Traditional hedge funds are slowly embracing cryptocurrency investments but are keeping their exposure limited as the market continues to mature, according to new research from PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC. In its 4th Annual Global Crypto Hedge Fund Report 2022, PwC said roughly one-third of traditional hedge funds surveyed are already investing in digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC). So-called “multi-strategy” hedge funds were most likely to invest, followed by macro strategy and equity strategy firms, respectively. Of the hedge funds currently invested in the crypto space, 57% have allocated less than 1% of their total assets under management. Two-thirds of the …

Affluent investors in Asia are neither shy nor ignorant about crypto, with research revealing that 52% of them held some form of a digital asset during Q1 2022. According to research from Accenture published on Monday, digital assets, which include cryptocurrencies, stable coins and crypto funds, made up, on average, 7% of the surveyed investors’ portfolios, making it the fifth-largest asset class for investors in Asia. This was more than they allocated to foreign currencies, commodities and collectibles, and in some cases, was on par with or exceeded the amount invested in private equity/venture capital and hedge funds. Accenture said …

This short-term decline in investments can be correlated to the recent market correction, which made Bitcoin (BTC) and other major cryptocurrencies lose 50% or more of their value. According to new data released by Dove Metrics, total venture capital investment in crypto declined 38.2% over the past month, from $6.8 billion in April to $4.7 billion in May, while surging 97.8% since last year. Data on investment distribution showed infrastructure companies received 21% of the pie, while decentralized finance (DeFi) startups accounted for 14%. Centralized finance (CeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) projects each accounted for 13%. This goes to show …

As reported by the University of Sao Paulo (USP), the metaverse-centric research will be carried out by research groups interested in 3D modeling, psychology and human behavior, and the effectiveness of virtual and augmented reality devices. These research domains will be evaluated within the context of the metaverse to understand how the new virtual world impacts user interactions. USP professor Marcos A. Simplicio Jr. highlighted that this is the first time USP had received a nonfungible token (NFT) via partnership. The token in question is a rare piece of land in the United States of Mars (USM) metaverse, which is …

The research unit of Bitcoin (BTC)-focused blockchain tech firm Blockstream has published a proposal for a new type of multisignature standard called Robust Asynchronous Schnorr Threshold Signatures (ROAST). It hopes to avoid the problem of transaction failures due to absent or even malicious signers and can work at scale. The term multisig, or multisignature, refers to a method of transaction in which two or more signatures are required to sign off before it can be executed. The standard is widely adopted in crypto. According to a Wednesday blog post from Blockstream research, the basic idea of ROAST is to make …

Major Ethereum blockchain analytics platform Nansen continues scaling its operations by acquiring a cross-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) tracker. Nansen has acquired the multi-chain portfolio tracker Ape Board in an eight-figure deal, the firm announced to Cointelegraph on Tuesday. Closing later in May, the acquisition will unite the teams of the two platforms, aiming to combine Nansen’s analytics and Ape Board’s portfolio tracking to provide an all-in-one information service. As part of the acquisition, 13 employees at Ape Board will join Nansen’s team counting 120 analysts, product managers and engineers to jointly provide the “definitive information super-app of Web3.” “Ape Board …

Cointelegraph — one of the oldest crypto media companies, founded in 2013 — has launched the Cointelegraph Research Terminal. The Research Terminal will be a convenient one-stop location to find past industry analysis, premium research reports and access to exclusive databases. The website is live, and subscriptions to the premium features are active. Cointelegraph Research has produced some of the best in-depth analyses on the blockchain and crypto industry, hitting on trends before they land in the mainstream. One of the Cointelegraph Research Terminal’s most recent public reports is on game finance, asking: “GameFi: Can blockchain-based gaming redefine the industry?” …

Despite the fact that it still hasn't made a final decision on the launch of the “digital shekel,” Israel’s central bank reported that the public feedback on the project is mainly positive. According to Reuters, on Monday, The Bank of Israel summarized the results of the public consultation on its central bank digital currency (CBDC) plans. It has received 33 responses from different sectors, with half of them coming from abroad and 17 from the domestic fintech community. While specifying that the final decision on the project’s fate is yet to be made, it claimed: “All of the responses to …

New technologies may have rapid, dramatic effects on society, but they may also spread slowly and subtly. Blockchain-powered decentralized science (DeSci) is taking off after some years of gestation. Its impact is being felt not only in the rarified confines of high-tech labs but more broadly in the business world as well. Psychedelics and longevity Paul Kohlhaas, co-founder and CEO of Molecule — a platform for biotech decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) founded in 2019 — spoke about pharmaceutical research and its funding on the Zima Red podcast in April. “We believe it could be way cheaper, if it was coordinated …

Reflecting the growing interest in the nonfungible token (NFT) space among today’s investors, new research predicts that the existing $3 billion market size will reach $13.6 billion by the end of 2027. For the next five years, the key factors tied to the global NFT boom continue to factor in the growing involvement of mainstream influencers, gaming communities and the rising demand for digital artworks. Interestingly enough, research firm MarketsandMarkets envisions several other factors that will contribute to the explosive growth of the NFT market, including its increasing use cases in supply chain management, retail and fashion. Some of the …

Theoretical computer scientist and Columbia University professor Tim Roughgarden has been appointed the head of Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) new crypto research unit. Roughgarden’s resume includes more than three years as a professor of computer science at Columbia University in New York, along with a 14-year stint at Stanford. He has also served as a research partner at a16z since February last year. As one of the most active venture capital firms in crypto, a16z has funds reportedly worth around $9 billion. Partly guided by the firm’s new unit which was announced earlier today, Roughgarden has stated that its funding into …

Cronos has partnered with the blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis to enable real-time transaction monitoring tools for the Cronos (CRO) token and all CRC-20 tokens running on the Cronos network, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on Wednesday. The new compliance integration aims to enable institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges and digital asset funds to track transactions of CRC-20 tokens, allowing users to trace large volumes of activity and identify high-risk transactions. The partnership specifically allows institutions and exchanges to focus on the most urgent issues and properly report suspicious activity. The integration is yet another milestone in the development and institutional …