Swiping right in the metaverse Famous New York socialite, Paris Hilton thinks the Metaverse may be the perfect place to find one’s true love. In a Feb. 9 tweet, the celebrity and reality TV star said she will be working with The Sandbox (SAND) to bring “Parisland” to life. The idea is essentially a Virtual Reality (VR) dating experience crossed with a reality dating show and is slated for a Feb. 13 release in time for Valentine’s Day. Get ready to party on the beach, pick up cute collectibles and explore my newest tropical Parisland metaverse! I'm launching a new …

The collapse of FTX and related developments did more to pull up or push down the price of Bitcoin (BTC) throughout Q4, compared to macroeconomic events such as rate hikes, according to research. In a “State of Bitcoin Q4 2022” report published on Feb. 10, Messari research analysts Sami Kassab and Chris Collar found that the collapse of the exchange resulted in a 25% decrease in the price of Bitcoin. How did #Bitcoin fare in Q4 22' in the wake of unfavorable macro and crypto environments? +FTX collapse caused a 25% swing, affecting centralized entities/exchange balance +Annual performance down 64% …

Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm CleanSpark is planning to continue its strategy of scooping up distressed mining company assets this year. The Bitcoin miner released its fiscal Q1 earnings presentation on Feb. 9, where the company said it remained optimistic about the coming year and continued growth. Chief Financial Officer, Gary Vecchiarelli, said CleanSpark has seen “explosive growth” in the last 12 months and feels very comfortable with its plans. He added that growth in terms of mergers and acquisitions would continue into 2023. “With respect to our strategy regarding M&A, we have been one of the most active miners to …

Members of the crypto community are seemingly outraged over the recent charges laid against crypto exchange Kraken in relation to its staking-as-a-service program in the United States. On Feb. 9, the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it had settled charges with Kraken over “failing to register the offer and sale of their crypto asset staking-as-a-service program,” which it claims is qualified as securities under its purview. Kraken agreed to settle the charges by paying $30 million in fines and to immediately cease the staking services to U.S. retail investors, though it would continue to be offered offshore. The …

A book once slated to be released by Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO and founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, has been pulled before it could ever hit the shelves and the publisher of the title is trying to "remove all trace of it online." The Mashinsky Method: The Decentralized Path to Financial Freedom was the name of an upcoming financial literacy book by Alex Mashinsky with a tentative release date set for sometime in June. It promised to teach his "7-step method" on "how to protect your assets and how to create compounding yield [...] Using stablecoins and …

United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Hester Pierce has publicly rebuked her own agency over the shut down of Kraken's crypto staking program in the United States. The commissioner blasted her regulator in a Feb. 9 statement called "Kraken Down," noting that regulation by enforcement “is not an efficient or fair way of regulating” in an emerging industry, stating: Today, the SEC shut down Kraken’s staking program and counted it as a win for investors. I disagree and therefore dissent. Peirce's statement also slammed the regulator for shutting down a “program that has served people well." “Using enforcement …

Ethereum co-founder and crypto entrepreneur Joseph Lubin is confident that Ether (ETH) won’t be classified as a security in the United States. Cointelegraph spoke with Lubin, Ethereum co-founder and founder of blockchain tech firm ConsenSys, in Tel Aviv at the Web3 event, Building Blocks 23. Asked if ETH could be classed as a security in the U.S. after Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model, Lubin said: “I think it's as likely, and would have the same impact, as if Uber was made illegal.” “There would be a tremendous outcry from not just the crypto community but different politicians …

The American state of Mississippi is one step closer to protecting the rights of cryptocurrency miners after the state senate passed the Mississippi Digital Asset Mining Act on Feb. 8. There is a companion bill under consideration in the state house of representatives. The senate bill, authored by state Sen. Josh Harkins, legalizes home digital asset mining and the operation of mining businesses in areas zoned for industrial use. There are already crypto miners operating in Mississippi, which has some of the lowest electricity rates in the country. However, the bill claimed: “Digital asset mining has often faced regulatory challenges …

A crypto exchange project initially proposed by 3AC and Coinflex has now launched an official website and waitlist as of Feb. 9. Called “Open Exchange (OPNX)”, the new project alleges that it will be “the world's first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives,” according to a tweet from the project’s official Twitter account. 1/ Introducing Open Exchange. Open Exchange will start as the world's first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives. Then become the world's most radically transparent CEX. The claims waitlist is now open @ https://t.co/Q2HsUqSZ7E — OPNX Official (@OPNX_Official) February 9, 2023 In a …

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industrys most important developments. China airdrops 180 million digital yuan to celebrate Lunar New Year According to state-owned media Global Times, Chinese cities airdropped a total of 180 million digital yuan (e-CNY) worth $26.6 million to boost consumption during the Lunar New Year celebrations between Jan. 22 and Feb. 5. Nearly 200 digital yuan activities were launched during the festival, and commercial institutions also participated in these promotions, covering various sectors such as mobile communications, supermarkets, transportation and tourism. Data from Meituan, a popular Chinese food delivery platform, showed that …

According to data from DeFiLlama, Ethereum staking service Rocket Pool reached $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Feb. 9. The move comes less than two years after the decentralized finance (DeFi) launched its mainnet on Nov. 9, 2021. Dubbed a liquid staking solution for Ethereum (ETH), Rocket Pool allows users to join an Ethereum decentralized node operator or run their own node. Unlike conventional staking solutions, the capital requirements are far less as users can run their own node with just 16 ETH as opposed to the network specified 32 ETH, with another 16 ETH coming from a …

A survey of 81 nonfungible token (NFT) collections on the Ethereum blockchain showed a sharp overall loss in market capitalization in 2022, according to a report from DappRadar released Feb. 9. Losses were not even distributed, however. The Ethereum NFT market was worth $9.3 billion at the beginning of 2022, according to DappRadar’s valuation, and that figure dropped to $3.7 billion by year end — a loss of 59.6%. The value of Ether (ETH) impacted all values: “It is also important to consider that ETH lost 60% of its value last year, which had a strong influence on the value …