For years, Grayscale Investments served as crypto’s preeminent asset manager. But nearly eight months after the debut of spot Bitcoin ETFs, the title has been claimed by BlackRock. Last Thursday, the Wall Street behemoth surpassed Grayscale in terms of assets under management (AUM) for publicly-listed crypto products, CoinShares’ Head of Research James Butterfill told Decrypt. For him, the shift in status came faster than expected. “It represents established ETF providers and their power—how qui...
Frozen Crypto Wallets Linked to Nigeria Protests Are Still Active: Report
Cryptocurrency wallets allegedly connected to #EndBadGovernance protesters in Nigeria are reportedly active and performing transactions, despite a court order to freeze them. The wallets contain over $37 million and were ordered to be frozen by Judge Emeka Nwite on July 9, according to a recent report by local news outlet Premium Times. However, an investigation by Techpoint Africa identified discrepancies between court documents and blockchain data, indicating these wallets may not have been fu...
'I'm Not Leaving': Kim Dotcom Defiant in the Face of US Extradition Order
Bitcache founder Kim Dotcom, who faces a slew of charges over his controversial file-sharing website Megaupload, will be extradited to the United States after a more than decade-long tussle with American authorities. However, Dotcom claims he has a "plan" to avoid the maneuver. New Zealand Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for Dotcom, ending a 12-year legal battle to bring him to the U.S., Reuters reported Thursday, citing a representative for the Minister of Justice....
Bitcoin, Ethereum Prices Suddenly Plunge as Liquidations Top $175 Million
The prices of top cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum suddenly fell Thursday afternoon, prompting a fresh wave of liquidations of crypto positions—mostly long positions—as the market broadly turned red. Bitcoin fell by nearly 3% in just over an hour to a current price of $57,787 as of this writing, while Ethereum dipped even more to a current price of $2,547 per data from CoinGecko. Other top coins like Solana and Dogecoin have fallen even harder during the same span. Liquidations ov...
Aavegotchi Studio Reveals ‘Members Only’ Ethereum Layer-3 Gaming Chain
Pixelcraft Studios, the company behind the crypto game Aavegotchi, announced Thursday that it plans to launch a “members only” Ethereum layer-3 gaming blockchain called Geist. Powered by multiple Ethereum scaling technologies, Geist is designed to overcome various hurdles facing the current crypto gaming environment, including high player turnover and a prevalence of “botting” used to manipulate rewards initiatives. "Geist is our response to the call for a more trustworthy and innovative gaming...
Phoenix Rising: Building the ‘One-Stop Shop’ for DeFi on Stellar
With the launch of the Soroban smart contract platform on Stellar, developers are rushing to create decentralized apps (dapps) and platforms within the Stellar ecosystem. Among the first to launch is the Phoenix DeFi Hub, which aims to be the “one-stop shop” for decentralized finance (DeFi) on Stellar, its creators told Decrypt. “We're going to be launching a bunch of DeFi protocols that all synergize with each other and drive value,” said Phoenix Marketing Director Griffin Williams. First up is...
How Artistry Sets Ethereum Card Game 'The Lost Glitches' Apart as Open Beta Hits Epic Store
For the creators of blockchain trading card game The Lost Glitches, artistry is “critically important” as a tool to draw players in—something that they see as lacking in the latest crop of huge “AAA” games. But speaking with Decrypt’s GG ahead of Thursday’s open beta launch for the card-battler, which runs on Ethereum layer-3 network Xai, the developers said they understand they must offer more than just slick and vibrant artwork to keep players engaged. “I think for us, [art] is critically impo...