Cryptocurrency

ZAP, the reputation-based token distribution protocol and Big Bang winner on Blast L2, today announced a successful raise of $15 million in a funding round led by Rarestone Capital, Cypher Capital and Sharding Capital. The round also saw participation from Auros Global, Presto Labs, and angels Larry Cermak (CEO, The Block), Chelsea Jiang (Foresight Ventures), and Luca Netz (CEO, Pudgy Penguins), plus notable angels from LayerZero.ZAP is a community-driven token distribution protocol that validates user contribution to ensure fair and meritocratic rewards, enabling projects to sustainably build and grow their communities. ZAP features a comprehensive suite of products: A questing and airdrops protocol, a no-code token launcher, and a curated launchpad offering access to VC backed projects. These are all supported by Mission Control, ZAP’s questing and reputation system, ensuring fair and community-driven access to token distributions. ZAP previously raised $11m in March through a “Vault Sale”, using a similar model to the recently popular Node sales used by XAI and Aethir. More recently, they announced a partnership with analytics platform Nansen, who will help the protocol to build advanced, data-driven insights into on-chain users, enhancing ZAP’s offerings and optimizing their questing and airdrops protocols.In conjunction with their recent funding milestone, ZAP also launched the Blast Gigadrops Campaign aimed at fostering greater user engagement within the Blast ecosystem. Running from May 27 and still ongoing, it introduces a chapter-based airdrop system, rewarding users for both their social and on-chain interactions with over 20 leading Blast protocols and decentralized applications (dApps). The campaign boasts a prize pool nearing $1 million and includes collaboration with major partners such as Thruster, Particle, and MetaStreet among others.About ZapZap is a community-driven token launch protocol designed to solve the challenges in the token launch space and provide value to both founders and investors. By offering a merit-based model, Zap ensures that all investors have an equal opportunity to participate.Website | x | Telegram | DiscordContactXiaoxiao@zap.techThis article was originally published on Chainwire More

The world’s second largest cryptocurrency was last down 6% at $3,170 in what would be its biggest daily percentage fall in three months, leaving it broadly in the middle of its recent trading range. Bitcoin was 3% lower at $63,930. The first U.S. ETFs tied to the price of ether began trading on Tuesday, but have failed to generate the bounce in the price that spot bitcoin ETFs created in bitcoin earlier in the year. Instead, broader macro trends have taken hold. Shares around the world have tumbled in recent weeks, particularly tech stocks, and other ‘risk assets’ which often move in line with crypto currencies. The Nasdaq on Wednesday, lost almost 4% – the worst one-day fall since 2022 – as lacklustre Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) earnings undermined investor confidence in the already lofty valuations of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks. [.N]Shares in crypto-related stocks such as miners fell in Thursday’s premarket, with exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) down 2.3%, Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) and Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) down 3.4-4%. European shares dropped 1.4% in early trading Thursday. More

“Adopting a full HODL strategy reflects our confidence in the long-term value of bitcoin,” said Fred Thiel, MARA’s chairman and CEO. “We believe bitcoin is the world’s best treasury reserve asset and support the idea of sovereign wealth funds holding it. We encourage governments and corporations to all hold bitcoin as a reserve asset.”“Prior to last year, the company used to hold all of its bitcoin,” said Salman Khan, MARA’s chief financial officer. “Given Bitcoin’s current tailwinds, including increased institutional support and an improving macro environment, we are once again implementing this strategy and focusing on growing the amount we hold on our balance sheet. Bitcoin’s recent price decline, coupled with the strength of our balance sheet, afforded us an opportunity to add to our holdings. We look forward to continuing to leverage our technological expertise to support Bitcoin and distributed digital asset ecosystems.” More

NASHVILLE (Reuters) – Republican nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump once blasted cryptocurrency, calling it a “scam.” Now, he is headlining one of the industry’s biggest conferences. Trump, who made the comment in 2021, will speak on Saturday, the last day of the three-day Bitcoin 2024 convention in Nashville. Republican former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming will also speak.Among Democrats, U.S. Representative Ro Khanna of California is on the roster.The industry has quickly rebounded after FTX and a series of other crypto companies collapsed in 2022, sending token prices sliding and forcing multiple companies into bankruptcy. Digital asset proponents say that cryptocurrency users are becoming a growing political force this election cycle, although it is unclear just how many users would prioritize crypto over other issues at the ballot box.The Republican Party is courting their votes by promising lighter regulation, potentially tying a currency built to circumvent government to a major U.S. political party.”For most of its history, crypto was really a nonpartisan issue,” said David Yermack, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, because Republicans and Democrats alike did not understand it or care to learn more.”I do think the Republicans in the last year or two have begun to move a little more quickly in the area.”Stand With Crypto, a nonprofit industry group backed by crypto exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), has organized over 1.3 million advocates. Meanwhile, three major pro-crypto super political action committees – Fairshake, Defend American Jobs, and Protect Progress, all of which did not exist until this cycle – have raised over $230 million to support friendly candidates.That influence is already being felt. Fairshake, a super PAC promoting pro-crypto candidates, has spent over $10 million this year against California progressive Democrat Katie Porter, who was running for the Senate. Porter, who questioned bitcoin mining’s effect on climate change, lost her primary.Some crypto advocates are backing Trump, including the billionaire Winklevoss twins who founded crypto company Gemini. Each gave him $1 million in bitcoin but had to take back the money because it exceeded the maximum allowed under federal law.Overall, 7% of U.S. adults held or used crypto in 2023, down 3 percentage points from 2022 and down 5 percentage points from 2021, the Federal Reserve reported in May. But the annual convention is pulling in more politicians than ever. “There’s a joke going around that the list of speakers looks like the RNC Lite,” one attendee said in an interview, referring to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in mid-July.TRUMP’S NEW EMBRACE Trump’s appearance at Bitcoin 2024 is his latest show of support for the industry. In a June fundraiser in San Francisco, he slammed Democrats’ attempts to regulate the sector. He met bitcoin mining companies at his Mar-a-Lago resort last month. “We have tried to engage with the Biden administration and they have not been receptive unfortunately,” said Jayson Browder, head of public policy for Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) Holdings, who attended the Mar-a-Lago meeting. “And former President Trump has been more than receptive and is now being an active supporter of our industry.”Trump recently indicated he would like to see more bitcoin mining by U.S. firms.Crypto executives are upset with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement actions under U.S. President Joe Biden. The White House told Reuters the Biden-Harris administration will continue meeting with stakeholders and working with Congress to develop necessary safeguards to harness the potential benefits and opportunities of crypto-asset innovation.Harris would likely advance Biden’s crypto policies if she wins the presidential election in November. Neither the Trump nor Harris campaigns immediately commented for this article.Traders betting on a second Trump presidency are flocking to asset classes likely to get a boost under his administration.Crypto and bitcoin in particular are “the cleanest and most direct way to play the ‘Trump trade’ so far,” said Cameron Dawson, chief investment officer of NewEdge Wealth.Conference attendee Hillary Adler, who co-founded operating system BitcoinOS, has previously voted Democratic but now describes herself as left-libertarian. Calling herself an undecided voter, Adler said she is not surprised that some Republican politicians have pivoted to supporting crypto.”The Republicans have always had better long-tail strategies, politically,” she said. “Now, they care about crypto.” More

Contrary to expectations that Ether’s price would surge on the day the ETFs launched, the market did not react favorably to either the token or the ETFs. The major altcoin dropped nearly 4% over the past 24 hours to a low of $3,300, its weakest price in two weeks.The decline may be due to a “buy the rumor, sell the news” scenario, where the launch was already priced into the market, prompting short-term investors to take profits.That said, the drop in Ether price coincided with a broader downturn in the U.S. stock market. The Nasdaq plunged 3.6%, and the S&P 500 slumped 2.1% due to disappointing earnings from major companies like Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). However, Bitcoin price remained relatively stable around the $66,000 level.The new Ether ETFs saw a combined trading volume of just over $1 billion. Of the newly launched funds, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) recorded the highest volume at $240 million, followed by the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) at $136 million.Interestingly, the trading volumes for the Ether ETFs were about 21% of the $4.66 billion seen on the first day of spot Bitcoin ETF trading back in January. But the spot Ether ETF market was more active than the futures-based Ether ETFs, which saw limited activity upon their debut in October.Bitcoin ETFs have accumulated about $17 billion in net inflows since their launch in January, a historically successful debut. However, Ether ETFs are expected to be smaller due to the relative market sizes and investor familiarity. While Bitcoin is often touted as digital gold, Ether is viewed more as a bet on the growth of blockchain technology and the broader cryptocurrency market.With the launch of Ether ETFs, traders are now shifting their focus to upcoming U.S. economic data releases on Friday and former President Donald Trump’s speech at the Nashville Bitcoin conference on Saturday.  More

By Hannah Lang and Suzanne McGee(Reuters) -U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to the price of ether enjoyed a strong debut on Tuesday, with $1.07 billion of shares changing hands in the products, according to CF Benchmarks, a digital asset index provider, Bitwise Asset Management and traders. The most actively traded ETFs were Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust, with more than $450 million in turnover, the iShares Ethereum Trust, with about $245 million in trading, and Fidelity Advantage Ether ETF, with $137 million, Bitwise said. Products from Franklin Templeton, VanEck, Bitwise, 21Shares and Invesco/Galaxy also began trading on Tuesday. Following the launch of nine U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs in January, the ether products mark another win for the cryptocurrency industry’s campaign to push digital assets into the mainstream, although the products are unlikely to garner the same volume of inflows, analysts said. Tuesday’s trading volumes fell short of the $4.6 billion traded in the bitcoin ETFs on their January debut. Data on ether ETF inflows will be available as of Wednesday morning. “Although ether ETFs may not attract as much inflow as bitcoin ETFs, they represent an important step in the development of the cryptocurrency market,” said Grzegorz Drozdz, market analyst at investment firm Conotoxia Ltd.The price of ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, trended lower on Tuesday, pulling down the prices of the new ETFs, according to CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency data firm. After market close, ether was trading flat at $3,486.75, according to CoinGecko.Market participants see the introduction of the ETFs as significant for the industry’s longstanding effort to classify ether as a commodity rather than a security. While the Securities and Exchange Commission has not explicitly said ether is a commodity, the new products are defined in filing documents as commodity-based trusts. The debut enhances the cryptocurrency market’s “legitimacy”, said Cristiano Ventricelli, senior analyst of digital assets at Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Ratings, wrote in a Tuesday report, adding the crypto ETFs would help boost market stability and reduce volatility. The bitcoin ETF launches were the culmination of a decade-long tussle with the SEC, which had rejected the products due to market manipulation concerns. The agency was forced to green-light the ETFs after losing a court challenge brought by digital asset manager Grayscale Investments, although it warned when approving them that the products were still highly risky. The launch was one of the most successful in the ETF market’s history with the products attracting $33.1 billion in net inflows as of June, according to Morningstar Direct data.Bitcoin ETF issuers competed hard on fees, with many firms offering to waive fees entirely for a certain period of time. The ether ETF fees range from 0.19% for Franklin Templeton’s ether ETF to a high of 2.5% for Grayscale’s ether trust, which it is converting into an ETF, according to their public offering documents. The rest cluster around 0.25%.Overall, the fees are comparable to the bitcoin products, although issuers are offering fewer waivers. Grayscale rolled out a “mini” version of its ether ETF with a fee of only 0.15%. While estimates on demand for the ether products vary widely, Galaxy Research – whose research arm Galaxy Asset Management has an ether ETF with Invesco – has projected that they could attract monthly inflows of $1 billion.Matteo Greco, research analyst at Fineqia International, wrote in a note that demand for the ether ETFs will be crucial in ascertaining investor appetite for digital assets beyond bitcoin. A major issue for some investors is the SEC’s exclusion of the “staking” mechanism in the ether ETFs, a key feature on the ethereum blockchain that allows users to lock up their tokens for a certain period of time in exchange for yield. As currently constructed, the SEC will only allow the ETFs to hold regular, unstaked ether.Issuers began filing for the ether ETFs in September. Executives initially had low hopes that the SEC would approve the products, but the agency surprised the industry in May when it approved the first rule changes needed. SEC Chair Gary Gensler last month told Reuters the Grayscale ruling had influenced his thinking on approving the ether products, because the underlying market circumstances were similar.  More

MoonTaurus, the latest entrant in the cryptocurrency market, has made an impressive debut by raising $100,000 within the first two hours of its presale launch. As the presale continues, the team hopes excitement around MoonTaurus will increase, so it can be positioned as a significant player in the crypto market.MoonTaurus (MNTR) has quickly gained popularity among other memecoins due to its presale structure. The MNTR presale is structured in several tiers, with limited tokens availability in each stage and subsequent price increase. During the presale phase, the token is set to increase in value from an initial price of $0.005 to $0.07 by the end of the presale (1300% higher). For example, users can buy MNTR for $0.005 a token, after which the price will increase to $0.01 in the second phase, double the current rate.The team behind MoonTaurus (MNTR) is focused on achieving several key milestones to ensure the project’s long-term success. Their primary goal is to reach a $1 billion market capitalization, demonstrating their ambition and commitment to the project’s growth. To support this objective, the team is actively working to secure listings on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to provide additional trading opportunities and help maintain a diverse trading ecosystem. The MNTR token features a total supply of 3 billion tokens, as a part of its tokenomics model. With a fixed total supply of 3 billion tokens, no additional tokens will be created.In addition, the team is focused on building a big community that is engaged with the project via community-building initiatives and strategic partnerships. First, MoonTaurus (MNTR) is running a $100,000 giveaway to boost community engagement. MoonTaurus will award prizes to 10 lucky winners. To enter, participants need to follow MoonTaurus on social media, join the Telegram or Discord channels, and engage in promotional activities. This giveaway aims to create excitement around the project and increase its visibility.Website: https://moontaurus.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/moontaurusMoontaurus is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. Investing in memecoins can be a volatile activity.ContactEditorJohn MooreXENON Agencycontact@xenon.agencyThis article was originally published on Chainwire More

Since early July, Mt. Gox has shifted a total of 54,662 BTC, valued at approximately $3.44 billion. These transfers have included substantial amounts sent to various platforms, including Bitbank and Bitstamp, and a significant deposit to a wallet likely associated with Kraken.Initially, the market reacted with concern, fearing that the release of these long-held Bitcoins might trigger a sell-off, as Mt. Gox creditors have been waiting over a decade to receive their assets.However, recent analysis from CryptoQuant suggests a more positive outlook. Data reveals a notable increase in Bitcoin withdrawals from Kraken following distribution to Mt. Gox users. This trend indicates that rather than selling, many recipients are moving their Bitcoin to cold storage, potentially signaling a long-term holding strategy.Despite the large-scale transfers, the increase in withdrawals from Kraken points to a potential reduction in immediate selling pressure.Currently, 90,344 BTC, worth around $6 billion, remains in the exchange’s wallets. The ongoing question is whether this holding behavior will help stabilize or even boost Bitcoin’s price, countering initial fears and uncertainties surrounding the Mt. Gox repayments.This article was originally published on U.Today More