Solana Spaces will close down its two Solana (SOL)-themed, community-oriented retail stores in New York City and Miami at the end of the month, as the physical stores didn't onboard as many users as it initially anticipated. Solana Spaces tweeted the news on Feb. 21 sharing a note from its founder, Vibhu Norby, explaining the reasons behind the store shutdowns. The following is a note from our founder, @vibhu. Dear @solanaspaces community, We’ve made the difficult decision to sunset our stores in NYC and Miami by the end of February, and to pivot our Solana onboarding efforts into digital products …

Nonfungible token (NFT) collection Friendsies has refuted claims it is “abandoning” its NFT project following a tsunami of “rug pull” accusations aimed at its founders. On Feb. 21, the founders behind the NFT project told its Twitter followers that it was putting a “pause” on Friendsies and “all future digital goods” for the time being, citing market challenges. Around 40 minutes later, the Twitter account was deleted, while the account of Friendswithyou, who developed the project, was made private — sparking rumors that the founders had “rugged” for about $5 million. With the $5.3m @friendsies_ai hard rug earlier today it …

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has beaten revenue expectations for the fourth quarter of 2022 but continued to see its transaction volume decline. Net revenue for the exchange came in at $605 million for the quarter, beating the $589 million revenue reportedly estimated by Wall Street analysts Transaction volumes decreased 12% compared to the prior quarter, however, Coinbase pointed to a 34% increase in subscription and service revenues as the reason for its 5% total revenue growth for the quarter. Our Q4 and FY'22 financial results are in. Our letter to shareholders can be found on the Investor Relations website …

The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has announced enhancements to its ability to detect illegal activities with virtual currency among the entities its regulates. The new capacities are part of its efforts to keep pace with the industry and respond proactively to the virtual currency market, it said. The NYDFS released a short statement on its new abilities on Feb. 21 that contained no specifics about the “new insider trading and market manipulation risk monitoring tools.” However, the statement promised: “The new enhancements will provide the Department with additional capabilities to detect potential insider trading, market manipulation, …

The Proof of Stake Alliance (POSA), a nonprofit industry alliance, has published two white papers examining on the status of deposit tokens in United States securities and tax law on Feb. 21. The papers were authored by representatives of over 10 industry groups. Liquid staking is the practice on blockchains using a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism of issuing transferrable receipt tokens to show ownership of staked crypto assets or rewards accrued for staking. The tokens are often referred to as liquid staking derivatives, which is a term the POSA objected to as being inaccurate, recommending that they be called liquid staking …

The price of Ether (ETH) rallied 18% between Feb. 13 and Feb. 16 but has since been range trading near the $1,700 level. Despite the recent price improvement, Ether derivatives metrics remain neutral-to-bullish ponder the investors the tighter regulatory environment and the potential impact of Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade. Investors' biggest concern right now is regulation, especially after the United Kingdom’s Financial Stability Board (FSB) recently stated that most stablecoins fail to meet international standards. The entity was created by the G20 and is affiliated with the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). FSB chair Klaas Knot stated that the appropriate regulation …

According to a medium post on Feb. 20, the Interchain Foundation (ICF), a non-profit organization behind the creation of the Cosmos (ATOM) interblockchain communications (IBC) ecosystem, has committed to spending approximately $40 million in 2023 to develop its core infrastructure and applications. As a part of the Interchain Stack, which is utilized by around 50 blockchains, these include the Tendermint Core (and now CometBFT), Cosmos SDK, Cosmos Hub, and the IBC protocol. "Throughout the year, we envisage engaging other teams to deliver smaller, tightly defined tasks within each area of work. Such contracts will be to supplement the work of …

A partnership between Web3 payment protocol Immersve and payments giant Mastercard will allow users to make crypto payments on digital, physical and the Metaverse worlds. USD Coin (USDC) tokens — a US dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Circle — will be used to settle transactions on Mastercard’s network. The Mastercard-Immersve partnership uses decentralized protocols to settle real-time cryptocurrency transactions on outlets accepting Mastercard payments online. Users will be able to use their existing Web3 wallets to make direct crypto payments without relying on a third party for collateral. Instead, Immersve will partner with a third-party settlement provider and allow its users …

Automated systems and blockchain technology are being increasingly utilized to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the carbon market, a critical component in the fight against climate change. Cointelegraph spoke to Bill Kentrup about the role of blockchain technology in digitizing verifiable data in the carbon market. Kentrup is the head of Origination and co-founder of enterprise software Allinfra Climate — a platform designed to help institutions achieve their sustainability goals. According to him, on-chain monitoring, reporting, verification, issuance, allocation, and retirement of carbon credits and carbon claims, could bring about efficiency and predictability that hasn’t existed in the past. …

Starting to invest in cryptocurrency does not necessarily require attaching a bank account or spending money (fiat) to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Another way to earn cryptocurrency and build a portfolio is to complete a variety of tasks on various Web3 platforms. Using decentralized applications (dApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, users earn cryptocurrency and then swap, sell or hold them in centralized or decentralized wallets without even having to spend money. Let’s look at a few ways to build a crypto portfolio without connecting a bank account. Interact with Web3 browsers A person without cryptocurrency knowledge might …

According to a report on Feb. 21, Deutsche Bank Singapore and Memento Blockchain have successfully completed the proof of concept phase of Project DAMA (Digital Assets Management Access), designed to facilitate the management of digital funds investing in tokenized securities. Per its report, asset managers were able to create a digital asset fund with its own soulbound token and launch a direct fiat-to-digital on-ramp for users. Institutional investors could then subscribe to the fund through the direct minting of tokens, via a decentralized exchange aggregator, or through a built-in marketplace. As the first step, Deutsche Bank and Memento Blockchain created …

Ether (ETH) fell short of a bullish breakout based on technical and on-chain analysis, suggesting that the consolidation below the $2,000 price level could continue in the medium term. At the same time, a lack of sellers and strong fundamentals will likely protect Ether from steep declines. Ethereum encounters resistance at long-term bullish reversal points ETH/USD price increased by 42.80% since the start of 2023 thanks to a short squeeze in the altcoin market, negative investor sentiment and low liquidity conditions. Based on on-chain and technical levels, the rally has paused at a crucial bull-bear pivot. Glassnode’s Relative Unrealized Loss …