According to statistics sourced from data aggregator YCharts, seven digital currency funds issued by asset manager Grayscale Investments are currently at a discount of 34% to 69% to their net asset value, or NAV. Holdings tracked in the analysis include the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust; Ethereum Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust, Litecoin Trust, ZCash Trust, Horizen Trust, Stellar Lumens Trust, and Livepeer Trust. All of the funds track the performance of their namesake cryptocurrencies, with the Grayscale Stellar Lumens Trust having the lowest discount to NAV at 34% and the Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust having the highest discount to NAV at 69%. …

For the uninitiated, the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology can be daunting, confusing and difficult to comprehend. Three industry experts and a skeptical economist explore the past, present and future of the burgeoning technology in a new online learning series. Masterclass is a web-based education platform that offers “classes” from subject matter experts in their respective spheres of influence. You can learn how to cook with Gordon Ramsay, explore the art of acting with Natalie Portman or master the tennis racket with Serena Williams. Its newly launched series on cryptocurrencies, blockchain and Web3 technology follows in the same vein. …

Are L2 networks the saviors? The emergence of a new tier of blockchains called layer-2 chains that have leveraged new cryptographic techniques like zero-knowledge-proofs (ZKPs) has helped address the scalability enigma. While the world was busy solving the blockchain trilemma at the L1 level, there were a bunch of smart developers who understood that optimization need not necessarily happen at the L1 level. One can create a network on top of L1 networks to solve fundamental problems. There are a few L2 networks, such as Polygon, Immutable and the Bitcoin lightning network, which use concepts such as sharding and rollups …

Ether (ETH) rallied 11.3% between Nov. 28 and Dec. 5, peaking at $1,300 before facing a 4.6% rejection. The $1,300 resistance level has been holding ground for twenty-six days and is the most likely explanation for the correction to $1,240 on Dec. 6. So from one side, traders are relieved that Ether is trading 16% above the $1,070 low reached on Nov. 22, but it must be frustrating to fail at the same level the entire week. In addition to the price rejection, investors' mood worsened after three members of the United States Senate reportedly requested information from Silvergate Bank …

Ethereum's native token, Ether (ETH), eyes a strong bullish reversal after losing 25% from its November high of $1,675, according to a bottom fractal spotted by independent market analyst Wolf. Can Ethereum price co its March 2020 fractal? Wolf compares Ethereum's multi-month downtrend between May 2018 and March 2020 with a similar but relatively shorter correction after July 2022. If the move repeats, that means the price of Ether has bottomed in November 2022, according to the analyst, as shown below. Wolf draws cues from March 2020's Ethereum price crash triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic — a black swan event. …

In a blog post dated Dec. 5, Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote that money, blockchain identities, decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and hybrid applications were the top developments he was excited about in the Ethereum ecosystem. Buterin then described his experience in using Ether as a means of payment in a cafe in Argentina: "When we walked in, the owner recognized me, and immediately showed me that he has ETH and other crypto-assets on his Binance account. We ordered tea and snacks, and we asked if we could pay in ETH. The coffee shop owner obliged, and …

The most talked about crypto lawsuit involving the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple is approaching its conclusion after a two-year-long battle. On Dec. 2 the SEC and Ripple both filed redacted replies to each other’s opposition to motions for summary judgment. Ripple argued in its motion document that the SEC has failed to prove that its offering of XRP between 2013 and 2020 was an offer or sale of an “investment contract” and therefore a security under federal security laws. Ripple concluded the document by stating that “the court should grant Defendant’s Motion and should deny …

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared some sage advice for traders feeling the blues of the crypto bear market: Focus on the tech rather than the price. The Ethereum co-founder made the recommendation in response to a Dec. 3 post from self-described crypto investor CoinMamba, echoing what many crypto investors are likely feeling at the moment. After 9 years in crypto I’m kinda exhausted. I want to move on and do something different with my life. Tired of all these scammers and fraudsters.. — CoinMamba (@coinmamba) December 3, 2022 "After 9 years in crypto I’m kinda exhausted. I want to …

Altcoin originally meant “Bitcoin alternative” because, in the early stages of cryptocurrency development, every blockchain-based currency was seen as a sort of Bitcoin (BTC) knockoff. Cryptocurrencies back then were mainly used for payments, such as Litecoin (LTC), XRP (XRP) and Peercoin (PPC). Altcoin was used as a catchall term for cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. That’s changed since 2011. With the emergence of more than 20,000 cryptocurrencies, each linked to different types of crypto projects and tokens. We have also seen the dexterity of coins stretch across sectors of public chains, decentralized finance (DeFi), layer 2, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), stablecoins …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) markets may have cooled down over the past year, but the technology powering these applications continues to advance. In particular, smart contract platforms that enable transactions to take place across DeFi applications are maturing to meet enterprise requirements. While it’s notable that enterprises have previously shown interest in DeFi use cases, smart contract limitations have hampered adoption. A report published by Grayscale Research in March puts this in perspective, noting that “Despite handling millions of transactions per day, smart contract platforms in their current state would be incapable of handling even 10% of the worlds’ internet traffic.” …

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. The FTX contagion that started in the second week of November is still haunting various crypto protocols in the DeFi ecosystem. The latest to fall prey to the contagion includes the Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) Serum, of which Alameda and FTX were backers. Another DeFi crypto trading firm Auros Global missed its principal repayment on a 2,400 Wrapped Ether (wETH) DeFi loan. Looking at some other key news in the DeFi ecosystem, popular DEX …

The downfall of FTX and a number of other CeFi platforms in 2022 has reinforced a Bitcoin maximalist narrative, according to which most of the crypto ecosystem will eventually collapse due to its centralization. Jeff Booth, Bitcoin proponent and author of "The Price of Tomorrow", believes centralized crypto platforms such as FTX and Celsius have ended up replicating the traditional financial system with all its inherent flaws. "All of crypto is trying to rebuild a financial system that we already have based on manipulation and centralization," said Booth, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Even Defi platforms, which seek to …