P2P payments spurred crypto adoption across Venezuela in 2021
For Venezuela, 2021 has been a year of considerable changes at the microeconomic level, where even more than in 2020, the results of powerful catalysts for change such as COVID-19 were clearly visible.
In a more dynamic economy with a higher volume of operations with foreign currencies, cryptocurrencies played a key role during this year for the South American country.
In this review, we’ll take a look at the highlights of the Venezuelan crypto ecosystem in 2021 including related areas such as trading, play-to-earn (P2E) games, fintech, mining, regulation and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
More people accepting cryptocurrencies
According to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, Venezuela ranks seventh in the Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index 2021 thanks in large part to peer-to-peer (P2P) trading activity.
A noticeable trend in 2021 was the growing number of people and businesses in Venezuela accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment to circumvent the hyperinflation and devaluation of the national currency, the bolivar — a trend that has plagued the South American nation for the last few years.
In some of the main cities of the country such as the capital Caracas and Puerto La Cruz, it is increasingly normal to see people or merchants using cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.
The appearance and adoption of crypto payment platforms such as Binance Pay, Reserve or even Valiú have accelerated the adoption of a more digital economy based on cryptocurrencies without the need for users to have extensive knowledge of the subject.
Notable businesses accepting cryptocurrencies in Venezuela include the Simón Bolívar International Airport, supermarket chain Bio Mercados, several casinos and even the largest cable TV operator in the country. Fast food chain Church’s Chicken also began paying bonuses to its employees in Dash (DASH).
Support for legal mining
According to a report by the University of Cambridge, Venezuela ranked among the top 10 cryptocurrency-mining countries at the beginning of 2021, making it the first Latin American country to break the top 10.
The country’s high mining ranking was thanks in large part to it having the cheapest electricity prices in Latin America since 2018. This makes the Caribbean country attractive for Bitcoin (BTC) mining and the creation of a regulatory framework that protects and guarantees the legal development of the industry.
Despite some cases of mining equipment being seized, arbitrary disconnections and arrests of illegal miners, the National Superintendence of Cryptoassets (SUNACRIP) has called on miners to operate legally. It is further searching for mechanisms to provide guarantees of legal stability.
By mid-September, an official communiqué from the government ordered law enforcement to refrain from making inspections or carrying out operations related to the supervision, seizure or of any other nature that interrupts cryptocurrency mining.
In mid-November, the country’s fifth official mining meeting took place and SUNACRIP met with more than 150 miners from the region, companies linked to the digital mining sector, crypto personalities from the Venezuelan ecosystem and exchanges like Binance.
Play-to-earn game craze
For the last four months of 2021, 10 of the 50 most visited web pages in Venezuela were related to cryptocurrencies, among which were a notable amount related to popular NFT games like Axie Infinity and Plants vs Undead.
Play-to-earn and NFT games caused a furor in Venezuela among both experienced crypto users and newcomers to the asset class. The games have encouraged crypto adoption, primarily thanks to players’ ability to generate dividends.
For many Venezuelan families, this has turned out to be a type of economic salvation given the low salaries. In fact, Venezuela boasts the second-most active user base by country in Axie Infinity behind the Philippines.
The game was so popular that many businesses began to accept Axie Infinity’s Smooth Love Potion (SLP) token. Binance enabled P2P exchange of SLP in its application, and even a candidate for governor of the ruling party in the recent regional elections promised to deliver Axie Infinity scholarships if he won.
Academic interest in crypto and blockchain
Education is fundamental for adoption in Venezuela, where the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello in Venezuela, incorporated blockchain, cryptocurrencies and fintech into the curriculum of programs in its schools of business administration and public accounting.
The Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Telecomunicaciones e Informática introduced a master’s degree on blockchain, while Universidad de los Llanos unveiled plans to introduce an undergraduate degree focused on blockchain engineering and cryptocurrencies in 2022.
Blockchain specialist appointed
Civil servant Roman Maniglia, a self-designated specialist in cryptocurrencies and new technologies, was appointed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro at the end of September as president of that country’s largest bank, Banco de Venezuela.
The appointment of an official who describes himself in his Twitter biography as a specialist in finance, cryptocurrencies, fintech and blockchain, demonstrates Venezuela’s interest in combining traditional financial systems with the new generation of technologies like blockchain.
Promotion of Venezuelan NFT art
2021 saw a boom not only in cryptocurrency markets, but the explosion of NFTs across the globe — Venezuela was no exception.
NFTs saw mass adoption in entertainment with several popular video games, as well as use cases in art and music.
SUNACRIP launched an NFT in commemoration of the country’s independence and the bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo. The long-standing flagship company in the nation’s liquor sector, Ron Carúpano de Venezuela, launched its own collection of NFTs on OpenSea’s decentralized marketplace for charitable purposes. In addition, a community of Venezuelan artists called La Tokenía minted artworks into NFTs and displayed them at special exhibitions.
There’s never a dull day in Bitcoin (BTC) land. Despite that markets calling for a lull, the creative Bitcoin community always has cause for amusement. Yesterday, a Redditor by the name of Optimal-Dentistador (henceforth, OD) queried the longevity of the Bitcoin network with a time-lapse challenge. In a post made to the Bitcoin subreddit, OD “wrote a letter and also put the private keys for $100 worth in BTC.” In private communication with Cointelegraph, they disclosed they “put 0.003 BTC on a new address, put the private and public key together with the letter in the envelope, and here we are.” The life-long experiment was inspired by recent events put on by the public library in OD’s city–which will remain secret at OD’s request. They told Cointelegraph that in their cit: “There was an event where you could write something like a letter, poetry or a diary which will be stored for 100 years. If you write some personal info on the envelope, they will try to find some living relatives to give them.” OD decided to put “something special” in the time capsule, namely the public and private key details to 0.003 BTC, roughly $100 at today’s rate. They told Cointelegraph, “I will tell my family about this,” however, OD also jokes they may “eventually forget this whole thing, who knows what will happen in the next decades.” The Reddit community was quick to note that while 0.003 BTC may be a trifling sum in 2022, it could be considered a market-moving amount in one hundred years: OD was quick to joke that in today’s world, it’s a bit like finding the “Bitfinex hack amount of money” in a letter. The Department of Justice recently seized $3.6B as part of the debacle associated with crypto exchange Bitfinex. Related: Reddit is testing out NFT profile pics, but ‘no decisions have been made’ Given that the letter will not be opened until 2022, one Redditor, “fontinuos” commented that it’s “sad to think every single of us will be dead and won´t see the outcome.” OD agrees that while it’s a fun experiment, ultimately the outcome is “a grim feeling.” Still, the meme value is strong, and OD’s offspring may enjoy riches. OD signed off to Cointelegraph saying, “see you in 2122, the ultimate diamond hands :)”
Metaverse startup Portals has raised fresh funds to finance its browser-based metaverse that allows people to enter without virtual reality (VR) equipment. Portals co-founder Adam Gomez told Cointelegraph that a browser-based platform lowers the barrier to enter metaverse for many people. Simply clicking a link would allow users to enter the metaverse or someone else’s space. He added that users shouldn’t have to get a VR headset or a gaming PC to enter or shape the metaverse. Powered by Solana blockchain, Portals metaverse works on a web browser such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. It allows people to build their own personalized virtual space in the metaverse. Portals announced the completion of a $5 million seed funding round on Friday. Led by Greylock Partners, with participation from Multicoin Capital, Solana Ventures, Foundation Capital, Alameda Research, Sino Global Capital, The Chainsmokers’ Mantis VC, Wave7, Cultur3 Capital, SkyVision Capital and MonkeVentures – as well as notable individual investors like Justin Kan and Robin Chan. The metaverse has become a mainstream topic over the past couple of months as platforms like Facebook and Microsoft have entered the race to build a virtual world for VR. Portals now joins that list as it brings its browser-based alternative to those major players. According to Gomez, the objective is to “make Portals downtown the metaverse’s finest city,” home to millions of residents and visitors. He says that visitors will be able to listen to records, attend concerts, shop and do other popular metaverse activities. “It would be like if Apple and Nintendo partnered up to build an open, fun, 3D layer of the internet that people could interact with, and everyone — crypto-natives or not — could form communities, design storefronts and play user-built games in the city center arcade.” Related: Religious services move to metaverse amid COVID-19 concerns The metaverse is quickly becoming one of the most popular ideas for 2022. According to recent data, the metaverse industry has more than $26 billion in market capitalization. New capacities are being added to virtual worlds to create more immersive experiences, while new capabilities are also being developed to improve existing ones.
A new report estimates that ransomware payments tallied at least $602 million in 2021 — but the actual total could be much higher. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis released new data on Feb. 10 about ransomware activity related to cryptocurrency in 2021. However it stated that the total value is likely to end up surpassing the $692 million taken in 2020. “In fact, despite these numbers, anecdotal evidence, plus the fact that ransomware revenue in the first half of 2021 exceeded that of the first half of 2020, suggests to us that 2021 will eventually be revealed to have been an even bigger year for ransomware.” The average ransomware payment size reached a record high of $118,000 in 2021. This is a 26% increase from the average of $88,000 in 2020. Chainalysis attributes the larger average payment size to a “big game hunting” strategy increasingly employed by ransomware strains in which large organizations are targeted for ransomware. Last year also had the highest amount of active ransomware strains than any other year on records. At least 140 strains received crypto payments, which is 21 more than in 2020 and 61 more than in 2019. Conti was the most active ransomware strain in 2021. It siphoned off nearly $200 million in value through cryptocurrency in 2021. Conti, thought to be based in Russia, is a ransomware syndicate that sells its program as a service to affiliates for a fee. Darkside came in a distant second to Conti by extracting nearly $100 million in crypto value. Darkside is the organization that held the Colonial Pipeline hostage last year, and demanded ransom be paid in Bitcoin (BTC). Although the report states that most ransomware strains come and go in waves, staying active for a short amount of time before becoming dormant, Conti was active throughout the entirety of 2021. More commonly, ransomware groups will halt operations then reopen under a new name. The trend to rebrand caused the average strain in 2021 to last for only 60 days, which is 2.8 times lower than in 2020, when the average was 168 days. Related: Google Cloud to detect crypto-mining malware on virtual machines Chainalysis concluded that while most ransomware attacks are financially motivated, others appear to have geopolitical goals focused on “deception, espionage, reputational damage and disruption of the enemy government’s operations.” It pointed out that although there are benefits to utilizing cryptocurrency to execute ransomware attacks, the transparency of crypto transactions makes it easier for authorities to track the movement of funds. North Korea has repeatedly used crypto to circumvent economic sanctions for years.
Ethernity Chain (ERN) is an authenticated and licensed NFT marketplace in the business of acquiring intellectual property, or IP, from big-name brands in sports, history, music and entertainment. Among these notable figures is Shaquille O’Neal, Leonardo Messi and brands like DeLorean and Toys”R”Us. Cointelegraph spoke to Nick Rose, Ethernity Founder and CEO, about the launch of the company’s newest arm, Ethernal Labs, and its goals to become a comprehensive NFT ecosystem studio. Think Disney, NBCUniversal or Sony but for Web3 content creation. That’s the kind of disruption Rose spoke about when he described Ethernal Labs as a multidisciplinary studio and incubator with multiple marketplaces, Metaverse and avatar development and play-to-earn, or P2E, gaming. Rose said: “The long term vision for Ethernal Labs is to create the largest library of world-class IP in the blockchain space and redefine ownership, monetization and engagement for these notable figures and brands,” Ethernal Labs raised $20 million in its seed round with investors including Fanatics’ Michael Rubin, Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Morning Star Ventures, Algorand, Polygon Studios, and others. Related: NFTs allow people to ‘interact with crypto in a hands-on way’ — Shaq One vertical or product within the Ethernal Labs ecosystem that Rose was particularly excited about is dubbed Fanable. Considered a social platform, Fanable will enable famous individuals to monetize their fandom and brand through fan token utility. The Messi Token is an example of a possibility. Token owners could be able to interact with their favorite creators, celebrities and athletes through real-time polls and interactive opportunities. Fan tokens would be traded against the native ERN token. The entire Ethernal Labs ecosystem will be organized around the ERN token. According to the company, users will be able to use it to buy and trade digital collectibles, unlockables and augmented reality, or AR, experiences. Two other marketplaces that users can expect is a white-label NFT marketplace and an artist-run marketplace called EyeCandy that will only feature digital art as opposed to collectibles. Rose also noted that because Ethernity NFTs are created in partnership with “top” artists, they are fully verified by individuals and brands, as opposed to fake or counterfeit NFTs. “We coined the term authenticated NFT, or aNFT, to explain the link between the NFT and the notable figure’s brand, which provides long-term value to the holder,” he said. Related: Blockchain metaverse ecosystems gain traction as brands create digital experiences Additionally, Cointelegraph chatted with Adrian Baschuk, Ethernity COO, who said that “we’re still in the early days” when it comes to what NFTs and metaverses will be. He suggested that mainstream adoption of NFTs will happen in a linear fashion: “We started with art and collectibles, and next comes gaming, then content.” Baschuk also predicts that AR will overtake some of the current hype around the metaverse, and that the year 2024 will see mass integration of metaverses using NFTs as conduits for investment. Ethernity recently acquired LAND in The Sandbox metaverse and plans to host an NFT gallery, run a fully licensed NFT wearables store, and create games and experiences in collaboration with partner IP.
San Francisco-based game developer Zynga, best known for the FarmVille and CSR Racing series, has announced plans to release its first blockchain and NFT-based games this year. The billion-dollar game studio first made waves in the crypto world last year after appointing 30-year gaming industry veteran Matt Wolf as Vice President of Blockchain Gaming to lead the company’s charge into the burgeoning industry. Zynga has also announced plans to increase the current blockchain gaming team from 15 employees to anywhere up to 100 by the end of this year. The company may also soon fall under the umbrella of video-game colossus Take-Two Interactive, publisher of Grand Theft Auto which publicly announced a $12.7 billion dollar acquisition move set to close in the first quarter of 2023. Speaking on the firm’s NFT based gaming plans with Axios, Wolf said that forthcoming blockchain-based games will be brand new titles, as it “doesn’t make sense” to start adding NFTs into existing games such as FarmVille straight away. He said that players can expect the new games to look something like Mafia Wars, a now-discontinued social media game where players assumed the role of gangsters and worked to build up their crime family. Zynga has been taking more aggressive steps into the sometimes-controversial blockchain-based gaming sector than many other traditional gaming companies. Hesitancy has been the common denominator from gaming studios as cryptocurrency-related features have often provoked a backlash from angry gamers. Some players who’ve had NFTs added to their gaming experience feel that companies are just looking for new ways to squeeze money out of their customers. Wolf has made it clear that the company’s game developers will always have the option to opt in or out of any NFT plans, a lesson he seems to have learned from witnessing internal protests against the technology at fellow gaming companies: EA and Ubisoft. Despite the criticisms, Wolf sees NFTs and blockchain technology as the obvious next step in Zynga’s evolution with tokenized systems creating new and more realistic forms of value, ownership and wealth creation for gamers. “By creating an integrated experience that enables players to become owners in their gaming journey, our goal is to expand Zynga’s audience reach and drive stronger engagement and retention,” he added. Speaking to the New York Times, Wolf said that he’s acutely aware of the difficulties that NFT-based games stand to come up against: “It really is all about community… we believe in giving people the opportunity to Play-to-Earn.” Related: NFTs and play-to-earn are the future of gaming industry, says EA boss
Bitcoin (BTC) hovered around $44,000 on Feb. 9 as a modest uptick towards the Wall Street open provided relief for support levels. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD acting in the range defined in recent days without significant downside pressure. Circling $44,000, traders were mostly preoccupied with a potential retracement, this having the potential to wipe out practically all recent progress. “Now that we are at monthly resistance we may see a pullback. Even if we do, a higher low to 38K–40K would be “healthy” followed by continuation to 50K+ and a reclamation of our monthly resistance after which point, I’ll have my sights set on a new ATH,” Credible Crypto argued on Twitter. The long-term picture differed considerably, depending on the source and interpretation of macro market phenomena. While some called for a “melt-up” in stocks that would likewise aid BTC, others were far from convinced that 2022 would be an easy ride. Has #Bitcoin Bottomed? It Looks Unlikely If #StockMarket Hasn’t – Most assets in 2022 face strong deflationary forces from the excesses of 2021, but Bitcoin appears well poised to come out ahead as it matures to the status of global digital collateral and shows divergent strength pic.twitter.com/oI7dhRvq1i — Mike McGlone (@mikemcglone11) February 9, 2022 A contrasting theory reasoned that with short sellers shaken out, there would now be less pressure to drive BTC/USD down to take liquidity. “The biggest question is: How much more pain can we inflict? All the liquidity’s taken from Short Term Holders, there’s no sell pressure. Market’s had a full healthy reset, while maintaining a bullish structure on the large time frames,” Twitter account Crypto5max summarized. In a separate development, Feb. 9 saw the return of a classic bullish chart signal, which has got one analyst particularly excited. Related: Bitcoin needs to reclaim these two levels to avoid another dip to $28K Bitcoin’s moving average convergence/ divergence (MACD), a key frontrunner of bullish phases in 2021 and prior, printed a fresh key crossover this week. For Matthew Hyland, the implications of the event are clear, based on historical patterns. “I have been waiting and updating this key reversal indicator to cross for nearly a month and it has finally happened,” he commented alongside a chart showing the MACD signal’s previous impact on BTC price action. As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) likewise flashed green last week, breaking out of a downtrend in place since November’s all-time highs.
The stock price of popular video game store chain GameStop (GME) surged roughly 13% in one day amid rumors circulating online regarding a partnership with Microsoft to work on NFT gaming. At the time of writing, GME sits at $115.60 as of market close on Feb. 8 and has also held around that level in after-hours trading according to data from TradingView. GME started February at around the $100 region and has been pumping this month on the back of GameStop’s partnership with NFT focused Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution Immutable X to develop its upcoming NFT marketplace. As part of the deal, GameStop is also rolling out a $100 million grant program denominated in IMX tokens for NFT content creators and tech developers. The latest rumors circulating via channels such as Reddit and Twitter suggest that GameStop may team up with Microsoft to launch NFT integrations into existing games, along with creating new NFT focused games. Microsoft partnering with GameStop for #NFT and #Metaverse ?? big companies behind the curve will scoop up the existing industry leaders that have been building the space already. — AF (@OmniFurukawa) February 8, 2022 Twitter user “P_MackD” shared a photo earlier today that contained compiled screenshots of tweets from Immutable X and Microsoft execs cryptically posting the “probably nothing” meme regarding the major partnership with GameStop. Yorke Rhodes III in particular, the director of Microsoft’s blockchain department tagged Xbox, Microsoft and GameStop in his tweet, potentially hinting that the tech giant may have a role to play in the Immutable X and GameStop partnership behind the scenes. Best graphic I’ve seen about all this nothingness so passing it on. Probably nothing though…#GameStop #gme #Microsoft #must#immutableX #loopring #Apple #lrc pic.twitter.com/9vCZn33O5a — moonape.nft (@P_MackD) February 8, 2022 While it is unclear what the exact connection between the three parties is, a Feb. 6 post on the r/Superstonk Reddit community outlined a notable hypothesis of what the partnership could entail. Commenting on Microsoft’s major $69 billion acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard, bamfcoco1 pointed to the firm’s turn-based player vs player collectible card game Hearthstone as something ripe for NFT integrations via Immutable X and GameStop. Related: 3 things every NFT investor should know to avoid a tax nightmare The Redditor argued that Hearthstone’s declining user base from a peak of roughly 23.5 million to 3.5 million was partly due to the hefty costs of card collecting and lack of true ownership over the user’s assets, something which could be solved via NFT integrations: “With the ability to freely mint and trade NFTs on Immutable X’s platform, it’s a no brainer. GameStop could launch Hearthstone on their brand new Web3 platform by simply making an NFT for every card and then distributing them accordingly to users’ existing card collections. It’s about as easy as it would get.” It appears that Web3 and NFT related announcements have a strong impact on the price of GameStops shares. Cointelegraph reported in early January that the price of GME gained a whopping 26% in after hours trading after the unveiling of the firm’s new NFT division.
The Meter Passport token bridge platform has incurred $4.4 million in losses due to a smart contract hack which also caused Hundred Finance to lose $3.3 million through under-collateralized loans. Meter.io’s Meter Passport (MTRG) is a token bridge that is compatible with Ethereum and its sidechains. This attack affected the Moonriver side of the bridge. Moonriver is a smart contract platform based on Polkadot’s Kusama network. Hundred Finance is a crypto lending platform based on the code for Compound Finance. Starting at 2pm UTC on Feb. 5 and over the course of several transactions, about $4.4 million in Binance Coin (BNB) and wETH were minted through a “wrong trust assumption” in the code, according to a Feb. 6 statement from the Meter team. In this case, an arbitrary amount of ETH was deposited to Meter which the hacker used to mint tokens using the vulnerability. 1. Around 6am Pacific time we identified someone was able to leverage a vulnerability of the bridge to mint a large amount of BNB and WETH tokens and depleted the bridge reserve for BNB on WETH. — ⚡️Meter.io⚡️ (@Meter_IO) February 5, 2022 The attack caused a cascade effect across the Kusama-based Moonriver ecosystem. After draining Meter of its BNB and wETH reserves, the attacker sold the BNB on SushiSwap, a popular decentralized exchange. This led to a 77% crash in the price of BNB on Moonriver at the time. A number of opportunists then took advantage of the price dip by buying cheap BNB. They used the tokens as collateral on Hundred Finance in order to take out FRAX and MIM stablecoin loans. Due to the discrepancy in BNB price, however, their loans were worth more than the collateral they had provided, causing a supply crisis. 2/4. Accounts were able to purchase BNB.bsc at a reduced price and use these tokens as collateral at the global Chainlink price to borrow uncompromised assets on our platform. Of these, MIM and FRAX are currently impacted. — Hundred Finance (@HundredFinance) February 6, 2022 Amazingly, two of the loans were repaid, leaving an outstanding $3.3 million in losses to the Hundred protocol. The Hundred team has attempted to reach out to the parties involved to ask that they return the BNB tokens used as collateral to Meter. The Meter team has committed to reimbursing its community and Hundred Finance for losses incurred due to the hack. The team stated on Feb. 6 that it had set aside $4.4 million in MTRG tokens to cover initial losses. “Vfat”, the pseudonymous founder of Hundred Finance, said in a statement to Rekt News on Feb. 6 that: “Meter have of course accepted responsibility for this hack and are intending to use their native token for reimbursement to the extent that they can, currently we are in the gathering addresses and amounts stage.” Related: Qubit Finance suffers $80 million loss following hack The blockchain security firm PeckShield estimated that in total, 1,391 ETH and 2.74 wBTC were taken by the attacker and have since been sent to Ethereum where the tokens have gone through Tornado Cash, an ETH transactions privacy tool. The Hundred Finance team has not yet responded to a request for comment. The initial details of the exploit of Meter’s code resemble the Wormhole hack on Feb. 3 in which 120,000 wETH ($321 million) were maliciously minted and extracted from Wormhole’s platform. In that incident, the hacker exploited a smart contract bug to mint wETH at will and sent the tokens to Ethereum, where they were washed via Tornado Cash.
Zero-knowledge applications platform Aleo has raised $200 million in a solid investment round, pushing the company forward and supporting its goals to develop products and services that encourage and assist developers in building applications on top of its decentralized network. The Series B investment round was led by Kora Management LP and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, which invest in fintech projects within emerging digital economies. Samsung Next also participated in the raise along with Tiger Global, Sea Capital, Slow Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Aleo is building a network that integrates zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptography technique that lets the platform become scalable, private and interoperable. Aaron Wong, an investor at SoftBank Investment Advisers says that Aleo is creating a foundation that ensures that Web3 is scalable, safe and secure. Wong added that this will enhance financial transactions and gaming applications as well. “As the blockchain industry continues to evolve, it is proving its potential to support a digital ecosystem defined by accessibility, efficiency, and interoperability. Daniel Jacobs, Founder at Kora Management LP says that the biggest challenges in the industry are privacy and scalability. According to Jacobs, Aleo “will have profound impacts on a large and growing number of applications in the blockchain space and beyond.” Related: a16z-backed TrueFi launches DeFi lending market for asset managers Jacobs explained that the project could protect user and application identity without giving up on performance that’s required to support many users. He also further noted that Aleo will become a catalyst that spurs the next generation of gaming, decentralized finance, and other use cases within the blockchain industry. As Cointelegraph reported in April, Aleo secured $28 million in a private investment round to bring its platform for zero-knowledge applications to a wider audience. Venture capital firm a16z led the effort followed by investments from Coinbase Ventures, Galaxy Digital, and others.
Redditor stashes away BTC worth $100 for 100 years in public library
Browser-based metaverse Portals aims to remove the need to get a VR headset
Ransomware crypto payments hit at least $602M last year: Chainalysis
‘The vision is to create the largest library of world-class IP,’ says Ethernity CEO
FarmVille developer Zynga set to release first NFT game this year
Bitcoin centers on $44K as BTC price MACD delivers long-awaited bull signal
Melt-up or breakdown?
MACD delivers classic bull signal
GameStop stock up on rumors of Microsoft NFT game partnership
Latest DeFi bridge exploit results in $4.4M losses for Meter
Privacy-focused applications platform Aleo raises $200M