The Financial Stability Board (FSB), a global financial authority funded by the Bank for International Settlements, has released a new report on the financial stability risks associated with cryptocurrencies. Published on Wednesday, the 30-page study details a number of financial risks related to various types of cryptocurrencies as well as the industry sectors, including private digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and decentralized finance (DeFi). The report refers to some common-cited risks like a potential failure of certain stablecoins, which poses a significant threat to the stability of the entire crypto ecosystem due to the dominant trading …

For payment tokens such as Alchemy Pay’s ACH, there may not necessarily be a world where cryptocurrencies are widely accepted as a medium of exchange for everyday transactions, such as buying a gallon of milk in the grocery store, without fiat. This is because two parallel economies exist, and bridges between fiat and cryptocurrency are needed for the time being. But how does one price such a token with payments as its bedrock? Is there a way to arrive at a fair valuation for ACH, whose growing dominance in the payments scene is evident in the number of payment channels …

As Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins took a break from reaching new all-time highs, the market sentiment seems gloomy since the start of 2022. However, while the market seems to be sleeping, its trajectory shows that there’s more to look forward to in the coming months. Multinational professional services network KMPG published its biannual Pulse of Fintech report, where the firm tracks and analyzes developments and investments within the financial technology sector. The report highlighted the most notable developments in major regions like the Americas, Asia Pacific and EMEA, and pointed out the “surging interest” in crypto and blockchain in the …

Nonfungible tokens (NFT) have taken the world by storm, resulting in mainstream interest and greater adoption of cryptocurrency. According to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, NFT popularity skyrocketed in 2021. Chainalysis’ “NFT Market Report” shows a minimum of $44.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency sent to Ethereum smart contracts associated with NFT marketplaces and collections last year. The report notes that this number was $106 million in 2020. While impressive, increasing scams and fraudulent activities have infiltrated the NFT space. For instance, major NFT marketplace OpenSea recently announced that its free minting tool was prone to misuse. As a result, OpenSea shared …

There’s a beacon of hope for battered Bitcoin (BTC) bulls. A promising report from Crypto.com predicts that global crypto users could reach one billion by the end of 2022. The report reaches the conclusion that a combo of developing nations copying El Salvador’s orange-pilled example and a “friendlier stance” towards the crypto industry means that “Nations can no longer afford to ignore the growing push towards crypto by the public.” Looking back on 2021, the global crypto population increased by 178% in 2021, rising from 106 million in January to 295 million in December. While 2021 kicked off with Tesla …

Another major player in the cryptocurrency world is forecasting a dismal year for Bitcoin (BTC) in 2022. Following the Federal Reserve's and other central banks' tightening of liquidity measures, Huobi Research believes that BTC will enter a bear market. On the brighter side, decentralized finance (DeFi) will continue to expand and adapt, with DAO governance eventually becoming a major driver of activity on the chain. Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) prices plummeted on Thursday night on the cryptocurrency market, shedding about $150 billion from the market. Over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin has lost roughly 7.9% of its value to as …

Fidelity Digital Assets — the crypto wing of Fidelity Investments which has $4.2 trillion assets under management–shared their “two sats” on the future of the digital assets space. The key takeaways touched upon miners’ behavior and Bitcoin (BTC) network adoption. In the annual report released last week, the group shared some insights into the world of BTC mining: “As Bitcoin miners have the most financial incentive tho make the best guess as to the adoption and value of BTC (...) the current bitcoin cycle is far from over and these miners are making investments for the long haul.” The report …

When calculating the return of an NFT collection, most analysts calculate the average return. For example, the first CryptoKitties were sold in December 2017 for an average price of $3.24 each. On the first day, 105 CryptoKitties were created, and a total of $340.63 worth of Ether (ETH) was spent on those CryptoKitties by different collectors. That makes an average price of $3.24 per CryptoKitty. Currently, CryptoKitties are trading for an average price of $256.99. This equates to an average price of $256.99 per CryptoKitty and an average collection all-time return of over 7,800%. Out of CryptoKitties, CryptoPunks and Bored …

Coinbase (COIN) shares have taken a hit after the firm posted a 75% decrease in net income during the third quarter. COIN closed Nov. 9 with a 0.98% gain at a price of $357.39, however the release of the leading U.S. exchange’s Q3 report after market close has coincided with a dip of around 13.10% (at time of this writing) in after-hours trading. Coinbase posted revenue of $1.235 billion in Q3 falling well below analyst estimates according to FactSet of $1.614 billion. The firm’s profits totaled $406 million, marking a 74.7% decrease in profit compared to the previous quarter, although …

MicroStrategy added almost 9,000 Bitcoin to its holdings in Q3, bringing its total BTC stash to a valuation of around $7 billion. The company highlighted the purchase of 8,957 BTC in its Q3 report on Oct. 28, with the firm’s perma-bull CEO Michael Saylor stating that there is more BTC accumulation to come: “Today, MicroStrategy is the world’s largest publicly traded corporate owner of Bitcoin with over 114,000 Bitcoins. We will continue to evaluate opportunities to raise additional capital to execute on our Bitcoin strategy.” The software firm has increased its Bitcoin holdings by 198% since the same period last …

Robinhood shares (HOOD) have fallen sharply on the back of the firm’s Q3 results which posted lower than expected crypto trading revenue. The popular retail trading firm published its Q3 report on Oct. 26, with crypto accounting for $51 million (19%) of the total $267 million worth of transaction-based revenue in the quarter. The release of the report on Tuesday coincided with HOOD dropping around 10% to $35.70, however the price has since gained 1.9% to sit at $36.40 at the time of this writing. The $51 million generated from crypto transactions in Q3 marked a 78% decrease compared to …

Researchers have found that roughly 11,000 entities are responsible for more than half of Bitcoin’s on-chain volume. According to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) on Oct. 21, 11,043 on-chain entities represent 55% of volume on the Bitcoin network. Cryptocurrency exchanges were estimated to account for three-quarters of on-chain volume. The report found that the top 1,000-largest investors control roughly 3 million BTC or 15.9% of circulating Bitcoin, while the next 9,000-largest investors hold roughly 2 million BTC combined or 10.6% of circulating Bitcoin. The report’s authors conclude that the network remains highly centralized despite …