According to a press release published on Jan. 18, U.S.-based capital markets advisory and token offering platform Deal Box has launched a new $125 million venture capital arm dedicated to blockchain and Web 3.0 startups. The fund, dubbed Deal Box Ventures, will invest in companies categorized in the emerging growth, real estate, fintech, funtech, and social impact fields. Commenting on today's development, Thomas Carter, founder and chairman of Deal Box, said: "Deal Box Ventures is an important milestone in our journey to invest in the most promising and disruptive blockchain startups, providing them with the tools and funding ecosystem they …

Crypto security is one of the hottest topics right now, as users wish for a much less turbulent 2023. Against the backdrop of a somewhat troublesome 2022, crypto enthusiasts are now more aware than ever that their assets need to be protected. To aid in users' efforts to keep their investments safe, one browser-based extension is revolutionizing the space. Web3 Antivirus is a simple and easy-to-use plugin that allows users to analyze and monitor smart contracts before interacting with them. To get a complete overview of what Web3 Antivirus brings to the table, tune into an AMA session with the …

The final vote on European Union’s much-awaited crypto regulations called Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA) was deferred to April 2023. This marks the second delay in the final vote, earlier deferred from November 2022 to February. The latest delay is attributed to a technical issue where the official 400-page document couldn’t be translated into the 24 official languages of the EU, reported The Block. Legal documents like the MiCA, which were drafted in English, must comply with EU regulations and be published in all 24 official languages of the union. The first delay in November that deferred the final …

Perpetual futures vs. traditional futures One of the main features of perpetual futures contracts is that they never expire compared to traditional futures contracts. In traditional futures contracts, a tangible commodity, such as gold, must be delivered in accordance with the contract’s terms and conditions when the futures contract expires. As a result, the gold must be handled physically, adding to the carrying costs — i.e., the cost of storing gold. The time period between the present period and the prospective settlement time of the contract will also affect the gold’s price. As the gap increases, the potential future price …

Despite Bitcoin (BTC) returning to pre-FTX collapse price levels, the contagion still affects the industry, forcing Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange to close operations in Japan. Coinbase officially announced on Jan. 18 that the firm will be terminating operations in Japan and conduct a complete review of its business in the country due to market conditions. All Coinbase Japan customers will have about a month to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings from the platform by Feb. 16. After Feb. 17, the remaining crypto assets held by Coinbase Japan customers will be automatically converted to the Japanese yen (JPY). Fiat currency deposits …

Despite a wave of heavy crypto layoffs to start the new year, employees in technical and engineering roles, as well as senior management, will likely continue to see “strong demand” for their skills, recruitment professionals believe. It’s been a tough first few weeks of 2023 for crypto businesses and their staff. Within just two weeks, the market has already seen more than 1,600 crypto-related job cuts as a result of continued market volatility and uncertainty. However, not all departments have seen the same level of cuts. SAFU: Senior-level tech and engineering Rob Paone, founder and CEO of crypto recruitment firm …

The cryptocurrency community has a tendency to fixate on a new issue every few weeks and then promptly forget about it. The limited attention span of this community misses the ultimate resolution of important issues. Over the Thanksgiving holiday in November 2022, ConsenSys released a disclosure about a privacy policy affecting MetaMask users that sent “Crypto Twitter” into a firestorm. My first reaction was also negative. That’s what a sly fox would say isn’t it? pic.twitter.com/PfKMTiNHoR — J.W. Verret, JD, CPA/CVA (@JWVerret) November 25, 2022 The MetaMask browser extension wallet uses a node called Infura. That node is owned by …

In a wide-ranging discussion, a panel of blockchain industry personalities at the World Economic Forum (WEF) concluded that the economy will become increasingly tokenized in the future. Carbon credits, housing, electricity, government bonds, forex, and other real-world assets will be traded on the blockchain, according to the panel. The event, titled Tokenized Economies, Coming Alive, featured Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, Bitkub Capital CEO Jirayut Srupsrisopa (also known as “Topp”), Finland Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harraka, and Yield Guild Games Co-Founder Beryl Li. According to Topp, the Thai central bank will be implementing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) …

The beginning of 2023 has provided Bitcoin (BTC) with bullish indicators and the rally to a year-to-date high at $21,647 has crypto traders hopeful that the worst part of the bear market has ended. The surge effect of BTC’s bullish price action is also carrying over to Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin mining stocks. The reduction in Bitcoin Fear and Greed index to neutral is possibly driven by volume increases, Bitcoin on-chain data and BTC price decoupling from equities markets. While not all analysts believe a market bottom is in, let’s dive into the data. Trading volume and volatility return Bitcoin’s …

After 66 agonizing days, Bitcoin (BTC) price finally broke above the $20,000 psychological resistance on Jan. 14. At the same time, the current $400 billion market capitalization gives BTC a position in the top-20 global tradable assets, surpassing giants like Walmart (WMT), Mastercard (MA) and Meta Platforms (META). From one side, Bitcoin bulls have reasons to celebrate after its price recovered 34% from the $15,500 low on Nov. 21, but bears still have the upper hand on a larger time frame since BTC is down 52% in 12 months. However, two events are expected to determine traditional finance investors' fate. …

Masa Finance has launched the first soulbound identity protocol for the Ethereum mainnet, according to a Jan. 17 press release shared with Cointelegraph. The protocol will allow for standardized soulbound tokens to be minted on Ethereum for Know Your Customer verification, credit scores and other use cases. Soulbound tokens are tokens that cannot be transferred from one wallet to another. The concept was popularized via a blog post from Vitalik Buterin, who argued that these tokens could be used to signify governance rights for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols or to prove that a person has attended an event. Speaking to …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has followed a four-year cycle with consecutive bull and bear trends occuring in somewhat measurable intervals. A closer look at Bitcoin's long-term price action reveals that the run-up to the top and bottom of the previous cycles look remarkably similar. What’s more interesting is that the 2020 to to2021 cycle shows signs of following the same pattern. Independent market analyst, HornHarris, found that the period between the bottom-to-top and top-to-bottom has been the same since 2015, 152 weeks and 52 weeks, respectively. Even in 2013, the bear market lasted 58 weeks, only six weeks difference from the …