers are able to retain profitability in current bearish market conditions. Cointelegraph: What is a market maker? Jens …

Many are thrilled at the prospect of the Metaverse with its virtual worlds that can be used to play online games, but also to train surgeons on 3D organ models and enable students to visit recreated villages in ancient Greece astonishingly brought to life. Many assume, too, that blockchain technology will play a key role in the Metaverse, along with other emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR). But, is the use of blockchain really a foregone conclusion? Stanford University professor Jeremy Bailenson recently moderated a World Economic Forum panel with some of the world’s leading …

One of the main features of the Bitcoin blockchain is its transparency. Bitcoin lets anyone see every transaction that has ever been made on its network and check the balance of every address out there. Because of this transparency, we’re able to know who owns the most Bitcoin (BTC) in 2022. It’s important to look at who owns the most BTC, as the cryptocurrency’s supply is limited to 21 million coins. In February, Kim Grauer, director of research at blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, told Cointelegraph that an estimated 3.7 million BTC have been lost, effectively deflating the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply. …

On June 10, many were surprised by the news that TBD, a subsidiary of Block, Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey, announced the launch of the Web5 platform. Web 1, 2, 3 and now Web 5? But where is Web 4? Those who don’t care about number sequences can just downloaded Web 7. But first, so that no one gets behind in understanding this article, let’s quickly talk about the stages of Web evolution. If you already know the subject, you can skip to the next topic. From the static web to the collaborative web In the beginning, there was what we …