With the combination of crypto adoption verging on mainstream, a chase for double and even triple digital earnings and solutions providing real utility to a centralized industry, DeFi (decentralized finance) is positioned to outpace its growth from the 2021 year significantly. Unfortunately, this growth, although unprecedented, has also proven to raise some causes for concern. Already congested networks like Ethereum (ETH) are being pushed to their limits with an increasing number of applications and users transacting on them. Since the capacity of Ethereum is limited, users are forced to face the realities of shower transaction times and rising gas fees …

Today, the future of content production is ripe for disruption. With advances in technology and the rise of a generation of influencers, the skills of content production have been adopted en masse. Individuals and groups are now producing valuable streams of all forms of content across multiple channels, including YouTube, Instagram, Twitch and lesser-known distribution channels. This has seen a devaluing of the content itself. Although the creator is putting a lot of time and effort into the production process, it is often the case that the commercial return does not reflect this effort. How do we ensure that the …

Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) has dropped by over 18% after establishing an all-time high around $4,867 on Nov. 10, now trading near $3,900. Nonetheless, the plunge has not deterred retail investors from buying the token in small quantities. According to data gathered by Glassnode — a blockchain analytics platform, the number of Ether addresses holding less than or equal to 0.01 ETH reached a record high level of 19.95 million on Dec. 4, the day ETH dropped to as low as $3,575 (data from Coinbase). Meanwhile, the number of Ethereum wallets with balances of at least 0.1 ETH also …

On Friday, Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) announced it would become the first cryptocurrency platform among the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland) to list its shares on the pan-European Euronext stock exchange. NBX was created in 2018 by Bjørn Kjos, who also founded Norwegian Air Shuttle and Bank Norwegian. NBX has eight cryptocurrencies listed and about 20 trading pairs available. The exchange is approved and supervised by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway. NBX claims it is the only platform in the Nordic countries that insures clients' crypto via the $150 million Ledger Vault insurance pool that pays out …

On Thursday, registered investment adviser and fintech firm Defiance announced it has launched the first NFT-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the New York Stock Exchange Arca. The fund is listed under the ticker symbol NFTZ and has a management fee of 0.65% per year. The fund does not directly buy and hold NFTs to store in wallets. Instead, it tracks an index of companies operating or intending to venture into the NFT space, as well as the Metaverse. The BITA NFT and Blockchain Select Index, which the fund intends to mirror, is maintained by Germany-based fintech company BITA. Notable holdings …

Forbes has named 15 youthful crypto business leaders on the 2022 edition of its 30 under 30 list. Despite its misleading name, the annual Forbes 30 under 30 list is actually comprised of 600 people aged 30 and under from a total of 20 categories such as finance, gaming and music. Notable alumni from last year’s edition include FTX and Alameda Research founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and Brian Tubergen, the co-founder of U.S.-based initial token offering and exchange platform CoinList. In the latest edition published on Dec. 1, Forbes noted that the latest batch of under 30s raised more than $1 …

In a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, Adit EdTech Acquisition Corp, announced it would merge with Cincinnati-based Bitcoin (BTC) miner Griid at a $3.3 billion enterprise valuation. SPACs are blank check companies created for the sole purpose of acquiring other firms. After the deal consummates, Griid will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GRDI. The deal is expected to close by the first quarter of next year. According to its investor presentation, Griid expects to mine 637 BTC this year with a total …

Founded in 2017, OKEx is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange based in Seychelles. According to CoinGecko, OKEx is the world's third-largest cryptocurrency brokerage, with nearly $12 billion in trading volume within the past 24 hours. The exchange lists 312 coins and 518 cryptocurrency trading pairs. It's often difficult for new cryptocurrency enthusiasts to navigate the complex world of trading and finance. OKEx seeks to bring such sophisticated trading methods to everyday users' disposal by building simple user interface. During an exclusive ask me anything, or AMA, session with Cointelegraph Markets Pro Users, OKEx staff discussed trading tools, financial regulation, the OKExChain …

In an event streamed live on Wednesday, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and deputy governor for financial stability Sir Jon Cunliffe answer questions from lawmakers from the Economic Affairs Committee. When asked about the growth of innovation surrounding digital currencies in the country, Sir Cunliffe gave the following comment: It's quite difficult to predict how innovators will take money and actually use money going forward. But we are starting to see programmable money being used in the crypto world. And I would expect we would see a similar revolution in the functionality of money driven by technology. Sir Jon …

Blockchain innovation is surging throughout Southeast Asia, as the region is home to a number of fintech firms and global crypto companies. In particular, Singapore has become one of the world’s most crypto-friendly countries. This was recently highlighted in a report conducted by crypto exchange Gemini, which found that 67% of 4,348 respondents currently own crypto. The report further noted that Ether (ETH) is the most popular cryptocurrency in the region, with 78% of surveyors claiming to own the digital asset. Interestingly enough, the Ethereum blockchain may also be the network of choice for financial institutions based in Southeast Asia. …

Senator Jane Hume has stated that decentralized finance (DeFi) “presents huge opportunities” for Australia to cement its place as a “front-runner for innovation and economic progress.” Senator Hume spoke at the Australian Financial Review Super & Wealth Summit in Sydney on Monday, Nov. 22. She is the Minister for Women's Economic Security of Australia, representing the Liberal Party and the state of Victoria. The conference was primarily about super and government retirement funds — both notoriously slow and steady investments. The comments on DeFi are more notable in this regard. Senator Hume called for industry and government to acknowledge that …

Decentralization becomes essential as internet infrastructure becomes consolidated in the hands of a few large corporations. The onus is then placed on corporations to become good stewards of the internet, which perhaps few of them are. Unfortunately, while many users have become skeptical about how their data is being used, there is little available as an alternative to the centralized solutions available today. To accelerate the concept of a decentralized internet and give users a legitimate alternative to the setup that exists today, businesses need an infrastructure standard that makes it easy for them to provide their offerings. Similar to …