Aurelia Butler

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  • 125 Shares99 Views

    in Cryptocurrency

    Kadena Announces Partnership with Lurk Lab to Build ZK Bridge

    Kadena, the world’s only scalable Proof of Work blockchain, announces a partnership with Lurk Lab to build out a Zero-Knowledge tech stack on the Kadena blockchain that will pave the way for provably secure cross-chain messaging. Kadena and Lurk Lab are developing a robust ZK roadmap that includes a ZK bridge between Ethereum and Kadena. In total, there are two milestones that are expected to be accomplished in the second half of 2024, and a third milestone that will be completed later. Given Lurk’s comprehensive and unique approach, John Wiegley, Kadena’s Chief Technology Officer, is excited about the robust capabilities being developed for ZKs on Kadena by Lurk Lab. Kadena offers the industry’s only Proof of Work Layer 1 blockchain that is infinitely scalable, secure, and decentralized. Its infrastructure-grade performance and impenetrable network empower users to develop high-value systems using Kadena’s security-focused smart contract language, Pact. Founded in 2017 by Stuart Popejoy and Will Martino, who previously created J.P. Morgan’s first blockchain and led the SEC’s Crypto Steering Committee, Kadena aims to drive widespread blockchain adoption by providing a Web3 platform for solving real-world problems for businesses. Explore more about Kadena at https://www.kadena.io.About Lurk LabLurk Lab builds tools that make provable computing fast, safe and easy. By combining zero-knowledge cryptography, formal verification and distributed consensus technologies, Lurk enables software to be as reliable and as powerful as mathematics without sacrificing performance.ContactKadena [email protected] article was originally published on Chainwire More

  • 113 Shares109 Views

    in Cryptocurrency

    Stage Raises $2.4M to Revolutionize the Future of Music

    Stage, with it’s $STAGE token that is set to launch soon on the BNB Chain, launches a platform where music fans directly influence the rise of new stars and get rewarded for it. This platform combines talent, technology and tokens to create a dynamic music ecosystem.Stage is where artists and fans alike actively participate in shaping the future of music. On Stage, artists upload their video performances and compete in exciting rounds to rise to stardom. Fans play a crucial role by voting for their favorite artists, potentially earning exclusive rewards, and engaging with unique Real World Asset (RWA) Badges. The innovative business model ensures that artists receive 60% of the proceeds from votes cast for them, alongside 10% royalties on RWA Badges. Fans, on the other hand, are rewarded with Stage Badges for their support, making every interaction on the platform mutually beneficial.The mission at Stage is straightforward: to empower music fans and artists, ensuring that everyone gets a piece of the action. The vision is to build a thriving community where every interaction enriches both fans’ and artists’ journeys.Backed by top-tier crypto entities such as the Solana Foundation and key industry figures, including the CEO of Kraken US, Stage has additional support from RR2 Capital, Moonrock Ventures, and Cogitent (among others).The powerhouse team behind Stage includes André Cruz, CEO and Co-Founder, a musician and e-commerce expert with three successful exits; Geoffrey Doyen, CTO and Co-Founder, who brings extensive AI experience from working with Fortune 500 companies; and Francisco Quartin de Macedo, COO and Co-Founder, who previously led a trading desk at blockchain.com.Stage has also attracted high-profile ambassadors, including celebrities with millions of followers who will help amplify the mission. Among them is Jerry Heil, who ranked Ukraine as Eurovision 3rd Place. Their influence helps Stage reach a global audience and attract top-tier talent to the platform.By integrating Web 3.0 principles, Stage aims that both artists and fans are fairly compensated and deeply engaged. The platform’s unique approach includes:Users can stay updated with Stage’s journey by following on Twitter and joining the Telegram community, to be the first to know about the latest updates and exclusive rewards.ContactCTO & Co-FounderGeoffrey DoyenStage Token [email protected] article was originally published on Chainwire More

  • 100 Shares179 Views

    in Economy

    UBS still looks for BOJ hike in Ocotber

    At its two-day policy meeting, the central bank said it would continue to buy government bonds at the current pace. But it decided to come up with a specific plan to trim purchases for the next one to two years, at a subsequent policy-setting meeting in July.The BOJ will hold three meetings for the commercial banks’ group, securities firms’ group, and buy-side group, respectively, with the dates to be announced. “We think this approach of gathering the views of bond market participants ahead of a formal decision suggests three things,” said analysts at UBS, in a note Friday.“First, the Bank wanting to avoid disruption in the bond market with an attentive attitude that offers foreseeability. Second, the Bank not being in a hurry to reduce the large holding despite some criticism of holding such a large amount. Third, the Bank not having a clear view on how far the yield would move with the QT. In any event, we think the risk of an undesired spike in the yield has been reduced by this approach,” UBS said.BOJ Governor Ueda also made it clear, in the subsequent press conference, that the amount of bond purchase reduction would be fairly large. “While he did not mention the amount, we sensed that he wanted to emphasise this point to confirm that serious QT is coming soon,” UBS added.The Swiss bank still expects a policy rate hike at the end of October from the current 0%-0.1% to 0.25%, after confirming a pickup in real consumption and service price inflation in hard data.At the end of 2024, our current call looks for 0.25%, UBS added, with three 25 bps rate hikes likely in 2025 (April, July, and October), ending the year at 1.0%.“We now tentatively predict that the terminal rate is 1.5%, reached in 2026 with the most with the most important assumption being that Japanese economy will succeed in the Nominal Renaissance and attain a normal economy with 1% real GDP growth, 2% CPI inflation, and 3% nominal GDP and wage growth,” the Swiss bank concluded. More

  • 138 Shares99 Views

    in Cryptocurrency

    Bitcoin price today: slips to $67k as rate fears favor dollar

    More progress towards a spot Ether exchange-traded fund also did little to shore up sentiment towards cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin fell 1% in the past 24 hours to $67,017.0 by 08:51 ET (12:51 GMT). The token had fallen as far as $66,000 on Thursday, as the dollar rebounded sharply from one-month lows.The token was also headed for weekly losses, as increased fears of high interest rates largely offset improved capital flows into crypto investment products.Meanwhile, the largest public corporate holder of Bitcoin, MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR) plans to buy more BTC, by issuing $500 million bonds also failed to spur much price action.The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was trading down 3.3% over the past seven days, as angst over high for longer U.S. interest rates dented the outlook for crypto. While weaker-than-expected U.S. inflation data had initially dented the dollar, Bitcoin took little support from this trend after the Fed said it only saw the possibility of one interest rate cut this year, compared to prior forecasts for three cuts.This saw traders price out a bulk of expectations for multiple rate cuts, which weighed in particular on speculative assets such as crypto. High rates bode poorly for crypto, given that they limit overall liquidity conditions, and also deter bets on risk-heavy, speculative assets. The dollar benefited from this trade, rebounding from a one-month lowBroader cryptocurrency prices moved in a flat-to-low range as concerns over high interest rates largely offset some positive developments towards a spot Ether ETF. Ether rose 0.6% to $3,513.70 and was one of the few altcoins trading positive. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said in a testimony before the Senate that he expected spot Ether ETFs to be fully approved by the regulator by summer. The token rose as much as 1% but swiftly culled most gains in late trade on Thursday.Other altcoins largely fell. Cardano, XRP and Solana shed between 1% and 2% each.Among memecoins, DOGE/USD slipped 0.8% while Investing.com Shiba Inu Index climbed 0.9%.Bitcoin ETFs witnessed net outflows of more than $226 million on Thursday, marking the third consecutive day of withdrawals this week, reminiscent of the outflows at the end of April.Fidelity’s FBTC experienced the largest outflow, with $106 million withdrawn, according to preliminary data from SoSoValue. Grayscale’s GBTC saw $62 million in outflows, while Ark Invest’s ARKB had $53 million taken out.Only BlackRock’s IBIT recorded a net inflow, gaining $18 million. ETFs from Valkyrie, Franklin Templeton, Hashdex, and WisdomTree showed no inflow or outflow activity.Wednesday was the only day this week with a net inflow for these U.S.-listed products, adding $100 million. Over the three days, the total net outflows reached $564 million, nearly half the $1.2 billion withdrawn over six days at the end of April. More

  • 163 Shares169 Views

    in Economy

    G7 leaders discuss more steps to level China playing field, US official says

    The official said Washington expected to see unprecedented unity across the G7 in confronting China’s non-market policies and practices.”For too long, the [People’s Republic of China] has been playing by a different set of rules, with unfair and anti-competitive economic practices,” the official said.Washington says China’s policies and subsidies are creating global spillovers and harmful overcapacity that undercuts firms elsewhere and leads to supply chain dependencies in sectors such as solar, wind, electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, medical devices, mature-node semiconductors, steel and others.The official said the United States and its G7 partners – Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Japan, along with the European Union – were investing in building diversified supply chains and creating more resilient economies.The U.S. and the European Union have already increased tariffs on certain sectors, including electric vehicles. It was not immediately clear what further action the G7 leaders were considering.”China’s practices are impacting our partners around the world, from advanced economies to developing countries and emerging markets,” the official said. “That’s why we expect to see unprecedented unity across the G7 in calling out harmful practices and committing to work together in response.”The official added that Washington was not trying to constrain China’s economic development, but would insist on fair competition and defend U.S. workers from unfair Chinese practices. More

  • 138 Shares189 Views

    in Economy

    Wall Street set for lower open as markets eye cautious Fed

    (Reuters) -U.S. stock indexes were on track to open lower on Friday, retreating after several strong sessions, as investors weighed hawkish Federal Reserve projections against the backdrop of a cooling economy.The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record closing highs for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday, as technology shares rallied.Data earlier in the week showed inflation pressures softened in May, while another report said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased last week to a 10-month high. That helped keep alive hopes for a forthcoming interest rate cut by the Fed. However, that clashed with the central bank’s own forecasts released on Wednesday, where policymakers dialed back their projections for three cuts this year to just one.Markets, however, persisted with expectations of a September start to policy easing – pricing in an over 70% chance of a cut at that meeting – while interest rate traders are pricing in about two cuts by year-end. “Investors think the Fed’s data was already somewhat out of date … there is a sense that if the Fed had gotten that (CPI) data a couple weeks in advance, they may have left it at two cuts,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. Several megacap growth stocks that have led much of Wall Street’s rallies this year were down in premarket trading, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) losing between 0.2% and 0.6%.Hopes of easing Fed policy, combined with megacaps’ strength, have seen major indexes rally, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on pace for their seventh week of gains out of eight.However, this has raised some concerns about the sustainability of equity strength, especially if economic recession risks grow, with the blue-chip Dow on track to end the week slightly lower.”The market is also just pricing in a probability, even if it’s a small one, of a second half recession where the Fed has to cut rates a lot,” Mayfield said. Futures tracking the economically sensitive small-cap Russell 2000 slipped 1.1%.Chip stocks were a bright spot, building on Thursday’s gains that saw Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) help lift the semiconductor index to an all-time high on Thursday. In trading before the bell, the chipmaker rose 0.3%, while peer Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) edged up 0.4%.A BofA Global Research report also showed the appeal of growth stocks, as U.S. value stock funds saw $2.6 billion of outflows, while investors poured $1.8 billion into U.S. growth stock funds in the week to Wednesday.Investors will also eye comments from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Fed Governor Lisa Cook later on Friday, as well as the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment survey for June. At 8:24 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 258 points, or 0.67%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 21.75 points, or 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 37 points, or 0.19%.Among others, Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) jumped 15.1% after the company raised its annual revenue forecast on more demand for its artificial intelligence-powered software. Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) slipped 1.6% after the Nasdaq said the stock would be removed from the Nasdaq 100 index, and replaced with Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM). Shares of Arm rose 0.6%. More

  • 88 Shares149 Views

    in Economy

    US import prices unexpectedly fall in May

    Import prices dropped 0.4% last month after an unrevised 0.9% surge in April, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday. That was the first decline in import prices since December. Economists polled by Reuters had expected import prices, which exclude tariffs, to edge up 0.1%. In the 12 months through May, import prices increased 1.1%, matching April’s rise.Data this week showed tame inflation readings in May as energy prices declined. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its benchmark overnight interest rate in the current 5.25%-5.50% range, where it has been since last July. U.S. central bank officials pushed out the start of rate cuts to perhaps as late as December, with policymakers projecting only a single quarter-percentage-point reduction for this year. Economists and financial markets remain optimistic that the Fed will start its easing cycle in September and lower borrowing costs twice. The Fed has raised its policy rate by 525 basis points since March 2022. More

  • 75 Shares129 Views

    in Cryptocurrency

    Bitcoin Miners Are Capitulating: What’s Happening?

    Over the last 18 months, Bitcoin’s hashrate has been on an uptrend, which is representative of good security on the network; however, data shows that the trend was breached, indicating that some miners are throwing in the towel or, rather, quitting mining altogether.Miner capitulation manifests itself through a visible decline in the hashrate, which gauges the processing power dedicated to the mining of Bitcoin.The chart from CryptoQuant shows a decline in the true hashrate of the network. Otherwise constantly rising, the true hashrate is seeing a decline. From the lower band of the hashrate, we can effectively say that the computational power is on the decline, a deviation from the increase we had seen in the last one and a half years.This could be due to the increasing cost of operations and lowered profitability for miners, with the halving that did not kick in, in terms of price performance. As the price of Bitcoin continues moving down, it becomes complicated for mining operations to remain profitable in their activities. Obviously, it led to some of the miners switching off their rigs completely, while others reduced their mining activities. A decline in the hashrate generally leads to a period of readjustment for Bitcoin. Capitulation by miners makes mining difficulty adjust to an easier track for the remaining miners to mine blocks. This adjustment can lend itself to efficiency and even lowering of the costs for active miners.Major price action has, in the past, appeared after hashrate drops. Miners’ capitulation may currently reduce selling pressure. With declining selling pressure, the price of an asset can stabilize and even rise if demand now outweighs supply.This article was originally published on U.Today More