Kenya-based blockchain community Sankore has partnered with Swiss nonprofit Near Foundation to launch a regional hub that aims to develop talent within the region and build projects that aim to improve the local ecosystem. Sankore supports projects like Kilimo Shwari, which is a blockchain-based insurance program that helps farmers deal with natural disasters. Apart from this, the firm also supports Ledja, a project which focuses on combating fraudulent documentation within Africa by using Near Protocol for document verification. The partnership will further these initiatives by developing talent within the region through its workshops. Kevin Imani, the founder of Sankore, said …

The month of April has been a forgettable one for equities and cryptocurrency investors. Bitcoin (BTC) plummeted 17% in April to record its worst-ever April performance. Similarly, the Nasdaq Composite plunged 13.3% in April, its worst monthly performance since October 2008. However, a major positive for crypto investors is that Bitcoin is still above its year-to-date low, near $33,000. In comparison, the Nasdaq 100 has hit a new low for 2022, while the S&P 500 is just a whisker away from making a new year-to-date low. This suggests that Bitcoin has managed to avoid a major sell-off, indicating demand at …

Cointelegraph’s Joseph Hall interviewed Marieke Flament, the CEO of NEAR Foundation at the Paris Blockchain Week Sumit (PWBS) last week, discussing a range of topics such as the struggle by institutional investors to understand how they can participate in the crypto space. Hall and Flament talked about how institutional investors are trying to learn about crypto to understand how they can enter the market. According to Flament, as more Web2 companies get into Web3, other institutional players are forced to think about what these events mean for their businesses. “We are seeing a very strong appetite from institutional investors to …

The cryptocurrency market has far faced an uphill battle for the larger part of 2022 due to global economic headwinds on multiple fronts, along with supply chain constraints, blistering inflation and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Despite the weakness seen in a majority of crypto assets, several decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols have managed strengthen their fundamentals and entice new users to enter their ecosystems. Here’s a look at four protocols that are showing strength even as the wider crypto market struggles to gain footing. Balancer Balancer (BAL) is an automated market maker (AMM) on the Ethereum (ETH) that offers users …

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped from a high of $47,200 on April 5 to a low of $42,107 on April 8, indicating possible selling by short-term traders who may have preferred to lock in their profits. However, the price action is still stuck in a tight range during the weekend, indicating that supply and demand are in balance. Although the Crypto Fear & Greed Index is in the fear zone, Bitcoin whales on crypto exchange Bitfinex remained unfazed and continued to purchase BTC. Interestingly, one large investor continued to buy $1 million of Bitcoin every day, without attempting to time the market, …

Near Protocol (NEAR) has rallied by almost 30% after announcing on April 6 that it had raised $350 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global, a New York-based hedge fund. NEAR price eyes 100% price rally NEAR's price reached over $19.75, just about 2.5% below its all-time high. However, many analysts agreed with the potential for the NEAR/USD pair to reclaim its best level to date, and even rise above it in the coming weeks. Adoption remained the key focus behind the bullish predictions. For instance, Zoran Cole, the founder of the popular Telegram group Crypto Insiders highlighted …

Terraform Labs (TFL) and the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) have announced they have purchased a combined $200 million worth of AVAX tokens from the Avalanche Foundation. TFL, the company responsible for the development of the Terra blockchain, swapped $100 million worth of Terra’s native token, LUNA for AVAX tokens, in order to “strategically align ecosystem incentives”, according to Terra’s twitter. LFG, a non-profit organization mandated to build reserves for Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST, used its own holdings of UST to purchase an additional $100 million worth of AVAX from the Avalanche Foundation. These purchases are meant to reinforce the stability …

“Crypto became the largest driver for humanitarian help as well as some of military help for Ukraine”, said Illia Polosukhin, the co-founder of Near Protocol. Polosukhin, who was born and raised in Kharkiv, Ukraine, has been at the forefront of the crypto fundraising efforts aimed at supporting Ukraine against Russia’s offensive. Right after Russia's attack on Ukraine started on February 24, Polosukhin and other Ukrainian crypto entrepreneurs created the Unchain Fund, which to date has gathered nearly $7 million in crypto donations. That is only one of the several crypto funds that are currently supporting the Ukrainian Government raising a …