Polygon, a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum compatible blockchains, stated in a press release provided to Cointelegraph that it has launched its zk-STARK powered Miden Virtual Machine for the development of decentralized applications, also known as DApps. 1/7 We are proud to reveal the newest member of the Polygon family - Polygon Miden, an upcoming STARK-based, EVM-compatible Rollup! The project is led by @bobbinth, former Facebook's lead ZK researcher who led the development of Winterfell. A on why this is exciting... pic.twitter.com/5RqAJgnZlP — Polygon | $MATIC - We're hiring! (@0xPolygon) November 16, 2021 zk-STARK stands for zero-knowledge Scalable Transparent …

Multimedia film director and artist Yi Zhou is set to mint the first-ever royal nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the story of Italy's House of Savoy. The digital works are made in collaboration with the House of Savoy's (non reigning) descendent, Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, Prince of Venice. The House of Savoy is known for playing a pivotal role in the Unification of Italy, or the "Risorgimento", over 150 years prior. Its then king, Victor Emmanuel II, acted as a symbol of the movement. Together with the Sardinia-Piedmont premier Camillo Benso, known as the Count of Cavour, revolutionary activist …

On Tuesday, pSTAKE, a liquid staking protocol from decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Persistence, announced in a statement provided to Cointelegraph that it had closed a $10 million strategic funding round from venture capital firms. Tendermint, the core developer behind the Cosmos network, powers Persistence blockchain with its consensus engine. Liquid staking is the practice of users “double-dipping” with their crypto assets — i.e., allowing them to stake their crypto in one pool and use their staked assets to farm yields in a liquidity provider pool, or vice versa. The process enables higher compounded yields, as assets generate returns in two …

In its third-quarter earnings release, Canadian cryptocurrency miner Hut8 announced that it surpassed its goal set earlier this year of holding 5,000 Bitcoins (BTC) in reserves through mining. Its Bitcoin balance now amounts to 5,053, for a total market value of $430 million. During the quarter, Hut 8 generated 50.34 million Canadian dollars (CA$) in revenue and CA$23.37 million in net income, up from CA$5.75 million in revenue and a loss of CA$0.90 million in the prior year's quarter. The company hosts a sizable fleet of Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, or ASIC, machines used for Bitcoin mining. In addition, it deploys …

In an announcement Friday morning, the University of Cambridge announced it would be building a novel decentralized carbon credit marketplace to support global reforestation efforts. Its ultimate goal would be to increase the adoption of nature-based conservation solutions, or NbS, such as reforestation, through financial instruments. The institution envisions that purchasers of carbon credits will be able to securely and directly fund NbS projects through the platform. The initiative, known as the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits, or 4C, is based in the Department of Computer Science and Technology and the Conservation Research Institute. Scientists and researchers will build the …

Enegra Group, a commodities trading firm based in Malaysia with a net asset value of $28 billion, has migrated its equity-tied EGX security tokens from to the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain from Ethereum (ETH). In 2019, Energra tokenized 100% of its equity, enabling shareholders to digitally exercise their dividend, voting, and governance rights. Both the initial tokenization and token migration were facilitated by Tokeny, an asset tokenization and compliance infrastructure provider. Matthew Averay, managing director and CEO at Enegra, said: We tokenized our equity to improve liquidity. And, now that the technology is available for faster, cheaper, and compliant transactions on …

Ethereum-based (ETH) decentralized finance, or DeFi, risk management marketplace Risk Harbor will soon take over control of Terra's Ozone Protocol, according to a press release published on Thursday. Ozone is a decentralized insurance mechanism that provides coverage in the event of technical failures on the Terra DeFi ecosystem. The latter is a dual-token platform that features its governance token LUNA and stablecoin Terra USD (UST), which has an exchange rate of 1:1 with the U.S. dollar. UST has no underlying USD reserves backing it. Instead, it's collateralized via an algorithm by LUNA, and users can earn rewards by using LUNA …

AllianceBlock, a blockchain tech firm that seeks to bridge the gap between decentralized finance, or DeFi, and traditional finance, announced a partnership with fellow blockchain tech entity Flare. Flare claims its layer-one, or blockchain protocol improvement, technology can bring smart contracts to cryptocurrencies such as XRP (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin (BTC), Algorand, and Stellar Lumens (XLM). In addition, Flare is also a decentralized oracle network, which seeks to enable blockchains to access real-world data in smart contract execution. Meanwhile, AllianceBlock brings to the table its cross-chain interoperability solution AllianceBridge, its native decentralized exchange, or DEX, known as AllianceBlock DEX, decentralized …

On Monday, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram announced a 700,000 pound ($955,957 USD) investment into blockchain-powered food delivery service Peepl. The software aims to act as a cost-efficient alternative to food delivery giants for local restaurants. Peepl claims that it can save restaurants up to 50% on commissions typically charged by food delivery platforms through its technology and partnerships. In addition, the Peepl platform promises to give consumers back 5% to 10% on each of their order value in the form of Peepl Tokens (PPL). However, they will be locked within the network for at least …

Ardana, a stablecoin ecosystem built on the Cardano (ADA) blockchain, received $10 million in seed capital from a group of investors led by Three Arrows Capital and Ascensive Assets. Ryan Matovu, CEO and co-founder of Ardana, issued the following statement regarding the deal: “As the first all-in-one stablecoin ecosystem built on Cardano, our platform provides users with convenient access to liquidity, an ever-present concern in the hyper-competitive defi world. We are also able to leverage Cardano’s speed, scalability and security to offer a decentralized financial solution that works for everyone, and soon we’ll even be facilitating foreign exchange on-chain." Users …

Sweden-based Hilbert Group AB, United States-based Cointelegraph and Asia-based investment group Chiron Partners will join forces to launch a new business of COIN360. Under this joint leadership, COIN360 will expand its product suite to become a full-service market data provider covering the full spectrum of digital assets — including decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and security token offerings — for both institutional and retail traders. Under the new arrangement, COIN360, the crypto market data provider with 4 million monthly visits known for its iconic heatmap, will become a joint venture of the three parties. Hilbert Group AB, which will …

Galaxy Interactive, a venture capital firm focused on next-generation interactive technology, has announced it has raised $325 million for its second fund from 70 different investors. The fund is focused on virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain-based games. In a Tuesday announcement, Galaxy Digital, the majority owner of Galaxy Interactive, stated that $150 million from the fund has already been allocated to new portfolio companies, including Republic, 1047 Games, Elodie, Roar, Art Blocks and Masterworks, with other additional investments to be announced in coming months. Established in 2018 by general partners Sam Englebardt and Richard Kim, the company …