Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Steem Witnesses Freeze $3.2M in Latest Tit-for-Tat With Hard Fork Insurgents

Steem Soft Forks to Freeze 17.6M Tokens Held by Former Witnesses

Steem’s Battle With Hive Leads to New Soft Fork, Freezing $3.2M Worth of Tokens

Is Reddit Devising a Blockchain-Based Tipping System?

HodlX Guest Post  Submit Your Post   The boom in social media platforms was once an unprecedented opportunity for content creators and marketers to reach a wide audience. The flip side of the coin became visible when users found themselves owning neither their content nor personal data. Centralized server-based platforms like Facebook and YouTube attracting two billion active users per month, or Twitter with its 330 million monthly audience, capitalize on users’ data and give users content in return.

By storing information in data centers, with their thousands of servers, social media giants know their billions of users inside out and have control over their accounts. Private data becomes a potential product taken from users in exchange for “free” services. YouTube and Patreon can prevent users from receiving ad revenue, and Facebook does not enable monetization at all.

It is no surprise that social media apply censorship and de-platforming. Such policies are well-known to the blockchain community which regularly experiences content banning on many popular social sites. Harsh policies affect social groups based on political beliefs both left- and right-wing. The COVID-19 epidemic has also triggered indiscriminate bans on content mentioning “coronavirus”. Along with misinformation about the virus’s spread and false treatments, educational and socially significant content is also affected.

Exodus to alternatives

The solution is partially provided by Reddit, Disqus, and Discord which are still centralized but transfer self-moderation rights to communities. Some half-measures are undertaken by Telegram. It locates its servers in several legal jurisdictions and prevents the censoring of private chats. Public channels on Telegram though, are, on paper, subject to being closed. .

All the aforementioned is causing the beginning of a tectonic shift towards user-oriented, decentralized social platforms. This fact was recognized by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who has announced the intention to create standards for decentralized social media. In December 2019, he pointed to blockchain as a key technology for open hosting, governance and monetization of content.

The blockchain community, one of the most affected by censorship, resorted to vigorous “subversive actions” by launching a series of campaigns to abandon traditional social media. Their goals were to reclaim control over user data, reward authors’ intellectual work through algorithms, and transfer management rights into the hands of community members. The latter demonstrates a new level of user consciousness, meaning that they view themselves as actors holding equal rights in the social platforms where they publish and watch content.

However, even assuming that centralized media voluntarily address the demand of the blockchain community, real actions, in addition to the protest, are needed.

Many attempts have already been made by alternative platforms to reform the social media sphere. Some decentralized platforms, such as the Twitter-like “federated” social network Mastodon, adopt a non-blockchain-based approach. Mastodon is virtually a micro-blogging ad-free platform which unites users around various interests. Similar to other Fediverse projects (a collection of social networks functioning as one sole ecosystem), Mastodon allows users to create “instances” that apply their own moderation rules.

However, unlike Twitter or Weibo, Mastodon is not centrally hosted. Each user selects a specific server which works independently and has its own terms of use and moderation policies. This does not mean getting away from the rules, but at least allows you to choose a server with the most suitable conditions. In fact, these are some of several social networks running on a common protocol. This model is similar to Twitter’s plans for a decentralized media.

Freedom and privacy became the main focus of Diaspora. This is a distributed social network consisting of a group of pods, independently owned nodes, hosted by different individuals and institutions. Pods can be hosted on the user’s own server or any server chosen, and are connected to one large ecosystem. Since the network does not belong to any corporation or a person, it is protected from censorship. In addition, the social network does not appropriate copyright.

The next step of decentralized media evolution is blockchain-powered social networks such as Steem, which rewards content creation, commenting, voting, and moderation in its internal tokens. Community involvement through financial incentives is what makes Steem more sophisticated than Medium to which it is similar.

A Reddit-like blockchain platform Commun is formed from decentralized self-governed communities, where each community functions in a similar way to Steemit. This social network rewards content creators, voters and moderators but, in addition, it lets each community benefit from ad revenue.

Self-governing means that communities on Commun have the right to set up rules concerning content creation, rewards distribution and advertisement policies. A decentralized network built atop a blockchain layer eliminates the possibility of censoring content, freezing accounts or erasing any of the recorded information. This does not imply a complete absence of any moderation (elected community leaders can still ban content on Commun), but the rules of the community are recorded to the blockchain, thereby eliminating the likelihood of any excess of jurisdiction.

Unlike Steemit, with one token for the whole network, Commun allows each community to have their own token.

Although blockchain-based social platforms are still far from gaining traction, they are much more user-friendly than regular ones. They resist censorship (law enforcement aside), protect personal data, eliminate the constant threat of de-platforming, and provide a means to monetize content. That is why it would not be out of place to pay attention to them as an alternative to centralized networks owned by media giants.

 

Proof-of-Stake Future: Inevitability or Myth0

editor-in-chief

Posted: April 24, 2020

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has once again breached the $7000-mark, with the king coin’s performance giving an incentive to all the other alts in the market as well. However, whether or not, Bitcoin will manage to sustain itself above $7k, with the crypto failing to do so the last three times.

Bitcoin [BTC]

The past few days have been very fruitful for the world’s largest cryptocurrency, with Bitcoin recording a growth of over 13% over the past 10 days. With a press time price of $7536, Bitcoin was at its highest price point since the crash on 12 March. However, what would be crucial to see is whether the king coin is successfully able to sustain itself in that range this time.

The aforementioned surge also corresponded to a similar surge in the number of active entities on the Bitcoin network, with the figure having risen to a high unseen since July 2019.

The technical indicators suggested a bullish market too. While the Bollinger Bands highlighted the market’s upside volatility, the Chaikin Money Flow was well above zero and implied capital inflows into the market.

Tron [TRX]

Tron, once a regular in the top-10 of the cryptocurrency charts, now languishes way down in the 16th position. Like most altcoins in the market, TRX has been slow to recover from its fall following the market crash in March. However, the past 10 days have been good for the alt, with the price having surged by 16%. The token particularly benefitted from Bitcoin’s breach of $7000 a few days ago.

This bullishness was evidenced by the indicators. While the Parabolic SAR’s dotted markers were below the price candles, the Awesome Oscillator presented a green candle, despite low positive momentum in the market.

The improving fortunes of TRX come on the back of Tron’s blockchain recently recording the highest-ever daily increase in the number of new accounts.

Steem

While a glance at STEEM’s charts would suggest that there hasn’t been a lot of movement on the charts, the token did record 9% gains over the past 10 days. This might come as a relief for many in the STEEM community as the token was underperforming in the face of competition from Hive. In fact, a few weeks ago, witnesses on Steem’s blockchain froze 8 accounts and pushed over $3.2M into limbo.

The technical indicators did, however, imply some hesitance in the market. While the MACD indicator was barely above the signal line on the charts, the Relative Strength Index was right between the oversold and overbought zones.

In a recent development, Binance has expanded its support for Phala Network (PHA), Steem (STEEM), and Usual (USUAL). Although this development provides a bullish outlook for these coins, they have experienced significant price drops due to the current bearish sentiment in the broader crypto market. Notably, these declines come amid Bitcoin dipping below the $92K mark. Phala Network (PHA) has seen a 13% drop in the last 24 hours, while Steem and Usual also experienced significant declines. While Binance’s move may bring enhanced liquidity and user engagement, the broader market conditions could still impact these coins’ potential to rally.

Binance Unveils New Trading Pairs for PHA, STEEM, USUAL, and PLN On January 9, Binance’s announcement revealed new trading pairs for Phala Network, Steem, Usual, and Polish Zloty. The new pairs, PHA/USDC, STEEM/USDC, USUAL/USDC, and PLN/USDC, will be available for trading starting January 10 at 08:00 (UTC). This move further expands its trading options, catering to a wider range of users.

The announcement also confirmed the introduction of trading bot services for these pairs. Notably, PLN represents the Polish Zloty, a fiat currency, not a digital asset. These trading bots will enhance user experience by enabling advanced trading strategies across Binance Spot.

However, users in certain restricted regions, including the United States, Canada, and North Korea, will not be able to trade these pairs due to regulatory constraints. The leading crypto exchange, Binance, continues to prioritize compliance with international regulations to maintain a secure trading environment globally.

Phala Network Expands Its Reach with Ethereum Layer 2 Solution Phala Network (PHA), a prominent player in Polkadot’s ecosystem, has launched a Layer 2 network on Ethereum. Developed in collaboration with Succinct Labs and Conduit, this rollup leverages OP Succinct technology, combining optimistic and zero-knowledge proofs. This transition allows PHA to connect with Ethereum’s robust user base while offering cryptographic computing solutions.

The project introduces Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology for secure, private smart contracts. With this, Phala Network aims to expand its AI capabilities, enhancing privacy and reliability for decentralized applications. Notably, the recent listings of Phala’s perpetual contract on Binance triggered a 300% price surge, showcasing growing interest in the project’s innovative solutions.

What’s Next For PHA, STEEM, And USUAL Coins Phala Network’s (PHA) price saw a 13% drop in the last 24 hours, trading at $0.2970. The token recorded a 24-hour low of $0.296 and a high of $0.365. With a market cap of $237 million and a trading volume of $152 million, PHA remains up 82% over the last month and 170% in the last quarter.

PHA Price STEEM price traded at $0.3028, with a 24-hour range of $0.28–$0.36. The coin was up 26% this month and 70% over the last quarter. It has a $146 million market cap and $613 million in trading volume.

However, USUAL price declined by 11%, trading at $0.65. It had a 24-hour low of $0.64 and a high of $0.75. The coin’s market cap stands at $341 million, with a $166 million trading volume, though it is down 36% in the past week.

Binance previously delisted trading pairs for Axelar (AXL), Coin98 (C98), and Enjin (ENJ) led to price declines for these tokens, as delisting reduces liquidity and market access. However, Binance’s listing of new pairs for tokens like PHA, STEEM, and USUAL could have the opposite effect. Listings on major exchanges generally improve token visibility, liquidity, and investor confidence, potentially resulting in price rallies. In other words, these tokens are expected to witness recovery ahead, given the exchange’s strong dominance in the market.

Posted: March 5, 2020

Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency back in 2009. Today, there are a total of 5,164 cryptocurrencies. To say that the cryptocurrency market has grown is, therefore, an understatement.

With new coins being developed every day, two major exchanges based in South Korea namely, Bithumb and Upbit, have started delisting coins left, right, and center.

According to a recent report, Upbit has delisted or suspended about 17 coins already in 2020, with 7 tokens delisted by Bithumb as well.

One of the major reasons for such a mass delisting was the lack of communication between the exchange and the token developers. A representative from the Upbit team stated,

“Due to difficulties in communicating with the project’s tech team, there might be problems related to tech support. Liquidity is small, making the coin/token vulnerable to price manipulation. Therefore, to protect the investors, an investment warning has been issued.”

Bithumb released a similar statement after the exchange announced that it had flagged Populous and Cybermiles as “investment warning cryptocurrencies,” with regards to their own exchange policy.

Previously, Binance had also delisted several trading pairs, with the number rising to 30 in September 2019. The exchange had then argued that it was de-listing certain pairs to improve liquidity within the platform, while improving user trading experience. Hence, the act of removal or delisting isn’t new to the ecosystem.

Delisting of coins- necessary act amidst regulations?

According to the cases cited above, quality control has been a top priority for exchange platforms in 2020. The exchanges have developed and are now strictly adhering to policies meant to protect investors and the credibility of crypto-assets.

And, many of these policies actually make sense. Consider this – Exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb can review crypto-assets for potential delisting if there are questions to be raised about its exposure to the market or there are allegations of market manipulation. There are other reasons too, such as the lack of real demand and volume in the market.

These reasons make sense because they lend a degree of institutional credibility to these exchanges. I mean, would you trust an exchange that continues to list a questionable asset?

Many argue that this is a positive move as many of these crypto-assets are unlikely to raise collective demand. It is not important to have 1000 different assets, 1000 assets out of which half of them will be illiquid. Such a step, therefore, is crucial towards improving the general mindset of the people towards the cryptocurrency space.

In fact, such steps have been accelerated by the G20 adopting the Financial Action Task Force’s new crypto-asset guidelines, adoption meant to make sure that investors are not exposed to scam tokens which may affect the credibility of digital assets and exchanges as a whole.

With Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Japan already abiding by FATF’s guidelines, the filtration of coins by these exchanges is a move in the right direction. 5000 coins is already a number too big for such a niche financial sector, hence, rooting out the redundant tokens can be beneficial in the long-term.

A view of the Renzo Barbera Stadium redevelopment project in Italy.

Populous

Soccer has played on the grounds of Italy’s current Renzo Barbera Stadium since 1932. The historic site will get a complete remake thanks to the newly released designs from Populous, meant to turn the historic stadium into a multifunctional venue capable of hosting top-level international soccer and UEFA competitions along with major concerts and cultural events.

As the home for Palermo FC, the stadium was originally completed in 1948, designed by architect Giovan Battista Santangelo, and has undergone renovations in 1984—that included the construction of the second tier—and ahead of Italy hosting the World Cup in 1990. The next iteration will be a complete remake of a space currently seating just over 36,000 fans.

Populous said the seating bowl design will bring spectators closer to the pitch and include fully covered seating terraces. New hospitality and fan areas, expanded food and beverage offerings and dedicated event spaces will lead toward a higher standard of comfort and safety for a stadium design meant to function throughout the year. “New public spaces, services and amenities will strengthen the relationship between the stadium and its surrounding neighborhood,” according to the architect, “helping to generate social interaction, a safe activation and a renewed urban identity.”

MORE: New U.S. Soccer National Training Center Opens In Georgia

Still, the new design is meant to preserve the legacy of the site. The redevelopment of Renzo Barbera Stadium will look to maintain its relationship with Favorita Park and the views of Monte Pellegrino, while adding contemporary elements to the fan experiences and offering a fresh sight line for spectators inside the seating bowl.

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“The new stadium is a clear statement of the club’s ambition and its commitment to its fans and the people of Palermo,” says Silvia Prandelli, senior principal at Populous Italia. “The project will create a new destination for the city, fully integrated with local transport infrastructure, that will serve the community and benefit generations to come.”

MORE: USL Relegation-Promotion Plans Reshapes Stadium Design Discussion

The unveiling of the first designs follows Palermo FC’s submission of the required documentation to the Sicilian Region, confirming the club’s commitment to the project as it moves through the regulatory process.

Palermo FC fans inside Renzo Barbera Stadium.

Populous

The redevelopment will feature integrated photovoltaic systems, resource-efficient technologies that include rainwater recovery, and improved pedestrian, cycling, public transport and electric vehicle access. The landscaping around the stadium will also get updated with permeable surfaces.

Along with the new venue, the project includes an adjacent facility serving as Palermo FC’s headquarters. This structure will house offices, a museum and dedicated spaces for supporters and guests.

Top 5 AI Altcoins to Sell Before the End of October

Golem resurfaced with a 40% price surge, sparking speculation about its future. Is this a long-awaited comeback or another speculative rally? Golem [GLM], once a pioneer in decentralized computing, has resurfaced with a sudden 40% price surge, catapulting it back into the spotlight.

This revival has sparked speculation about its future—could this mark the start of a long-awaited comeback, or is it just another speculative rally?

AI crypto resurgence: Golem’s unexpected comeback Amid excitement in the AI crypto market, Golem, once hailed as a top AI cryptocurrency, has made an astonishing return with a 40% price surge.

This sudden revival has sparked debate. Is this a new chapter for Golem, or just another speculative pump driven by insider accumulation?

While Golem’s social media presence has been virtually non-existent since December 2024, recent community-driven efforts suggest the project might still have some fight left in it.

Golem crypto: Why was it left for dead? Golem was created to revolutionize computing by allowing users to lease unused processing power through a decentralized network, similar to Render [RNDR]. This positioned Golem as a promising player in AI and 3D rendering.

However, the development team offloaded large amounts of ETH last summer, and then they went silent in their communications. This shifted GLM’s trajectory.

The lack of updates and a stagnant roadmap led many to believe that Golem had met its end.

Speculation or sustainable growth? Golem’s next move is… Golem’s 40% price surge reignited excitement, but the sharp pullback that followed raises doubts about its sustainability. The RSI briefly hit overbought levels before cooling to 55.49, suggesting the surge may have been speculative.

Meanwhile, the OBV indicates a surge in trading volume, hinting at whale activity behind the price movement.

Source: TradingView Despite this surge, Golem faces significant competition from more established AI-focused projects like Render, Ocean Protocol (OCEAN), and Artificial Superintelligence Alliance Price Prediction’s [FET].

These projects boast stronger development and adoption. For Golem to regain relevance, it will need renewed innovation, communication, and community engagement.

Without clear updates from its team, the rally could be short-lived. Investors seeking long-term AI crypto opportunities may want to look elsewhere unless Golem can prove it’s staging a true comeback.

In This Article Details of Golem Crypto $13.36M Ethereum Transfer, Best New Crypto to Buy?Broader Implications for Ethereum, AI, and Golem CryptoWhat’s Next for Golem Crypto?Best New Crypto to Buy? Mind of Pepe Could Be the Next Big AI Crypto Agent Coin Golem Crypto Network (GLM) is stirring the pot again, begging the question of whether it is the best new crypto to buy. It offloads a hefty chunk of Ethereum (ETH) to major exchanges.

Once a darling of the Ethereum ICO boom, its latest maneuvers are raising eyebrows across the crypto community.

Details of Golem Crypto $13.36M Ethereum Transfer, Best New Crypto to Buy? On February 20, Golem moved $13.36 million in Ethereum—4,850 ETH—to exchanges in a series of nine transactions. Binance took 3,800 ETH worth $10.47 million, with another 1,050 ETH ($2.89 million) flowing into Coinbase.

Ethereum prices wavered during the transaction window, briefly dipping from $2,764 to $2,708 before regaining ground near $2,756. It’s Golem’s largest ETH transfer in months, following a 2,000-ETH sale in September 2024.

Can someone please explain to me why @golemproject – a dinosaur of the 2017 ICO era is up 30% right now? $GLM pic.twitter.com/EWCEbo8dWF

— Genia🔮 (@Genia_XBT) February 23, 2025

A peak-era Ethereum ICO powerhouse, Golem rode off with 820,000 ETH in 2016—now a jaw-dropping $2.26 billion in value.

The frequency and scale of Golem’s Ethereum sell-offs have raised eyebrows in the crypto community. Many wonder whether this strategy hints at financial struggles or a lack of long-term commitment to holding ETH.

Broader Implications for Ethereum, AI, and Golem Crypto Large token transfers to exchanges often hint at sell-offs, rattling markets in their wake. Golem’s recent transactions caused Ethereum to wobble, briefly dropping before finding its footing again.

Yet, the event underscores a lingering reality—ICO-era giants like Golem still wield outsized influence.

(X) Golem, once lauded as a pioneer in decentralized computing, now struggles to stay relevant. Billed as crypto’s solution for leasing idle computing power for tasks like 3D rendering and AI projects, the platform has drifted into obscurity.

Social media silence since December 2024 hasn’t helped, further fueling doubts about whether the project’s engine is still running.

Despite these challenges, Golem’s GLM token recently made a surprising 40% price leap, trading at $0.36 after months of stagnation. 99Bitcoin’s analysts attribute this pump to growing interest in AI-related cryptos and community efforts to revive the project.

What’s Next for Golem Crypto? From a technical perspective, GLM’s recent price surge may provide short-term optimism for holders. The token exited a tight 28-day accumulation zone to climb toward the $0.44 resistance level, though analysts warn that consolidation is likely following the significant pump.

GLM’s position above the 200-day moving average and a bullish RSI suggest room for more upward momentum. Yet, the real challenge for Golem hinges on recapturing the attention of developers and users in a crypto landscape that changes by the minute.

The project’s next moves—whether a technological update or renewed efforts to energize its community—will likely determine its future relevance.

Best New Crypto to Buy? Mind of Pepe Could Be the Next Big AI Crypto Agent Coin

MIND of Pepe ($MIND) could be a stroke of brilliance or the madness the crypto deserves. Or why not both? Touted as the first AI meme coin, it’s a self-governing token that merges blockchain tech with artificial intelligence. But forget hype for a moment; MIND has real utility.

The mind of Pepe digests trading data, serves it back to holders as real insights, and self-generates new tokens and social media content.

Unsurprisingly, $MIND has raked in $7 million during its presale, priced at $0.0033857 a token. The coin has locked up 10% of its total supply, riding Ethereum’s blockchain as an ERC-20 token and accepting payments in ETH, USDT, or BNB

Here’s the TL;DR for this presale:

Raised: $6.8 million Blockchain: Ethereum Token type: ERC-20 Token price: $0.0033587 Accepted payments: ETH, USDT, BNB, Card Don’t Psych Yourself Out! Get in on $MIND of Pepe Right NOW

EXPLORE: The History Books Will Remember Crypto 2025: But What’s The Best New Crypto to Buy?

Join The 99Bitcoins News Discord Here For The Latest Market Updates

Key Takeaways Golem Crypto is offloading a hefty chunk of Ethereum ($ETH) to major exchanges. Is it the best new crypto to buy? Many wonder whether this strategy hints at financial struggles or a lack of long-term commitment to holding ETH. Golem exited a tight 28-day accumulation zone to climb toward the $0.44 resistance level. #Presales

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Through this agreement, a functional test is being conducted with the purpose of determining whether or not DePIN protocols, namely Golem, are capable of supporting the diverse range of client and workload profiles. After seeing the maturation of the prospects presented by Web3, Salad started examining the different DePIN protocols in the third quarter of 2025. Golem Network, which is one of the first decentralized computing protocols, and Salad.com, which is an established GPU Cloud Platform that is powered by worldwide distributed infrastructure, have announced that they would be working together. Through the use of Golem’s Web3 infrastructure, this cooperation will determine whether or not it is possible to satisfy Salad’s current need for computing resources.

In the first step of an engineering test, Salad plans to make use of Golem’s permissionless execution layer in order to “mirror” and map a portion of its present commercial activity. This activity will include the whole spectrum of Salad’s cloud computing goods and services. Through this agreement, a functional test is being conducted with the purpose of determining whether or not DePIN protocols, namely Golem, are capable of supporting the diverse range of client and workload profiles that are presently employing Salad’s cloud infrastructure.

For the purpose of enabling client payments and the distribution of incentives to its network of infrastructure providers, Salad currently depends on a stack of centralized services. Salad’s software stack, which includes conventional payment processors, usage-based billing systems, and incentive suppliers, represents a substantial amount of complexity and operational expense. Salad has a worldwide presence that includes both clients and computing providers. It is possible that Salad’s goods and services may see large efficiency advantages if they were to include crypto payments and a permissionless compute-execution layer, which is comparable to what Golem Network provides.

Bob Miles, CEO of salad.com, added:

“By pairing Salad’s globally distributed infrastructure with Golem’s decentralized compute layer, we’re exploring how customer workloads, revenue, and our extensive rewards program can flow through DePIN. I first read the Golem whitepaper in 2017, and this collaboration reflects a shared vision of making advanced computational power more accessible by enabling millions of individuals to contribute underutilized devices.

This initial test phase aims to demonstrate whether Web3 can enhance centralized cloud platforms with greater efficiency and openness, while helping us understand how Salad’s margin profile could fit into a sustainable tokenomics model as we scale mirrored traffic through Golem Network.”

Through this partnership, the goal is to demonstrate that a conventional Web2 company like Salad is capable of integrating with a permissionless and decentralized protocol like the Golem Network. Through the course of the test, fundamental components, such as the decentralized marketplace and settlement infrastructure, will be evaluated to see how they may provide Salad with a platform for value exchange that is both more transparent and more cost-effective.

Paweł Burgchardt, CPO of Golem Network, commented:

“Our collaboration with Salad allows us to explore how Golem’s protocol can integrate with complementary marketplaces for computational resources. The insights gained from this experiment will help us refine Golem’s SDK and strengthen support for future integrations.”

After seeing the maturation of the prospects presented by Web3, Salad started examining the different DePIN protocols in the third quarter of 2025. Initial testing have provided substantial insights for Salad’s technical team, and Golem Network was the platform that gave the closest match to Salad’s current infrastructure.

Kyle Dodson, Salad’s CTO, shares:

“The architecture provided by Golem, connecting compute requestors and compute providers via a decentralized protocol, has significant overlap with how Salad’s platform operates today. As Salad works towards supporting a frequently requested feature, crypto payments, I am excited to collaborate with the Golem team to further enhance the efficiency of both cost and the compute-orchestration of our platform.”

Salad and Golem Network are both working toward the same objective, which is to make accelerated computing power more accessible to a wider audience. For example, in silico drug development simulations, artificial intelligence inference, and 3D rendering are only some of the workload profiles that are supported by both systems.

The purpose of this alliance is to demonstrate how Web2 and Web3-based markets, which have historically been kept separate, may be connected. This will allow participants to take use of characteristics that complement one another while also setting the framework for future resource-sharing across networks that are now compartmentalized.

As the Salad and Golem teams continue to collaborate on this engineering test, more engineering and product updates that are more specific will be disclosed and made accessible on salad.com and golem.network respectively.

The Golem Network is a decentralized network that is open-source and provides a marketplace for anyone to purchase computational resources and services. Golem’s permissionless protocol makes it possible for anybody to join the network by either contributing their resources to the network or exchanging those resources for GLM tokens.

Salad is the biggest cloud platform in the world, and it is supported by infrastructure that is scattered around the globe. Salad, which has been in business for eight years, provides help to a diverse variety of clients, ranging from AI Startups to Fortune 500 Enterprise Organizations that are listed. With Salad’s application, individuals and datacenters alike are able to share idle processing resources, so transforming unused hardware into valuable incentives. Salad is able to power cutting-edge computing applications at a cost that is far lower than that of hyperscale providers. Salad has thousands of current customers who are actively executing production workloads across tens of thousands of machines.

PANews reported on January 16th that, according to SoSoValue data, the cryptocurrency market sector declined for the second consecutive day. The DePIN sector led the decline with a 4.22% drop in the past 24 hours. Within the sector, Filecoin (FIL) fell 8.55%, and Golem (GLM) fell 10.07%. Additionally, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 0.74%, dropping below $95,000, while Ethereum (ETH) remained relatively resilient, declining 0.21% and still hovering around $3,300.

In other sectors, the CeFi sector fell 0.37% in the last 24 hours, but NEXO (NEXO) rose 1.13%; the Layer 1 sector fell 1.32%, while TRON (TRX) rose 2.30% intraday; the PayFi sector fell 2.11%, while Dash (DASH) bucked the trend and rose 3.50%; the Layer 2 sector fell 2.52%, while Mantle (MNT) rose 0.99%; the DeFi sector fell 2.59%, while River (RIVER) still rose significantly by 8.12%; and the Meme sector fell 2.93%, while MemeCore (M) rose 1.65%.

Circle partners with Nomura Securities to enter the Japanese yen foreign exchange settlement service market.

Stablecoin issuer Circle plans to collaborate with Nomura Securities to launch instant foreign currency settlement for Japanese corporate clients as early as 2027. The initiative will enable large cross-border transactions to be completed immediately, aiming to boost cross-border investment and trade. This will mark the first entry of a major stablecoin issuer into Japan’s corporate transaction market, allowing companies to convert yen into US dollar-denominated stablecoins for investment and instant transfers.

13 minutes ago

Institutions' Preview: Overview of US May Core PCE Price Index Monthly Rate

The US May core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index monthly rate will be released tonight at 20:30 (UTC+8). Below are the forecasts from multiple institutions: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: 0.2%; Royal Bank of Canada: 0.2%; JPMorgan Chase: 0.3%; Goldman Sachs Group: 0.3%; Bank of Montreal: 0.3%; Moody's Corporation: 0.3%; Standard Chartered: 0.3%; UniCredit: 0.3%; ING Group: 0.3%; HSBC Holdings: 0.3%; BNP Paribas: 0.4%; Wells Fargo: 0.4%; Capital Economics: 0.4%; Citigroup: 0.4%; Deutsche Bank: 0.4%; Nomura Securities: 0.4%; Pantheon Macroeconomics: 0.4%; Société Générale: 0.4%; Scotiabank: 0.4%; Morgan Stanley: 0.4%

13 minutes ago

DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating

U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).

13 minutes ago

Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.

Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.

13 minutes ago

US officials: Israel has withdrawn troops from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

A U.S. State Department official said Israel has withdrawn from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, describing the move as a "goodwill gesture" toward the Lebanese government.

13 minutes ago

CBRS trades below IPO price post-earnings: Erases all gains six weeks after listing, two smart money firms net $5.8 million from first-day IPO shorts.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, Cerebras (CBRS), the AI chip firm previously dubbed "Nvidia’s strongest challenger", saw its stock price fall in stages after reporting its first quarterly results since going public, as negative guidance overshadowed better-than-expected performance. The stock has dropped roughly 22% since the earnings release and officially broke below its IPO price today. On-chain whales are overall bearish. CBRS trades at $184 on the Hyperliquid platform, down 7.7% in 24 hours. Large-scale short positions (million-dollar level) total around $11.62 million, 2.39 times the long positions ($4.87 million). Two major short positions were placed precisely at high levels as early as the IPO day or even before the IPO: - Whale 0xe0ff: Shorted at $284.51 on May 14 with a 3x leveraged position of $6.13 million, generating an unrealized profit of $3.24 million (+104%); - Whale 0x9996: Shorted at $275.92 on May 11 with a 5x leveraged position of $5.48 million, generating an unrealized profit of $2.64 million (+162%). It is learned that both addresses currently hold short positions in both CBRS and SPCX, and have recorded substantial unrealized profits, preferring to place short positions at high levels before or on the day of major stock listings. With the realization of negative earnings news in this round, the combined unrealized profit of the two positions is around $5.88 million. Currently, the average entry price of CBRS short whales is around $275, and the current price is over 30% lower than that. The nearest short liquidation line is at $200.13, about 7% away from the current price.

13 minutes ago

Circle partners with Nomura Securities to enter the Japanese yen foreign exchange settlement service market.

Stablecoin issuer Circle plans to collaborate with Nomura Securities to launch instant foreign currency settlement for Japanese corporate clients as early as 2027. The initiative will enable large cross-border transactions to be completed immediately, aiming to boost cross-border investment and trade. This will mark the first entry of a major stablecoin issuer into Japan’s corporate transaction market, allowing companies to convert yen into US dollar-denominated stablecoins for investment and instant transfers.

13 minutes ago

Institutions' Preview: Overview of US May Core PCE Price Index Monthly Rate

The US May core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index monthly rate will be released tonight at 20:30 (UTC+8). Below are the forecasts from multiple institutions: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: 0.2%; Royal Bank of Canada: 0.2%; JPMorgan Chase: 0.3%; Goldman Sachs Group: 0.3%; Bank of Montreal: 0.3%; Moody's Corporation: 0.3%; Standard Chartered: 0.3%; UniCredit: 0.3%; ING Group: 0.3%; HSBC Holdings: 0.3%; BNP Paribas: 0.4%; Wells Fargo: 0.4%; Capital Economics: 0.4%; Citigroup: 0.4%; Deutsche Bank: 0.4%; Nomura Securities: 0.4%; Pantheon Macroeconomics: 0.4%; Société Générale: 0.4%; Scotiabank: 0.4%; Morgan Stanley: 0.4%

13 minutes ago

DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating

U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).

13 minutes ago

Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.

Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.

13 minutes ago

US officials: Israel has withdrawn troops from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

A U.S. State Department official said Israel has withdrawn from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, describing the move as a "goodwill gesture" toward the Lebanese government.

13 minutes ago

CBRS trades below IPO price post-earnings: Erases all gains six weeks after listing, two smart money firms net $5.8 million from first-day IPO shorts.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, Cerebras (CBRS), the AI chip firm previously dubbed "Nvidia’s strongest challenger", saw its stock price fall in stages after reporting its first quarterly results since going public, as negative guidance overshadowed better-than-expected performance. The stock has dropped roughly 22% since the earnings release and officially broke below its IPO price today. On-chain whales are overall bearish. CBRS trades at $184 on the Hyperliquid platform, down 7.7% in 24 hours. Large-scale short positions (million-dollar level) total around $11.62 million, 2.39 times the long positions ($4.87 million). Two major short positions were placed precisely at high levels as early as the IPO day or even before the IPO: - Whale 0xe0ff: Shorted at $284.51 on May 14 with a 3x leveraged position of $6.13 million, generating an unrealized profit of $3.24 million (+104%); - Whale 0x9996: Shorted at $275.92 on May 11 with a 5x leveraged position of $5.48 million, generating an unrealized profit of $2.64 million (+162%). It is learned that both addresses currently hold short positions in both CBRS and SPCX, and have recorded substantial unrealized profits, preferring to place short positions at high levels before or on the day of major stock listings. With the realization of negative earnings news in this round, the combined unrealized profit of the two positions is around $5.88 million. Currently, the average entry price of CBRS short whales is around $275, and the current price is over 30% lower than that. The nearest short liquidation line is at $200.13, about 7% away from the current price.

13 minutes ago

Circle partners with Nomura Securities to enter the Japanese yen foreign exchange settlement service market.

Stablecoin issuer Circle plans to collaborate with Nomura Securities to launch instant foreign currency settlement for Japanese corporate clients as early as 2027. The initiative will enable large cross-border transactions to be completed immediately, aiming to boost cross-border investment and trade. This will mark the first entry of a major stablecoin issuer into Japan’s corporate transaction market, allowing companies to convert yen into US dollar-denominated stablecoins for investment and instant transfers.

13 minutes ago

Institutions' Preview: Overview of US May Core PCE Price Index Monthly Rate

The US May core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index monthly rate will be released tonight at 20:30 (UTC+8). Below are the forecasts from multiple institutions: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: 0.2%; Royal Bank of Canada: 0.2%; JPMorgan Chase: 0.3%; Goldman Sachs Group: 0.3%; Bank of Montreal: 0.3%; Moody's Corporation: 0.3%; Standard Chartered: 0.3%; UniCredit: 0.3%; ING Group: 0.3%; HSBC Holdings: 0.3%; BNP Paribas: 0.4%; Wells Fargo: 0.4%; Capital Economics: 0.4%; Citigroup: 0.4%; Deutsche Bank: 0.4%; Nomura Securities: 0.4%; Pantheon Macroeconomics: 0.4%; Société Générale: 0.4%; Scotiabank: 0.4%; Morgan Stanley: 0.4%

13 minutes ago

DA Davidson Raises Micron’s Price Target to $2,000, Retains Buy Rating

U.S. investment bank DA Davidson released a research note stating that Micron Technology has entered a new phase with one of the best performance visibility in the semiconductor industry, a stark contrast to its past standing in the sector. Driven by another quarter of results that handily exceeded expectations and positive forward guidance, Micron’s stock price surged sharply. These signals indicate that the current memory chip boom cycle is far from over. While the company is ramping up capacity investments (with capital expenditure (CAPEX) projected to hit $10 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, which will bring additional supply), management expects the memory market to remain tight on supply and demand at least through 2027. Against this backdrop, DA Davidson reiterated its "Buy" rating on Micron and raised its price target from $1,500 to $2,000, equivalent to a 20x price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio based on the company’s 2026 calendar year expected earnings per share (EPS).

13 minutes ago

Morgan Stanley raises Micron's price target to $1,200, maintains 'Overweight' rating.

Morgan Stanley released a report raising Micron Technology (MU.O)’s price target from $1,050 to $1,200, while maintaining an "Overweight" rating. The investment bank lifted its fiscal 2027 earnings per share (EPS) forecast for the chipmaker by roughly 40% to $168, and upgraded its free cash flow (FCF) projection from $104 billion to $140 billion. Aligning with Micron’s management, the bank holds that AI will push DRAM demand to consistently outpace supply significantly after 2027. Micron’s last fiscal quarter results matched this trend, with both its quarterly performance and outlook showing notable upside potential.

13 minutes ago

US officials: Israel has withdrawn troops from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

A U.S. State Department official said Israel has withdrawn from parts of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon, describing the move as a "goodwill gesture" toward the Lebanese government.

13 minutes ago

CBRS trades below IPO price post-earnings: Erases all gains six weeks after listing, two smart money firms net $5.8 million from first-day IPO shorts.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, Cerebras (CBRS), the AI chip firm previously dubbed "Nvidia’s strongest challenger", saw its stock price fall in stages after reporting its first quarterly results since going public, as negative guidance overshadowed better-than-expected performance. The stock has dropped roughly 22% since the earnings release and officially broke below its IPO price today. On-chain whales are overall bearish. CBRS trades at $184 on the Hyperliquid platform, down 7.7% in 24 hours. Large-scale short positions (million-dollar level) total around $11.62 million, 2.39 times the long positions ($4.87 million). Two major short positions were placed precisely at high levels as early as the IPO day or even before the IPO: - Whale 0xe0ff: Shorted at $284.51 on May 14 with a 3x leveraged position of $6.13 million, generating an unrealized profit of $3.24 million (+104%); - Whale 0x9996: Shorted at $275.92 on May 11 with a 5x leveraged position of $5.48 million, generating an unrealized profit of $2.64 million (+162%). It is learned that both addresses currently hold short positions in both CBRS and SPCX, and have recorded substantial unrealized profits, preferring to place short positions at high levels before or on the day of major stock listings. With the realization of negative earnings news in this round, the combined unrealized profit of the two positions is around $5.88 million. Currently, the average entry price of CBRS short whales is around $275, and the current price is over 30% lower than that. The nearest short liquidation line is at $200.13, about 7% away from the current price.

13 minutes ago

PANews reported on May 20th, citing Cointelegraph, that the Tor Project, in partnership with Funding the Commons, launched a Web3 crowdfunding campaign to support 10 non-profit projects dedicated to privacy, anti-censorship, secure communications, and digital infrastructure for the public good. The campaign, launched on May 19th, accepts donations in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Zcash, Monero, and Golem. Using a quadratic funding model, the $115,000 matching fund pool is provided by Cake Wallet, Zcash community funding, Logos, and Octant, and will run until June 18th. David Casey, Project Director at Funding the Commons, stated that quadratic funding is one of the solutions Web3 offers for financing critical infrastructure. Isabela Fernandes, Executive Director of the Tor Project, stated that the campaign aims to support organizations building tools to resist censorship. A Freedom House report indicates that global internet freedom has declined for 15 consecutive years, and by 2025, internet shutdowns and systemic censorship will affect more than half of the world's population. The United States withdrew from the Free Online Coalition in January.

Market turns red today as Bitcoin touches back below $11,000

The end of the week brings the market back to a familiar situation. Bitcoin remains largely uneventful, gaining only $100 on yesterday’s price. Top altcoins appear to be on the same boat with the exception of ATOM and DASH, which gained 23.67% and 10.67% respectively.

Binance Coin has recovered from yesterday’s hiccup, while MaidSafeCoin has now posted a new ATH since July.

Cryptocurrency market dynamics since September 12. Source: Coin360 As the world focuses on Venezuela, Bitcoin is making inroads in another Latin American country: Cuba.

According to a report by Reuters, Cubans are appreciating crypto’s borderless nature. The country has been subjected to a decades-long embargo from the U.S., which completely disconnected it from international finance and made it impossible to obtain a simple debit or credit card.

Cryptocurrency’s potential is exemplified by Jason Sanchez, who is reported to have used bitcoin to purchase spare parts for his cellphone repair shop from an online store in China. Alex Sobrino, the founder of Telegram channel CubaCripto, provided more details on crypto adoption in the country. “We are using cryptocurrencies to top up our cellphones, to make purchases online, and there are even people reserving hotel rooms with (it),” he explained, estimating that there are 10,000 users active users in Cuba.

Still, crypto operates in an opaque grey field in Cuba. The central bank of the country has stated in July that it would explore the potential of crypto payments. But just like Iran, it might decide that a centrally-controlled digital currency could make for a better option – even though the pioneering Petro has failed to achieve its goals.

Cosmos recovers amid continuous software releases The ATOM token has had a strong performance this week. After posting its ATL on September 5, it has rebounded by 58% in the past seven days – most of it due to today’s 23% gain.

Excitement is building for the upcoming release of IBC, the Inter Blockchain Communication protocol. The third Release Candidate version of its Interchain Standards was published a few days ago. This will be an important resource for developers on IBC, paving the way for additional attention by the community. The project has also announced Game Of Zones, a gamified network test for the system.

What Games of Stakes was for Cosmos Hub, Game of Zones is for IBC 🤺

Are you ready for 3 weeks of back-to-back gaming? 🛠️

📌 Week 1: Test connections between zones
📌 Week 2: Test token transfers
📌 Week 3: Adversarial zones

🔜 Stay tuned for updates!

— Cosmos – The Interchain ⚛️ (@cosmos) September 12, 2019

Excitement around the fundamental drivers, in addition to a fertile technical picture, are likely to have contributed to ATOM’s cosmic performance this week.

Advertisement

Coinbase Pro Announces DASH listing The markets have reacted to yet another Coinbase announcement. Trading is set to start on Monday, after a 12 hour period in which only deposits will be open. The coin will only be available on Coinbase Pro, previously called GDAX.

The announcement is responsible for almost the entirety of DASH gains this week, which are currently set at 12%. It’s worth noting that Dash will not be available for New York and UK-based traders, likely due to concerns about its privacy features, which led to Zcash trading restrictions last month.

MaidSafe price sees steady rise MaidSafeCoin, the token of the decentralized internet project Safe Network, has seen a steady rise in the last few weeks.

MaidSafeCoin price chart by CoinMarketCap What’s noteworthy about the project is that it had its ICO back in 2014. While the development journey was expected to be quite long, the fact that it is active after all these years is giving hope to its traders. Many other project tokens have simply flatlined since 2018.

The excitement is likely coming from MaidSafe reaching its Phase 1 milestone at the beginning of the month. Timely development updates and meaningful activity have also compounded the initial effect.

Last week we were beyond delighted to announce that we released real Vaults and therefore, we've landed at the Phase 1 milestone!

But what are Vaults, what's Phase 1, and why is this such big news? https://t.co/ja1tW8mmxk

— Autonomi (@WithAutonomi) September 6, 2019

Bitcoin Commentary By Nathan Batchelor Bitcoin is starting to push lower as we head into the U.S trading session, after the cryptocurrency ran into a wall of technical selling above the $10,400 level. Yesterday I highlighted this key technical area as the likely short-term bullish target.

The $10,000 level is now a possible short-term bearish target if we continue to see the BTC / USD pair losing upside momentum over the weekend.

The one-hour time chart clearly shows that a bullish falling wedge breakout occurred yesterday, once price moved above the $10,150 level. We are likely to see a re-test of the triangle breakout if we continue to hold below the $10,400 level; technical analysis shows that key trendline resistance from the triangle pattern is now located at the $10,000 level.

The $10,600 level still remains the overall short-term bullish target, should a more bullish scenario happen today or even over the weekend. A test towards the current monthly trading high is even possible if the BTC / USD pair finds renewed technical buying interest above the $10,600 level.

Via TradingView The Money Flow Index on both the one-hour and daily time frame has turned bullish, while the Relative Strength Indicator on the daily time frame has risen to its highest level since September 6th. The improvement in these indicators is definitely a positive sign Bitcoin.

*The recent bullish wedge breakout on the one-hour time frame remains valid while the BTC/USD pair trades above the $10,000 level.*

SENTIMENT

Intraday bullish sentiment for Bitcoin has notably increased from yesterday, to 60.00%, according to the latest data from TheTIE.io. Long-term sentiment for the cryptocurrency is largely unchanged, at 66.50 % positive.

UPSIDE POTENTIAL

If the recent bullish moves continue, we should then expect the $10,600 level to be a major area of interest for BTC / USD buyers.

The $10,960 level will be the next technical region for bulls to break, with the $11,700 and $12,400 levels then becoming the next targets for further breakouts.

DOWNSIDE POTENTIAL

The $10,120 and $10,000 levels are the main support areas to watch today, with the $9,876 level the most important technical area to watch below.

We should also consider the weekly price close. If BTC / USD bulls fails to close the weekly candle above the $10,600 level we should expect downside pressure to resume next week.

A full version of Nathan Batchelor’s Daily Bitcoin Commentary, together with his calls, is available to SIMETRI Research subscribers earlier in the day.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Andrey Shevchenko. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.

This is Part One of a three-part series interview with William Quigley, a cryptocurrency and blockchain investor and co-founder of WAX and Tether, conducted by Selva Ozelli exclusively for crypto.news. Part One is about Sam Bankman-Fried’s and Changpeng Zhao’s prison sentences. Part Two is about cryptocurrency and banking. Part Three is about the future of NFTs.

1) For the benefit of crypto.news readers, please tell us about your career path that led you to becoming a successful technology-focused venture capitalist. After graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in accounting and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, where I was appointed a Kauffman Fellow, I worked for Arthur Andersen as a Senior Consultant with their Financial Services Group (“Andersen”). At Andersen, I assisted banks and S&Ls in their asset securitization and risk segmentation efforts. I also advised Japanese banks on their US market entry strategies.

After Andersen, I spent seven years in business planning and new venture roles at The Walt Disney Company (Disney) the world’s largest consumer products licensor. My tenure at Disney included finance and operational roles at Euro Disney, the Disney Store retail chain, and Disney Consumer Products. I also oversaw strategic planning and financial operations for Disney Licensing.

After Disney, my career as a technology-focused venture capitalist began when I became the  Managing Director at Idealab! Capital Partners (“ICP”), the world’s first consumer Internet venture capital firm that was an early investor in some of the leading Web1 era companies including PayPal, Netzero, MP3.com, and Goto.com. I later co-founded Clearstone Venture Partners, a $700M early-stage focused venture capital firm where I concentrated my investments on communications and consumer technology companies. And I also co-founded and co-managed Crypto Currency Partners, a blockchain equity investment fund where I incubated and invested in more than 30 Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrency-related investments with early notable investments in Coinbase, Kraken, Bitfury, Authy, ChangeTip, and Circle.

I co-developed the first crypto derivative used to trade pre-release Ethereum. I also co-founded many other transformative crypto companies, including Tether, the first fiat-backed stablecoin and the world’s most traded cryptocurrency, and GoCoin, a pioneering crypto payments processor. I co-founded WAX, a blockchain built for video game and NFT virtual item trading.

I was also an early investor in PayPal, and highly doubt the payments giant will bring much innovation to the stablecoin space.

2) Please tell us about your thoughts concerning Sam Bankman-Fried’s 25-year prison sentence. The former FTX CEO was found guilty of six counts of fraud and one count of money laundering.  Sam Bankman-Fried swiftly fell from the top three crypto titan spots with a personal net worth once exceeding $26 billion after CoinDesk unveiled a faulty Alameda balance sheet in November 2022. This, in turn, resulted in industry-wide panic and concern about FTX, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, and its liquidity. FTX traded in highly leveraged spots, derivatives, options, and products.

As the story unraveled, we learned that FTX’s losses were much, much bigger than many originally thought: The executives behind the now-bankrupt FTX and Alameda stole over $10 billion in customer funds during 2021, a crypto and NFT bull market. Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors , and in March 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $11 billion in fines. Sam Bankman-Fried has appealed his prison sentence.

I would like to touch upon multiple factors that might have contributed to Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud. Sam is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate with a degree in physics and a minor in mathematics; he is a former Jane Street Capital international exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trader. He had slim to non-work experience in crypto, blockchain or derivatives when he founded both FTX and the crypto trading company Alameda Research in 2018. I would like to point out that ETFs are not derivatives; they are investment funds that were only approved by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to invest in BTC at the beginning of this year.  Therefore, SBF was ill-equipped to manage a highly leveraged crypto exchange and a hedge fund, which declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 11, 2022, marking one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. The failure of FTX shook the volatile crypto market, which lost billions at the time, falling below a $1 trillion valuation.

SBF’s quick rise to fame in the crypto industry was fueled by the media, influencers, and celebrity spokespeople who made him into this investment genius, likening him to JP Morgan and Warren Buffet, who dressed like a beach bum with unwieldy hair. You could say that mainstream media influencers were complicit in SBF’s fraud, providing him with extensive coverage even post-FTX bankruptcy. Think about it: Michael Lewis’s book, “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon,” was released on October 3, 2023, the same day the criminal trial against Sam Bankman-Fried began in federal Manhattan court. 

In June of 2023, dozens of lawsuits against Sam Bankman-Fried, his colleagues, FTX investors, and celebrity spokespeople, influencers were combined into one legal proceeding, with many more lawsuits still waiting to be filed. Some of these class action suits are being settled. And Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to help FTX customers go after celebrity promoters and influencers by flipping.

But investors of FTX were also complicit in Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud. These FTX investors included Binance and the best of the best venture capital firms such as NEA, IVP, Third Point Ventures, Tiger Global, Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Temasek, Thoma Bravo, Paradigm Operations, and others. These investors must not have done any due diligence on the financial statements of FTX and Alameda Research, which were likely prepared on “Quick Books.”

3) The investor’s role in FTX’s fraud has not been addressed until now, and I am glad you are speaking about this. In February 2023, Robbins Geller, a well-known class action law firm, filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against venture capital firms that backed FTX.  These venture capital firms employ young, untrained people who know nothing about crypto, derivatives, financial risk, blockchain, or who Satoshi Nakamoto is—last month, U.K. Judge James Mellor decided that Craig Steven Wright apparently is not Satoshi Nakamoto—as the industry is very young. These young, untrained venture capitalists who can’t even read a financial statement were impressed with Sam Bankman-Fried based on the intensely orchestrated media hype about him. 

For example, I read that when venture capitalists at Sequoia Capital, the legendary firm that funded Apple, Google, and Instagram, met Sam Bankman-Fried, he did not so much to talk about the technology or the financial statement risk exposure of his crypto exchange, FTX, or about his hedge fund, Alameda Research. What SBF talked about was bananas—the yellow fruit. Apparently, Sam Bankman-Fried said things like, “I want FTX to be a place where you can do anything you want with your next dollar. You can buy Bitcoin. You can send money in whatever currency to any friend anywhere in the world. You can buy a banana. You can do anything you want with your money from inside FTX.” Frankly, if I heard this type of gibberish in an investment meeting, I would start running for the hills. Instead, the venture capitalists at Sequoia loved what Sam Bankman-Fried was saying and promoted FTX and its services to induce customers to use the FTX platform for crypto trading and investing to increase the value of their significant investments in FTX.  

So, the venture capitalists backing and active support were integral to FTX’s fraudulent scheme.  The VCs invested in FTX, knowing that the company would use the funds to conduct misleading activities—including banana trading—violating the law. And they actively supported these efforts by promoting FTX through their own websites, social media feeds, public interviews, and appearances at industry events, representing to investors and consumers that the FTX platforms were trustworthy and safe.

4) I want to ask your opinion about another lawsuit related to Sam Bankman-Fried. Sam’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, are both Stanford Law School professors, one of the best law schools in our country. They were recipients of fraudulent cash transfers and real estate valued at $26 million from Sam Bankman-Fried. Debtors of FTX and Alameda Research sued Sam’s parents in September 2023 in a clawback lawsuit to recover damages. Yes, I read that Sam’s parents, Stanford Law School professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, are saying that FTX’s lawsuit is seeking “to capitalize on the sheer fact” that their son was a founder and executive of FTX without ever proving that they held power over the company or were aware of problems that led to its collapse while accepting ill-gotten gain payments amounting to $26 million from their son without any questions. So far, Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents have not been charged with any crime relating to FTX, Alameda Research, or their son’s criminal conduct. If Sam were my son, as a parent in the legal profession, I would have at least asked how he was able to gift me $26 million in cash and real estate and maybe asked a few questions about FTX’s apparent role as a money-laundering operation.

However, I am not a lawyer, especially not one who teaches at Stanford Law. Nor am I the father of Sam Bankman-Fried. While stealing $10 billion in investor funds is not the same as killing teenagers in a mass school shooting, I would like to mention Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald, who did something extraordinary and first of its kind after saying, “I am angry. I’m angry as a mother. I’m angry as the prosecutor. I’m angry as a person that lives in this county”. She stood up at a press conference three days after a massive school shooting that killed four teenagers and injured seven and announced she would be charging the school shooter’s parents for grossly neglecting their parental duty by not averting the obvious danger their son presented—and so were directly responsible for the deaths in the son’s mass shooting. This prosecutor won her first-of-its-kind case. The parents of the mass school shooter were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter even without pulling the son’s gun’s trigger. These parents are the first US parents to be charged in a mass school shooting committed by their child.

5) My final question to you, William, for part one of our interview series is also regarding sentencing. Today, Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison. Any thoughts on one of the richest people being sentenced to prison on money laundering charges? Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, with an estimated $33 billion fortune, pleaded guilty and stepped down from Binance as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice in November of 2023. As part of the agreement, CZ waived the right to appeal any sentence up to 18 months in prison. CZ also agreed to pay a fine of $50 million. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines.

While prosecutors had requested three years of prison time for CZ, double the sentencing guideline of 18 months, because the “scope and ramifications of CZ’s misconduct at Binance were massive.” Today, Changpeng Zhao found out that he will serve four months of  jail time for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act during his time at Binance which seems minimal.

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.

This is Part Three of a three-part series interview with William Quigley, a cryptocurrency and blockchain investor and co-founder of WAX and Tether, conducted by Selva Ozelli exclusively for crypto.news. Part One is about Sam Bankman-Fried’s and Changpeng Zhao’s prison sentences. Part Two is about cryptocurrency and banking. Part Three is about the future of NFTs.

1) In Part One of our interview, you mentioned that you co-founded Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX), the first decentralized marketplace for trading video game virtual items. Tell us about WAX.io, the number one web3 gaming platform. WAX was built specifically to handle the demands of blockchain gamers and NFT collectors.  We initially built WAX on the Ethereum blockchain; however, the platform’s exorbitant gas fees and slowness led us to develop the WAX blockchain and wallet.

WAX blockchain has the largest NFT ecosystem, with over 250 million NFT assets and more than 30,000 dApps at NFT projects. The WAX platform handles more than 23 million transactions per day for more than 30,000 dApps and 15 million users. Wax blockchain is ultra-fast, secure, and carbon-neutral.

As the world’s leading blockchain for NFTs, dApps, and digital gaming, based on the number of daily active users, WAX was designed from the ground up to be eco-friendly. Our carbon-neutral status isn’t just a claim—it’s certified by Climate Care, demonstrating our dedication to maintaining a minimal environmental footprint.

This Earth Day, we launched the Earthen WAX Walker NFT drop. For every Earthen Walker NFT claimed, WAX will plant a tree. This initiative combines our passion for innovative digital collectibles with tangible actions to benefit our planet, offering a collection of exclusive digital art that will allow us to contribute to reforestation efforts globally. 

2) A 2023 crypto analysis firm dappGambl report found that 95% of NFTs are worth practically nothing. The report found that following the immense hype over NFTs between 2021 and 2022, around 79% of all NFT collections have remained unsold. The popular Bored Yacht Ape NFT values are down around 90% from market highs. As the NFT markets crashed at the end of 2021, I wrote that NFTs were here to stay. What are your views on the future of NFTs? According to Zion Market Research, the NFT market size was valued at $36.12 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $217.07 billion by the end of 2032, showing a compound annual growth rate of around 22.05% from 2024 to 2032. 

Non-fungible token industry prospective | Source: Zion Market Research The global NFT market cap today is $68.68 Billion, a +1.12% change in the last 24 hours.  I expect most of this growth to be in utility NFTs, collectible NFTs, and web3 gaming NFTs.

3) In 2021, art NFTs seemed like the biggest disrupter in art, with artists minting, exhibiting, and auctioning and investors buying, selling, and trading art NFTs.  Nicole Sales Giles, VP and director of digital art sales of Post-War & Contemporary Art at Christie’s, said, “At Christie’s, we view Digital Art as simply another collecting category of contemporary art. The web3 art community is collaboratively building something very special.  I believe that in the future, the art world will look back on today’s camaraderie of artists, builders, curators, and collectors as the time ‘when it all started.” What are your thoughts and views about the future of art NFTs? The art market dropped 4% last year to $65 billion a year globally, with a few art sales making up the bulk of that number. Art NFTs are likely to be handled by global art businesses like Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips.

At WAX, we focus on collectible NFTs and game NFTs with high trading volume by owners.  We hope our collectible Earthen WAX Walker NFT drop generates intense collector interest so we can plant many trees.

4) Gains from collectible NFTs are being taxed at a 28% rate, which is higher than current capital gains rates. What are your thoughts on the higher tax rate applied to collectible NFTs? And will the higher tax rate hinder NFT collectible investment?  The global collectibles market—valued at more than $360 billion in 2020—is expected to grow at a significant rate of around 4% during the forecast period 2022-2028. Therefore, the  28%  higher tax rate shows that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) anticipates much growth in the collectible NFT sales area and would like to tax it at a higher tax rate than the current capital gains rate.

Global collectibles market | Source: UnivDatos 5) The IRS recently issued the 1099-DA form in draft form. Jonathan Cutler, senior manager in Deloitte’s Washington National Tax team advising on information reporting of digital assets, said, “Under the August 2023 proposed digital asset reporting regulations, an NFT is included as reportable when it is a ‘digital representation of value that is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger (or any similar technology).’ In April, the draft form on which an NFT or other digital asset might be reported—the Form 1099-DA—was published by the IRS. Importantly, the cover page notes that this early draft release is based only on the proposed regulations and subject to change based on the public comments, the volume of which appears to be significant. Until those comments are digested by the IRS and Treasury, it’s difficult to glean meaningful information, whether from this draft form or otherwise, on the final scope of the definition of “digital asset” for reporting purposes.”  Do you have any comments on the draft 1099-DA form which applies to NFTs? If the draft 1099-DA is finalized in its current form, then NFT markets will need to issue 1099-DA’s. Afterall, collectible NFTs are taxed at a higher rate.

6) A new NFT project takes cannabis sales out of the dark web markets and brings it into the NFT markets. Cannabis billionaire Maximillian White, who is often referred to as the ‘Elon Musk of cannabis,’ said, “I signed a partnership agreement with UK rapper Fredo just weeks after his Dubai prison release to launch first-of-its-kind Dr. Green NFTs sold at my own NFT drgreennft.com market place which will allow holders of the Ethereum based NFTs to sell recreational cannabis legally worldwide. The global cannabis market value is expected to reach approximately $33 billion by 2024 end and hit over $69 Billion by 2029 with a compounded AGR of 15.4%.” Do you have any thoughts or comments on this first-of-its-kind cannabis NFT initiative? No comments.

7) NFTs appear to be the next wave of SEC enforcement actions in the digital asset space. Last year, the SEC classified two NFT projects as securities. In August 2023, the SEC charged Impact Theory, LLC, a media and entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of NFTs. Impact Theory raised approximately $30 million from hundreds of investors through the offering by claiming to be the next Disney Company—your ex-employer. Two weeks later, in September 2023, the SEC charged and entered into a settlement with Stoner Cats 2, LLC (SC2), finding that SC2’s NFT offering, which raised $8 million called Stoner Cats, was a security, and therefore SC2 had engaged in an unregistered offering of a security. What are your views on SEC’s enforcement actions in the NFT area? I was not aware of the SEC’s two settlements with NFT projects, the next Disney Company and the animated web series called Stoner Cats by Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.   

However, it seems to me that in these two cases, the NFT offering documents were poorly drafted by their lawyers. The top three things that could give rise to NFT’s securities classification are fractionalizing an NFT, offering passive revenues, or participating in governance—such as staking. So, the SEC found that these NFTs were offered and sold to investors as investment contracts and, therefore, were securities. Accordingly, these NFT projects violated the federal securities laws by offering and selling NFTs to the public in an unregistered offering that was not otherwise exempt from registration.

Given the regulatory compliance involved in issuing securities, that classification should be avoided, and the features, offering documents of an NFT should be carefully considered before launch.

8) The vast majority of existing NFT projects across art, gaming, sports, metaverses, and even cannabis are built on Ethereum blockchain. In April, the SEC issued a Wells notice to Ethereum-based Consensys, revealing that the agency could take potential action against Consensys for violating the federal securities laws through its MetaMask Staking and other products.  The SEC seeks to regulate ETH as a security after Ethereum successfully changed its consensus mechanism by transitioning from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake back in September 2022. This view is also shared by the New York State Attorney General’s Office (NYAG), which, ahead of the SEC on March 9, 2023, filed a lawsuit charging crypto trading platform KuCoin for “failing to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer and falsely representing itself as an exchange” notably alleging that the ETH traded on the platform is a security.  The BlackRock CEO Larry Fink stated he isn’t worried about the SEC classifying Ethereum’s ETH as a security. What are your thoughts about the potential classification of ETH as a security?  How will this impact the NFT market? No comment.

Financial Advisors Are Not Buying Bitcoin ETFs, Says BlackRock CIO

WAX Coin is the native utility cryptocurrency of the WAXP blockchain.

What is WAX (WAXP)?WAX (WAXP) is a purpose-built blockchain designed to make e-commerce transactions faster, simpler, and more secure. WAX was launched in 2017 and uses DPoS as its consensus mechanism. It is fully compatible with EOS. The special advantages and incentive mechanisms developed by WAX are optimized for use in e-commerce.

WAX has created a blockchain-based toolkit that can be built on decentralized application marketplaces and NFTs. WAX Cloud Wallet, services like SSO and OAUTH support e-commerce transactions, as well as RNG service and a developer portal.

The blockchain architecture of WAX supports 500-millisecond block times and zero-fee transactions for users. Additionally, voting rewards are used to encourage participation in the selection of block producers and improvement proposals.

WAX has a WAX-to-Ethereum bridge that allows WAXP token holders to convert their tokens into WAXE, an Ethereum-based ERC-20 utility token. Users who want to participate in WAX tokenomics must burn their WAXP tokens to pass them through the Ethereum bridge. Then, WAXE tokens must be staked in the Ethereum distribution contract.

Where to Buy WAXP Coin?WAXP Coin can be safely bought and sold on Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. WAX Coin is traded on the Binance platform in WAXP/BTC, WAXP/BNB, WAXP/USDT, and WAXP/BUSD pairs.

To purchase WAXP Coin, you must first become a member of the Binance exchange. After completing the membership, you need to transfer cryptocurrency or fiat currency to the Binance account wallet. Once the transfer is completed, you can buy WAX Coin from the four pairs mentioned above. To purchase from the WAXP/USDT trading pair, you must first go to the interface of this pair. In the WAXP/USDT interface, enter the desired amount in the field specified in the limit tab. After specifying the amount, the purchase is made by placing a Buy WAXP order.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.