Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

The Animoca Brands subsidiary and blockchain-based virtual world, The Sandbox, has announced the firm has made multiple partnerships in Hong Kong, and has plans to create a “Mega City” in the metaverse. Partners who acquired land in The Sandbox to build Mega City include Hong Kong tycoon Adrian Cheng, professional services firm PWC Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong actress and model Shu Qi. The Sandbox Announces Mega City Launch Blockchain projects like Decentraland and The Sandbox have been seeing significant demand as Web3, NFTs, and metaverse hype has grown exponentially in recent times. On Wednesday, The Sandbox — an Animoca Brands subsidiary and blockchain metaverse that leverages non-fungible token (NFT) technology — announced the launch of a “Mega City.” The firm has made various partnerships in Hong Kong and the metaverse region will become “a new cultural hub,” according to the announcement. The Sandbox details that it partnered with the renowned Hong Kong businessman Adrian ...

Leading non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea announced the firm has raised $300 million in a Series C funding round led by Paradigm and Coatue. Opensea’s latest capital raise has propelled the company to a $13.3 billion post-money valuation. Opensea Raises $300 Million, Commands Post-Money Valuation of $13.3 Billion In mid-November, a report authored by theinformation.com’s Kate Clark and Berber Jin explained that Opensea was fielding new investments after investors were allegedly chomping at the bit to fund the project. At the time, Opensea’s estimated valuation was $10 billion and two sources said: “investors are clamoring for a piece of the startup.” 48 days later, Opensea has revealed it raised $300 million in a Series C finance round. The team says that the new funding will go toward “accelerating product development,” “significantly improve customer support,” “investing in the wider NFT and Web3 community,” and expanding the Opensea team. The funding round was led b...

PRESS RELEASE. Blockchain history was made earlier this week. Thanks to more than 2,560 DAO votes in a Snapshot proposal , the Panther Protocol was voted to be launched in a private, decentralized manner. This constitutes the very first event of its kind, a feature that sets Panther a step towards its mission to infuse the DeFi ecosystem with native privacy. It is also the very first Private Governance System ever deployed in the crypto industry. Panther’s decentralized, private launch To achieve a fully decentralized, private launch, Panther Protocol’s strong community of enthusiasts used a unique, state-of-the-art tech stack. Panther deployed LaunchDAO , a system allowing every user that had completed Know-Your-Customer identity verification for its Public and Private token sales to issue a zero-knowledge proof anonymously verifying their participation. Using this proof, individually-verified users could privately vote on whether or not to launch the protocol on the Ethereum and...

The government of Kosovo has decided to suspend crypto mining activities in the country as part of measures to deal with power shortages this winter. The move has been proposed by a special parliamentary committee tasked with bridging the gap between electricity demand and supply. Kosovo Authorities Ban Crypto Mining to Save Needed Energy The executive power in Pristina has moved to stop the energy-intensive minting of digital coins in Kosovo , a partially recognized republic in Southeast Europe. The country is facing electricity shortages during the cold winter months, local media reported. The halting of crypto mining operations was announced on Tuesday by Artane Rizvanolli, Kosovo’s minister of economy. According to her statement quoted by Gazeta Express, the decision was taken at the recommendation of the Technical Committee on “Emergency Measures for Energy Supply” set up by the nation’s legislature. The restrictions were agreed upon in the parliament of Kosovo last week, DTT...

A draft of a new cryptocurrency asset law was introduced in Peru in December, seeking to regulate the cryptocurrency interactions that are already happening in the country. The draft law, besides defining what a crypto asset is and establishing the duties of virtual asset service providers (VASPs), also seeks to legalize the use of assets to incorporate and be held by companies. Peru Launches First Cryptocurrency Regulation Attempt A new piece of draft legislation called “Cryptoasset Marketing Framework” has been introduced in the Peruvian Congress under the number N° 1042/2021-CR , in the first attempt of the country to regulate cryptocurrency interactions. The project, which was presented December 10 by Jose Luis Elias Avalos, a member of the “Podemos Peru” parliamentary group, defines several key concepts in the cryptocurrency world, including crypto assets, virtual asset service providers (VASPs), blockchain, and cryptography. The law also proposes the creation of a public regi...

The total quantity of gold held in reserves by central banks topped 36,000 tons for the first time since 1990, data from World Gold Council has shown. This increase follows growth in the banks’ reported holdings of the asset by 4,500 tons over the past decade. Dollar’s Decline a Boon for Gold The amount of gold held in reserves by central banks as of September 2021 grew to a new high of 36,000 tons for the first time since 1990. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), this increase in central banks’ gold holdings to a 31-year-high came after the institutions successfully added 4,500 tons of the precious metal over the past decade. In a report published by Nikkei Asia, the WGC attributes central banks’ growing preference for gold to the U.S. dollar’s decline. The report explains how the U.S. Federal Reserve’s significant monetary relaxation has resulted in an increased supply of U.S. dollars. This increase in the supply of dollars has, in turn, caused the value of the dollar aga...