Block Network

January 18, 2021

Nornickel to use blockchain for its new ETCs on Deutsche Börse and LSE

A palladium fund founded by Norilsk Nickel will launch exchange-traded commodities for metals custodied using blockchain at the Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange. The world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, Norilsk Nickel, is pressing ahead with its digital technologies strategy. As of Jan. 18, Nornickel’s Global Palladium Fund has launched exchange-traded commodities, […]

Bitcoin meets Biden: 5 things to watch for BTC price this week

The week in which the U.S. presidency changes sees limp stocks and a rangebound Bitcoin, but what could provide a fresh shake-up? Bitcoin (BTC) is back in familiar territory as the week begins after a weekend spent ranging in its new, albeit large, trading corridor above $30,000. With the United States presidential inauguration just days […]

Bitcoin gets physical: Art or digital heresy?

“Physical Bitcoins are a rarity, they’re sort of like Picasso and Van Gogh paintings were back in those days. Nobody realized how rare they were.” Since 2011, a group of enthusiasts and collectors have been obsessed with the physical manifestation of Bitcoin. On the face of it, physical Bitcoin seems like a contradiction to the […]

SBF leads $50M funding round to bring DeFi to Maps.me’s 140M users

A travel and mapping application with 140 million users worldwide has raised $50 million to integrate decentralized finance protocols into its platform. Leading offline mapping application Maps.me has conducted a $50 million seed funding round to embed decentralized finance tools onto its platform. The funding round for “Maps.me 2.0” was led by Sam Bankman-Fried of […]

Bitcoin open interest hits $8.8B as 45% of BTC options expire in 2 weeks

The open interest on Bitcoin options has hit $8.8 billion but data show bulls are in favor after BTC’s rally to a new all-time high. Over the past two months the open interest on Bitcoin options has held reasonably steady even as the figure increased by 118% to reach $8.4 billion as (BTC) price rose […]

Core contributors, investors debate Yearn token mint

After a stormy weekend for DeFi’s original yield vault, dust is settling and a path forward is being paved What started as a simple governance proposal to build a war chest for the the Yearn.finance development team has now spilled over into a wider conversation about incentivization, sustainability, and fair project launches in the decentralized […]

January 17, 2021

Former Canadian prime minister names Bitcoin as possible reserve currency

Bitcoin could be part of a basket of reserve alternatives to the U.S. dollar, according to Stephen Harper. Stephen Harper, who served as prime minister of Canada for nine years, says there may be a place for Bitcoin and central bank digital currencies as part of a basket of reserve currencies to replace the dollar. […]

Former Ripple CTO may have lost much more than $220M in Bitcoin

Current CTO David Schwartz claims Stefan Thomas created hundreds of accounts with 1.0 BTC “because that was the fastest and easiest number to type” for his experiments. David Schwartz, current chief technical officer at Ripple, is responding to reports his predecessor had lost access to hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin.  In a Quora […]

Hedge fund predicts $115K Bitcoin price and the fall of ‘speculative’ altcoins

Analysts say Bitcoin and Ether’s growing dominance of the crypto market are signals that the current bull market is drastically different than the last one. New data from Pantera Capital, an investment firm and hedge fund, suggests that Bitcoin’s (BTC) current price action is closely following the stock-to-follow model’s trajectory and the firm’s analysts believe […]

Guggenheim CIO: ‘Speculative frenzy’ to die down, but $400k target still on

While some traders have gotten mixed signals, Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd is taking the long view. In an interview with Bloomberg Markets on Friday, Guggenheim Partners’ chief investment officer Scott Minerd clarified his seemingly contradictory views on Bitcoin’s potential, and revealed that select Guggenheim private funds have invested in the cryptocurrency. Minerd, who oversees Guggenheim’s $275 […]