The total supply of stablecoins saw its sharpest drop in history during Q2 2022, with stablecoin redemptions spiking as a result of “short-term liquidity and concerns about insolvency that were not present during the panic of 2020," according to data analytics firm Coinmetrics. CoinMetrics head of research and development Lucas Nuzzi highlighted the data via Twitter on June 16, with a graph showing the total supply of stablecoins since January 2020. “22Q2 is the first time in the history of stablecoins where Total Supply decreased. Even if we exclude UST, over 10B has been redeemed *directly from the treasuries* of …

“Everything is bigger in Texas” proved to be true during Consensus 2022. The crypto conference took place June 9–12 in Austin, Texas, this year, attracting over 20,000 people from across the globe, despite the 100-degree plus weather. According to the event sponsors, Consensus 2018, which was held at the Hilton Hotel in New York, had previously drawn in almost 9,000 attendees. Caitlin Long, CEO of Custodia — the Wyoming-based digital asset bank — told Cointelegraph that the event this year speaks volumes. “New York has sent a lot of this industry fleeing to places like Austin, Wyoming and Miami. It …

Researchers at the federally funded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have combined statistical mechanics and information theory to design a class of stablecoin dubbed the Electricity Stablecoin (E-Stablecoin) that would transmit energy as a form of information. Livermore’s Maxwell Murialdo and Jonathan L. Belof say their innovation would make it possible to transmit electricity without physical wires or a grid and create a fully collateralized stablecoin pegged to a physical asset – electricity – that is dependent on its utility for is value. According to the scientists, the E-Stablecoin would be minted through the input of one kilowatt-hour of …

The ongoing crisis of Celsius’s native token has nothing to do with the stablecoin provider Tether and will not impact its USDT reserves, according to the company. Tether issued a statement on Monday regarding the major cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius halting withdrawals due to its rumored liquidity crisis. According to the statement, Tether’s lending activity with Celsius has “always been overcollateralized” as with any other borrower and “has no impact” on the company’s reserves. The announcement also described the ongoing issues with Celsius as an “unfortunate result of market volatility and extreme market conditions.” The Tether company is the issuer …

While the market has not yet fully recovered from the onslaught caused by the TerraUSD (UST) depeg, another stablecoin project shows signs of distress, causing fears and speculation within the community. Stablecoin protocol USDD’s price dipped to $0.97 on major crypto trading platforms on Monday. Because of this, the market started to keep an eye on the project with fears that the project will follow the footsteps of Terra (LUNA), now officially Luna Classic (LUNC). CurveSwaps, a bot that monitors large asset transfers flagged that $1 million USDD was recently swapped to 997,339 Tether (USDT). On the other hand, blockchain …

The spectacular implosion of the Terra ecosystem in mid-May left the crypto industry scarred. Though there were some brave critics who understood just how thin the razor’s edge was for TerraUSD (UST) — now TerraUSD Classic (USTC) — I think it’s safe to say that most people didn’t expect Terra to fail so fast, so dramatically and so completely irrevocably. I’m writing this as the Terra community is voting on a plan to restart some kind of Terra 2.0 — a plan to salvage the layer-1 ecosystem without the UST stablecoin. The old Terra, now to be known as Terra …

Stablecoins are a controversial subject in crypto. Questioning the legitimacy and backing of Tether (USDT) is a right of passage for many entering the crypto market for the first time. The meltdown of the Terra (LUNC; or the old LUNA) ecosystem left little doubt that algorithmic stablecoins don’t have a future beyond Do Kwon’s fantasies. Pesky regulators are constantly poking and prodding at dollar-pegged assets to carve out firmer rules on their usage. But, if you look beyond all the fear, uncertainty and doubt, stablecoins are providing liquidity to millions of people who don’t have access to dollars because of …

Reports that Terra (the new LUNA orLUNA2) founder Do Kwon allegedly withdrew $80 million monthly before the project crashed surfaced Friday, leading members of the community to voice their opinions on the matter. In a tweet, crypto trader and analyst Michaël van de Poppe said that Kwon deserves imprisonment. He compared the Terraform Labs CEO to the infamous fraudster Bernie Madoff. “Honestly, he deserves jail,” Van de Poppe wrote. Twitter user DaisiObanla also agreed with Van de Poppe. According to DaisiObanla, he wants to hear the news that Kwon is sentenced to 150 years in prison without any parole. Moreover, …

Circle, a peer-to-peer financial services firm, has agreed to acquire Cybavo, a digital asset infrastructure platform. The deal will allow Circle to provide "infrastructure as a service" for firms wanting to develop on Web3. Developers will be able to work on their products without having to worry about digital asset security, operations, or blockchain infrastructure management. According to the Friday press release, Circle and CYBAVO intend to further promote the adoption of USD Coin (USDC) and Web3 applications while integrating technology deeply into their core product suite. Circle signed an agreement to acquire @cybavo! Once the deal closes, Circle plans …

Cross-border transfer service MoneyGram officially launched its stablecoin-powered payment channel on Friday, giving users the ability to send USD Coin (USDC) payments worldwide that can be withdrawn as cash by recipients. The service is being rolled out across several key remittance markets, including Canada, the United States, Kenya and the Philippines, Circle and MoneyGram announced Friday. Global cash-out functionality will be available by the end of June. To encourage adoption, the USDC transfer service will carry zero fees for the first 12 months. As Cointelegraph reported, MoneyGram’s new transfer service was built on the Stellar (XLM) blockchain and allows Stellar …

On a sun-splashed day in the Swiss Alps, the chief technology officer of Bitfinex and Tether, Paolo Ardoino, shed light on the Plan B Lugano strategy, Tether as an onramp into Bitcoin (BTC) and —crucially — his favorite pizza toppings. Fresh off the plane from Norway, where Ardoino attended an increasingly Bitcoiner-friendly event, the Oslo Freedom Forum, the Italian explained that, in contrast to the WEF,there was no “shilling” in Norway. Tether was invited to speak at the Oslo Freedom Forum as the stablecoin is increasingly considered an “instrument of freedom.” Tether has been adopted by the Myanmar government while …

Terra (LUNA2) reversed a portion of the losses this June 9 as its price per token rose by as much as 67.5% on the day, catching many traders off-guard with their perpetual swap positions. LUNA2 traders are shorting it In detail, LUNA2's price soared from $2 to as high as $3.58. The volatile intraday move coincided with the liquidation of nearly $4 million worth of LUNA2 trades on Binance and Bybit, including $2.46 million worth of short positions, data from Coinglass shows. Interestingly, LUNA2's funding rates across Binance and Bybit remained negative, suggesting that traders are still short despite the …