Bitcoin Price: US$ 38,730.63 (+1.95%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 2,575.97(+3.41%)
Andre’s Effect on Fantom, Active DAO Votes, & All About Celestia
- On March 6th, the news of Andre Cronje and Anton Nell leaving the crypto space took Twitter by surprise. The pair announced they will be terminating over ~25 applications and services they managed. However, there’s no need for panic as projects like DeFiLlama will be forking Chainlist and Solidex is making arrangements to maintain Solidly’s UI.
- Andre and Anton-related projects quickly took a beating. The TVL and price of Fantom have dropped by -22% since the announcement, as both were rather key players in the ecosystem. Solidly and Solidex were even more affected, with TVL for both falling by around 45% since the news broke. Of course, the departure likely doesn’t spell the end for Fantom, as there were many other builders in the ecosystem before Andre’s entrance.
- Continue on Delphi…
No credit for crypto — users react to Russia-issued credit card ban
- Cryptocurrency exchanges and financial services companies will soon likely no longer be able to accept transactions completed with many major credit cards following the companies ceasing operations for Russia-based users.
- On Saturday, Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal announced they would be suspending operations in Russia following the country’s military actions in Ukraine. Visa called Russia’s actions an “unprovoked invasion” while Mastercard said its decision was aimed at supporting the Ukrainian people. The following day, American Express made a similar announcement, saying it would stop operations in both Russia and neighboring Belarus.
- Apple Pay and Google Pay reportedly have restricted services for some Russians, though users also likely wouldn’t be able to use the aforementioned credit cards for transactions on the payment apps.
Ledger announces limited edition NFT-focused hardware wallet, partnership with POAP
- Hardware wallet company Ledger announced on Tuesday that it would release a limited edition of a brand new hardware wallet, the Ledger Nano S Plus, with only 10,000 devices available for pre-order at $79 each. In addition to the event, Ledger announced a global partnership with Ethereum-based Proof of Attendance Protocol, or POAP.
- POAPs are referred to as digital memories of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, as they show proof of engagement and attendance for key moments. In January, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted the potential importance of making NFTs soulbound to enable proof of achievement.
Bitcoin stems losses after US bans Russian oil, gold heads to record highs
- Having hit $39,240, the pair swiftly changed trajectory as Biden confirmed the plans, which added to oil’s already strong gains and further pressured stocks and risk assets.
- “Today, I’m announcing that the United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy,” he said at a press conference.
- “We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy. That means that Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports, and American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine.”
- Brent crude rose to highs of $133 on the announcement, while U.S. stocks had little to celebrate, the S&P 500 down 0.5% on the day at the time of writing.
Introducing NearPay: the First Bridge to Fiat Debit Card on NEAR
- Web3 users looking for an easy bridge between fiat (currencies like the US Dollar and the Euro) and crypto needn’t wait any longer. NearPay, the first debit card and payments widget in the NEAR ecosystem, now bridges fiat and the crypto world in one seamless user experience.
- Launched in late 2021 by Switzerland-based Kikimora Labs, NearPay announced its debit card wait list in early March. NearPay initially hoped to attract 1,000 users to its wait list, but had more than 18,000 in under a week.
Hive Blockchain to expand mining operations with new Intel ASIC chips
- Publicly traded crypto mining company Hive Blockchain Technology has signed a deal to buy ASIC chips from semiconductor manufacturer Intel that will be used in their new custom mining devices.
- Hive arranged for the new devices to be made by a third-party custom design manufacturer that will integrate the Intel chips into new air-cooled Bitcoin (BTC) mining devices.
- Hive expects that the new devices will nearly double its aggregate Bitcoin mining hash rate from 1.9 to 3.8 exahashes per second (Eh/s). They will begin arriving ready for use starting in the second half of 2022.
- Intel stated in its patent for the chips called Bonanza Mine that the chips would also reduce the power consumption of mining operations by 15%. The reduction in power usage may allow Hive to employ more devices, helping it increase its hash rate contribution even more.
Yield Guild Games hits 20K Axie Infinity P2E scholarship milestone
- The popular gaming guild Yield Guide Games (YGG) has reached a milestone in terms of new scholars for the Axie Infinity platform and various other play-to-earn (P2E) games.
- Yield Guild Games reported 20,700 unique scholars in February, an increase of 8,500% since the same month last year when there were just 241. The milestone marks a “new record in the play-to-earn space,” said YGG in an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.
