Autor Cointelegraph By Brian Newar

Reputation DAO: Would you give up privacy for unsecured loans in DeFi?

Reputation DAO: Would you give up privacy for unsecured loans in DeFi?

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 15, 2022 |

An ambitious new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) has built a data service for lending platforms that records a user’s financial reputation to reduce the amount of collateral needed for a loan.It has partnered with Chainlink and that protocol’s founder Sergey Nazarov is an early backer.Users of Reputation DAO will have traditional financial data such as anti-money laundering and know-your-customer (AML/KYC), credit scores and banking data tied to their account. The data is designed to help ease friction in obtaining a loan from a decentralized platform, but raises questions about security and the principles of zero-knowledge lending.The Reputation DAO team told Cointelegraph its connection with those traditional financial authorities is “critically important to remove some of the trust barriers related to under-collateralized lending.”Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols such as AAVE (AAVE) and Maker (MKR) require users to put down at least 150% the value of the loan they wish to take out. This overcollateralization protects the protocols from insolvency in the case of liquidations due to volatility since the loans are made through zero knowledge smart contracts. While the Reputation DAO team said “retail consumers are getting more comfortable with algorithmic loans,” it also pointed out that “institutional interest is growing at a rapid rate.”That institutional interest is clearly demonstrated by the $222 million of seed and strategic funds invested in DeFi protocols since March 15 according to crypto fundraising tracker Airtable. Reputation DAO is one of those protocols and closed a $4.7 million seed round on April 13 led by Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov and AirTree Ventures.But for many DeFi users, tying sensitive financial data to a blockchain based lending platform raises security and privacy concerns. Some users may be more comfortable putting down higher collateral on a DeFi loan if the protocols do not have access to their information, thereby keeping their identity confidential. Reputation DAO assured Cointelegraph that its partnership with the industry leading information oracle Chainlink, which uses the privacy-preserving protocol DECO, helps keep its users’ data secure. Cointelegraph reached out to an active and successful DeFi investor who asked to go by the name “Unseo” for his thoughts. He said that he would be wary of using Reputation DAO to help get a loan. He argued that such a service “would make the DeFi system more fragile,” and that  “I’d be trusting the judges of other participants’ creditworthiness instead of going off math.” “Even though I have good credit, I’d rather not use a more fragile system for the convenience of having a better utilization allowance.”Related: First steps: Basic tips for getting started investing in DeFiTime will tell how DeFi users will react to Reputation DAO’s value proposal.

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MicroStrategy shareholders letter: We’ll 'vigorously pursue' more BTC buys

MicroStrategy shareholders letter: We’ll 'vigorously pursue' more BTC buys

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 15, 2022 |

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor has proclaimed to shareholders of his company that his firm intends to “vigorously pursue” its reserve assets strategy to buy and hold more Bitcoin.Saylor’s publicly traded company is the largest single-wallet holder of Bitcoin (BTC) in the world with 129,218 BTC according to wallet tracker Bitcoin Treasuries. Those coins are currently valued at about $5.1 billion. MicroStrategy bought 4,197 more coins on April 5. By comparison, Tesla, MicroStrategy’s runner-up in the hodling race, owns 43,200 BTC valued at about $1.7 billion.In MicroStrategy’s 2022 Proxy Statement that was filed with the SEC on April 14, Saylor praised his company’s ongoing success in being early to add BTC to its treasury and add value for customers and shareholders. MicroStrategy only paid about $3.9 billion for the BTC in its treasury, translating to a paper profit margin of $1.2 billion. Saylor wrote in the letter:“Our parallel strategy to acquire and hold Bitcoin has been a tremendous success.”The letter also states that Microstrategy’s BTC holdings are well in the green, but made it difficult for the company’s executives to obtain liability insurance. As a result, Saylor has provided the insurance out of his own pocket.Saylor’s 68.1% ownership of MicroStrategy means that he can pretty much do what he likes at the company, which also helps explain why more companies have not followed his lead. He’s been one of the most vocal proponents for Bitcoin since 2020 and uses his position to reach global audiences.On Mar. 29, the MacroStrategy subsidiary of Saylor’s software firm said it would use $205 million obtained in a Bitcoin-collateralized loan from Silvergate Bank to buy more BTC. Saylor said in an announcement that the loan marked the first time his company was using its BTC holdings as “productive collateral.” Despite global headwinds from the war, inflation and interest rate rises, MicoStrategy and Do Kwon’s Terra (LUNA) buying tens of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin at a time has helped maintain some confidence in prices. Terra’s holdings are now only 800 coins behind Elon Musk’s Tesla, which holds the second most BTC among publicly traded companies.Related: Bitcoin dives on Wall Street open, DOGE price jumps on Elon Musk’s Twitter offerBitcoin is down 2.65% over the past 24 hours trading at $40,109 according to Cointelegraph data.

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Nifty News: Meta wants 50% of NFT sales, Coke’s Metaverse flavor… and more

Nifty News: Meta wants 50% of NFT sales, Coke’s Metaverse flavor… and more

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 14, 2022 |

Meta has announced plans to charge 47.5% on each item sold on its new Meta Quest app store, including nonfungible tokens (NFT) when they are available.The Meta Quest app store sells apps and games on the Horizon Worlds platform which Meta, formerly Facebook, is using to build its part of the Metaverse. CNBC reported on April 13 that the store is also expected to sell NFTs. The fee is broken down as a hardware platform fee of 30% per transaction plus a 17.5% usage fee on Horizon Worlds.Potential customers aren’t pleased with what is seen as an outrageously high cut. Popular NFT collector Pranksy — who has nearly 400,000 Twitter followers — called it “the greatest example of being completely and utterly out of touch with something that I have ever witnessed.”The ‘pretty competitive’ 47.5% sales fee for @Meta’s planned #NFT platform is perhaps the greatest example of being completely and utterly out of touch with something that I have ever witnessed. #ZuckBux #Hopeless – article via @BusinessInsiderhttps://t.co/RpqwE4EJ0E— Pranksy (@pranksy) April 13, 2022By comparison, the most popular NFT marketplace OpenSea takes a flat 2.5% fee while its close competitor LooksRare charges just 2% per transaction. Apple’s App Store takes a maximum 30% cut on sales.Coca-Cola BytesAmerican food giant Coca-Cola has unveiled a new product called Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte which was apparently born in the Metaverse and tastes like pixels.The drink’s gimmick as a physical drink from the Metaverse includes the fact that it comes with an Island Code that unlocks special maps and four mini games on the popular Fortnite video game by Epic Games. Epic recently scored a $2 billion investment from Sony and LEGO to build its own part of the Metaverse, although whether Fortnite is actually a metaverse right now is debatable.The product line will launch on May 2 and will only be available in the United States, Latin America, and China. What do you think taste like? Reply with your most creative guesses. pic.twitter.com/MJDZE4VHNm— Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) April 4, 2022

Join the Mile-high NFT clubAirline asset tokenization platform TravelX and Spanish airline Air Europa have partnered up to allow the airline to issue tickets in NFT form as NFTickets.The specially-designed series of tickets grant owners a business class flight to Miami Beach on Nov. 29, 2022. There will be a total of 10 NFTickets auctioned off every 14 days on the Travel Exchange auction platform, with the NFT collection issued on the Algorand blockchain network.The Eiffel Tower in Paris will host the event for the final bid of the first NFTicket to be released and sold during Paris Blockchain Week on April 14.NBA may be going virtualThe National Basketball Association (NBA) has filed a patent application for a laundry list of items it wishes to make into “virtual consumer merchandise.” Among the 37 items that could become NFTs are game tickets, collectibles, and player autographs.The wide array of virtual items is paving the way for the league to enter the Metaverse as it appears applications for everything but the playing surface have been submitted.NBA players are already immortalized in NFT form on NBA Top Shot by Dapper Labs. Other Nifty NewsJapanese gaming mainstay Sega wants to include cloud technology and NFTs into its Super Game project designed to connect different games together. While NFT collectors may applaud the decision, some in the gaming community disagree with the move.NFT startup Genie has locked in $150 million in Series C funding with a $1 billion valuation. This makes the NFT avatar creator and new Metaverse entrant a certified tech unicorn.

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‘Zone of heavy opportunity’: Analysts tip Bitcoin will stage a comeback

‘Zone of heavy opportunity’: Analysts tip Bitcoin will stage a comeback

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 14, 2022 |

Several popular cryptocurrency analysts believe the future looks green for Bitcoin (BTC) as it reclaimed the $40,000 mark in a 3.5% swing following a week-long dip.Popular Bitcoin technical analyst on Twitter TechDev issued a prediction to his 381,000 followers that the general direction for the largest cryptocurrency by market cap will be up for the foreseeable future. His April 14 chart drew a comparison between the tremendous rise of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the ’80s and ’90s to Bitcoin’s price over the past six years. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns but there are some similarities to the historic price action that if repeated, would suggest the Bitcoin price will rise from here. The analyst said “Times change. Assets chain. Macro aggregate human behavior usually doesn’t. #BTC”Times change.Assets change.Macro aggregate human behavior usually doesn’t.#BTC pic.twitter.com/NFhUA2hcYH— TechDev (@TechDev_52) April 13, 2022Lead Insights Analysts at Bitcoin mining firm Blockware Solutions Will Clemente pointed out that BTC is in a “zone of heavy opportunity” based on data compiled by his firm and blockchain analytics firm Glassnode.He tweeted on April 14 that “This is also the longest time Bitcoin has ever spent in the zone.”Only a few other times has Bitcoin reached the zone of heavy opportunity. (green)This is also the longest time Bitcoin has ever spent in the zone. pic.twitter.com/bvQr4FZqFC— Will Clemente (@WClementeIII) April 13, 2022

Real Vision founder and crypto investor Raoul Pal appeared on the Layah Heilpern Show on YouTube to discuss macroeconomic effects and cryptocurrency on April 13. He said that despite all of the things that the crypto market has endured over the past two years including the COVID pandemic, rising inflation, and the war in Ukraine, crypto still hasn’t made a new low.He added that “usually that’s a signal that the market has found its bottom.” Pal is also very supportive of Terra’s (LUNA) hefty purchases of BTC to use as collateral for its algorithmic TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin. He said: “This is the start of people using Bitcoin as the collateral layer,” continuing:“We’ll definitely see sovereign wealth funds owning Bitcoin because it’s a long duration savings asset.”Terra founder Do Kwon is on a mission to collateralize UST with about $3 billion in BTC and the Luna Foundation Guard bought 2,500 BTC worth about $100 million on April 13. This puts its current holdings just 800 coins behind Elon Musk’s Tesla with 42,200 BTC.Despite the optimism, investors may also remember that Santiment analysts stated on April 7 that Bitcoin would need to settle at or above $50,000 around the mid-halving on April 11 to “give more credit to the thesis that says: this cycle is different than the others.’” Related: Brazilian Senate announces incoming approval of the ‘Bitcoin law’April 11 has come and gone, and $50,000 remains a long way off. However, Cointelegraph data shows BTC recently reclaimed the $40k mark during a pump that lasted about an hour from 1pm to 2pm UTC on April 13, and is currently trading at $41,385.

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Ripple scores 'a very big win' in SEC case

Ripple scores 'a very big win' in SEC case

Uverejnil používateľ | apr 13, 2022 |

Ripple Labs has struck a blow against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) case after the presiding judge made a ruling that one Ripple community lawyer calls “a very big win for Ripple.”The SEC filed suit in 2020 against Ripple and executives Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen for selling unregistered securities.Presiding Judge Sarah Netburn denied the SEC’s request to reconsider shielding documents under privilege related to a June, 2018 speech made by Ripple’s then-director Willian Hinman. In the speech, Hinman said Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities.The SEC previously did not object to those documents falling outside deliberative process privilege (DPP) protection, as it suggested they concerned only Hinman’s personal views, not Ripple policies.The DPP exempts some documents in a case from being disclosed by the government so it can confidentially review existing policy based on the materials of the documents.The SEC subsequently changed tack to argue the speech reflected Ripple’s policies rather than Hinman’s personal views and should be shielded. Judge Netburn said the SEC should not contradict itself in trying to flip-flop on its assertions. In her decision, she wrote“The SEC seeks to have it both ways, but the Speech was either intended to reflect agency policy or it was not. Having insisted that it reflected Hinman’s personal views, the SEC cannot now reject its own position.”In summing up the critical aspects of Judge Netburn’s rejection to reconsider, a Ripple community defense lawyer with an extensive case file of financial and SEC cases James K. Filan tweeted today:This is a very big win for Ripple.— James K. Filan 90k+ (beware of imposters) (@FilanLaw) April 11, 2022Another Ripple community lawyer and founder of Crypto-Law.us also tweeted today to his 191,000 followers that “The SEC is now in a hurt locker” following Judge Netburn’s ruling.This is not just a win for @Ripple and #XRPHolders, but for the judicial system. After the March 2021 hearing, I said we were lucky to get Judge Netburn. Some of you disagree, but I still believe it. The SEC is now officially in a hurt locker. https://t.co/MuSC8ORrd2— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) April 11, 2022

Despite this seemingly important ruling, the case isn’t winding up yet and the SEC now has two weeks to appeal the decision.Much of the crypto industry is fixated on the proceedings of this case as its outcome could spell out the future of SEC filings against crypto companies for sales of unregistered securities. Related: Greenpeace, Ripple co-founder campaigning to change Bitcoin codeA Ripple victory could see the SEC pullback from its aggressive litigations against the crypto industry. However, if the SEC wins, the floodgates could open and lawyers familiar with crypto will have a cottage industry ready-made for them.

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