Companies race to solve bitcoin’s security problem despite slumping prices 2286

Start-ups are driving ahead with plans to solve the issue of custody, or having a place to securely store cryptocurrency. For institutional investors that are used to having money safely stored or FDIC insured, where they would put their high-paying clients’ cryptocurrency is said to be the biggest question mark.

“Institutional investors are very interested in finding a solution, but they haven’t seen one that they think is perfect for various reasons,” said Monica Summerville, senior analyst at TABB Group specializing in financial technology. “They still self-custody, and manage all their own keys.”

Summerville works with one family office that stores clients’ cryptocurrency on tiny, USB drive-looking devices in order to guard against hacks. The devices they use are about the size of a baby carrot, and fund managers organize them in binders to keep money organized until there’s a better alternative.

Other smaller retail investors opt to keep cryptocurrency on an exchange or have their own offline, arguably safer methods called “cold storage.” But it’s more complicated for family offices and hedge funds. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires private funds to use a third party, like a bank or another regulated financial institution for those holding more than $150 million in assets.

In cryptocurrency, often the only thing standing between money and a hacker is what’s known as a “private key” or an alphanumeric code to access funds. Companies that manage these cryptographic keys are known as custodians, acting like traditional Wall Street custodians such as State Street and Bank of New York.

The race to custody

Crypto company BitGo is among the companies looking to fill that gap. On Thursday, it received a state trust company charter from the South Dakota Division of Banking, making it the only regulated custody offering that’s built just for storing digital assets.

“This is the missing piece for infrastructure — it’s a treacherous environment today” BitGo co-founder and CEO Mike Belshe told CNBC. “Hedge funds need it, family offices need it, they can’t participate in digital currency until they have a place to store it that’s regulated.”

BitGo is opening itself up to regulatory scrutiny that isn’t required for most cryptocurrency companies. The Palo Alto, California-based start-up will file financial audits, adhere to “know your customer” and anti money-laundering rules, and file monthly disclosures.

Belshe, who started as a software engineer at HP and Netscape, said BitGo will eventually look to become a broker-dealer, but he declined to give a timeline.

‘Plethora’ of opportunity

BitGo is not the only one plowing ahead on custody solutions. Coinbase, Gemini (run by the Winklevoss twins), Ledger and ItBit are also looking to be those trusted safeguards. Japanese bank Nomura announced plans in May to offer crypto custody. Goldman Sachs and Northern Trust are also reportedly exploring offering custodial services.

Sanford C. Bernstein is among the firms arguing that reputable custody is one of the biggest headwinds to institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies. Solving that problem could be one way to make money in the space, according to Bernstein.

“As the crypto-asset class seasons and institutional demand builds, there are a plethora of opportunities for traditional firms to engage in the eco-system,” Bernstein analyst Christian Bolu wrote in a note to clients in August. “These include the provision of custodial and asset management services as well as traditional brokerage functions like market-making.”

Part of the hesitation from institutional investors is headline risk. As of the end of June, $1.6 billion in cryptocurrency had been stolen from clients, according to CoinDesk’s 2018 State of Blockchain Report.

Hacks have also been an issue for bitcoin prices this year. Cryptocurrencies have lost more than 60 percent of their market capitalization since the beginning of this year, according to CoinMarketCap.com. Trading volumes of cryptocurrencies have also plummeted 65 percent while the price of bitcoin has fallen 50 percent this year. Despite waning interest, Belshe is betting that BitGo will at least still have cryptocurrency to store long-term.

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Symmetry Launches Revolutionary Platform for Decentralized Crypto Indices and Actively Managed Funds on Solana 2247

Today marks a groundbreaking step for decentralized finance (DeFi) on the Solana blockchain as Symmetry launches its highly anticipated User Interface at https://app.symmetry.fi/.

The platform aims to revolutionize the way users manage their portfolios through crypto indices and actively managed funds by providing an all-in-one solution for creating, managing, buying, and selling funds.

Symmetry is a decentralized Crypto Indices and Actively Managed Funds infrastructure layer built on Solana, powered by the Symmetry Engine. This innovative on-chain asset management infrastructure covers everything from on-chain funds, indices, and multi-token liquidity pools, to liquidity routing between indices and decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregators, and public APIs for other DeFi projects to integrate Symmetry products seamlessly.

The platform offers a wide range of opportunities for both fund managers and users. Managers can create and manage funds with multiple tokens that reweigh, rebalance, and refilter according to custom rules defined by the manager, or create a trustless Crypto Index with predefined rules. Users can create their own actively managed funds or indices and buy and sell funds created by other users or protocols.

Symmetry’s liquidity provision feature allows indices and actively managed funds to act as liquidity providers on DeFi aggregators such as PRISM and Jupiter when their token weights deviate from the target weights. This groundbreaking feature not only enables funds to rebalance at zero cost but also generates fees from aggregator users for fund managers and holders, a significant departure from traditional approaches where indices and funds typically pay fees on exchanges to rebalance.

The Symmetry Engine relies on Pyth, a reliable price oracle, to determine true prices for each asset utilized in Symmetry products. This is crucial for funds to accurately determine fund values, rebalancing triggers, and buy/sell values for users.

Example use-cases for Symmetry include decentralized index fund apps, decentralized fund management apps, treasury management tools, retail onboarding apps, copy-trading apps, and investing apps. The platform envisions a future where anyone can create an index fund, manage on-chain funds and portfolio strategies, convert wallet portfolios to funds, and integrate index or actively managed fund tokens for trading.

With the launch of the Symmetry User Interface, the world of decentralized finance on the Solana blockchain is poised to experience a paradigm shift in how users interact with and manage their crypto portfolios. As the platform continues to roll out its full suite of features to all users, the future of Solana DeFi looks brighter than ever.

New DeFi Protocol, FORGE․SX, Offers Stocks and Other Synthetic Assets on Blockchain Ecosystem 2517

Individuals seeking to trade real world assets on the blockchain will have a new ally with the launch of the Forge.SX DeFi protocol.

With the convenience of a blockchain-based platform, Forge.SX empowers anyone to mint and trade synthetic versions of real-world assets with the convenience of blockchain technology. There are a number of assets available in the protocol, including commodities, stocks, and even foreign currencies. Popular stocks such as fTSLA are already available on the platform. Several plans are already in motion for the addition of additional stocks in the future.

According to the core team, the reason for offering mint trade of stocks and other synthetic assets is as follows: “As seasoned crypto investors, we understand the value and potential of synthetic assets on the blockchain and want everyone to have access to global financial markets and mint synthetic digital assets regardless of their financial status. Synthetic investments like stocks are among the most valuable. Although risks are involved in stock investment, because the market is regulated, they offer greater reassurance for cryptocurrency investors. We also wanted to diversify the assets available on the platform to attract new investors who are interested in yielding returns with Real World Assets.”

The assets on Forge are called fAssets and can be forged and burned in the Ovens by anyone. As standard ERC-Tokens, assets can only be minted against collateral deposits. Traders can begin by opening an oven using USDC as collateral for the creation of synthetic assets. The crypto trader may then burn the fAssets minted by closing the oven, and they will be able to recover the collateral that has been locked.

Forge.SX is supported by a reliable Oracle data feed that connects the world of Blockchain to the Forge.SX platform. A competent and experienced team is also available at the company, with a strong background in Dapp development and DeFi. In order to provide traders with the best service in the industry, Forge.SX consistently performs research and development. Core Forgers said: “We do our finest to bring safety and value to our investors and remain transparent to inspire confidence in our business model and the future of synthetic assets.”

To learn more about Forge or to start trading real-world assets such as stocks on Forge SX, please visit: https://forge.sx/

$C4 Investing, a unique business model 2315

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The Cardano Crocs Club is an innovative project that has created a token-based economy through staking on the Cardano blockchain. However, as more projects start staking and creating tokens, the purpose of staking can become unclear. To turn a token into a widely-used currency, it is important to create a real-world use case for the token that goes beyond simply staking it for rewards.

Net Technology, the parent company of the Cardano Crocs Club, has taken a unique approach by investing real EURO into ready-made projects, which are then developed. This creates a real business ecosystem that uses the C4 token as a means of exchange and value preservation. By using the token as a payment method for all ready-made projects, there is a real use case for the token that can potentially drive adoption and demand for it.

Creating a network effect is crucial for driving the adoption of a token. When more businesses and projects accept a token as a payment method, it can increase the token’s visibility and perceived value. This, in turn, can lead to more people wanting to hold and use the token, which can potentially increase its value over time.

Net Technology is also committed to creating products and services that will continue to provide value in the future. This can help to ensure the longevity of the ecosystem and the token. By backing sustainable and profitable businesses, they are creating a solid foundation that can support the growth and adoption of the C4 token.

In conclusion, the Cardano Crocs Club is taking a unique and promising approach to creating a token-based economy that goes beyond simple staking. By investing in ready-made projects, creating a real business ecosystem, and backing sustainable and profitable businesses, they are creating a real-world use case for the C4 token. By driving adoption and demand for the token, they are creating the potential for it to become a widely-used currency.

OpenOcean Pioneers Efficient Crypto Swaps on 23 Chains, integrated by MetaMask 2473

OpenOcean is excited to announce that MetaMask, the most popular non-custodial DeFi wallet, has integrated OpenOcean’s advanced swaps for their in-wallet trades. Swaps will be supported on six major public blockchains – Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism and Avalanche.

OpenOcean is the leading DEX Aggregator in web3 and crypto. OpenOcean indexes vast liquidity for trades and automatically routes users the best possible trade with the lowest slippage and best final swap returns. OpenOcean is backed by top investors – Binance Labs, CMS, Kenetic, Altonomy, Multicoin and more. OpenOcean is proud to support over 23+ blockchains and over 280+ Decentralized exchanges and liquidity pools.

As a primary entry point for many crypto users, MetaMask users can now access OpenOcean’s superior and efficient trades across all supported chains. The integration with OpenOcean has enabled traders to access a vast ocean of liquidity at competitive prices. This collaboration represents a significant milestone for both parties. OpenOcean can now benefit more DeFi users with its unique trade routing algorithm by split-routing trades across different decentralized exchanges for the best possible efficiency.

“This integration is yet another step in our mission to bring the best service and prices to MetaMask Swaps users.” From MetaMask Wallet team. (Source – https://twitter.com/MetaMask/status/1650856215977549824?s=20)

As a middleware protocol, OpenOcean has published its free-to-use API and SDK which is supported on 19 EVM chains. OpenOcean offers the best environment for secure, stable, and competitive swap rates for all developers and users. In addition to MetaMask, OpenOcean’s API has been adopted by leading protocols such as DefiLlama, Ankr, Fantom Wallet, Li Finance, Gnosis safe, Vesta Finance, Sonne Finance, etc.

About OpenOcean

OpenOcean is a pioneering middleware developer, dex aggregator, cross-chain swap aggregator and Web 3 developer in the crypto space, offering a suite of tools across 23+ networks and 280+ deep liquidity sources. OpenOcean is building a one-stop trading platform, to bring users the best swap return for decentralized crypto trading.

Website: https://openocean.finance/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenOceanGlobal
Discord: https://discord.gg/C7PHQaKdNX
Telegram: https://t.me/OOFinance

GMX Votes to Integrate Chainlink’s New Low-Latency Oracles as Launch Partner, in Major Leap Forward for DeFi Innovation and Economic Sustainability 2162

GMX, the largest decentralized perpetual exchange operating on Arbitrum and Avalanche, and Chainlink, the industry-standard Web3 services platform, today announced that the GMX community has voted to integrate Chainlink’s new low-latency oracles for financial market data. GMX will join as the launch partner of the new solution, integrating the low-latency oracles in its upcoming protocol GMX V2 to support perpetuals, swaps and liquidity.

The low-latency oracles are a new standard in ultra-fast oracle infrastructure, and serve as a major step forward for improving the security, decentralization, and user experience of the DeFi economy. The proposal can be found on the GMX snapshot page.

Chainlink’s new low-latency oracles are a major innovation that address a significant DeFi pain point — the extreme latency-sensitivity of derivatives exchanges and other price-sensitive DeFi applications. Low-latency oracles address this concern by providing secure access to high-quality market data in a pull-based manner, all while keeping Chainlink’s industry standard and battle-tested infrastructure, where data is cryptographically signed by a decentralized oracle network and verified on-chain.

In the case of GMX, the integration is set to enhance the decentralized exchange’s performance, harden its data security, help mitigate the risks of frontrunning, and provide long-term sustainable access to essential Web3 infrastructure. The Arbitrum testnet now has a beta version of the low-latency oracle deployed, and testing by GMX core contributors is ongoing.

“We’re excited to see our community approve this integration and for GMX to be the launch partner of Chainlink’s new low-latency oracles,” said X, development core contributor of GMX. “GMX contributors have been working with Chainlink Labs since last year on the specifications of these new oracles, and we’re excited to contribute to establishing a long-term self-sustainable oracle network.”

The collaboration between GMX and Chainlink also marks a transformational moment for the maturity and economic sustainability of Web3 through the creation of a sustainable financial framework. A fee structure will be established in which 1.2% of total fees generated by GMX V2 and later protocol versions will be paid to Chainlink service providers in exchange for the usage of the low-latency oracles and technical support.

“Chainlink Labs has been committed to the support and growth of DeFi since its very early days,” said Johann Eid, VP of Go-To-Market at Chainlink Labs. “With this collaboration, we mark a new milestone for the space and its race towards mass adoption. The low-latency oracles will bring the industry one step closer to the performance level that currently exists outside of it, while our economic alignment helps set the foundation for a more sustainable ecosystem. We’re excited to keep building this space with leading projects such as GMX, one block at a time until DeFi becomes a leading and secure global financial system.”

The passing of this proposal represents a major step forward for oracle sustainability as Chainlink continues to deliver on its Economics 2.0 vision, following other programs such as SCALE and BUILD.

As the Chainlink Staking protocol evolves over time to support a greater scope of data feeds and oracle services, a portion of the fees from this proposal are planned to be sent directly to stakers as user fee rewards for their work increasing the crypto-economic security of Chainlink services utilized by GMX.

About Chainlink

Chainlink is the industry-standard Web3 services platform that has enabled trillions of dollars in transaction volume across DeFi, insurance, gaming, NFTs, and other major industries. As the leading decentralized oracle network, Chainlink enables developers to build feature-rich Web3 applications with seamless access to real-world data and off-chain computation across any blockchain, and provides global enterprises with a universal gateway to all blockchains.

Learn more about Chainlink by visiting chain.link or reading the developer documentation at docs.chain.link.

About GMX

GMX is a permissionless decentralized spot and perpetual exchange. Traders benefit from low fees, deep liquidity, reduced liquidation risks and transparent pricing. Liquidity on GMX is user-contributed, and liquidity providers earn a majority of the fees the protocol generates, without external market makers.

GMX has worked collaboratively to create a robust ecosystem, with over 100 DeFi integrations. With GMX V2, any asset with a Chainlink low-latency price feed may be transacted on the exchange, and order execution is guaranteed, further optimizing the on-chain trading experience. Discover GMX at gmx.io.

Lambda256 Unveils Luniverse NOVA, the Blockchain Node Service for Web3 Developers 3229

Lambda256, the blockchain tech arm of South Korean fintech leader Dunamu, has launched a new web3 development service platform named Luniverse NOVA. The platform aims to provide a user-friendly way for developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) on public chains such as Ethereum and Polygon networks, with advanced node service and high interoperable APIs.

Luniverse NOVA comes equipped with a range of features to enhance the efficiency and security of blockchain development and operation. The service offers real-time blockchain node services, multichain API, statistics API, webhook API, and Stream API, which supports different kinds of nodes, including Ethereum and Polygon. The service also provides automatic load balancing, ensuring that nodes remain online and functional during sudden spikes in traffic.

In addition to its advanced features, Luniverse NOVA offers competitive pricing options, with pricing based on factors such as the number of nodes and the amount of data request calls. Celebrating the groundbreaking launch of Luniverse NOVA, Lambda256 has introduced a special promotion for its users. For a limited time, exclusive price discounts on the subscription fees and a limited USDC prize and membership NFT will be given to new users who register for the platform as early birds.

As the only partner in Korea of Polygon DevX APAC Roadshow, Luniverse will participate in upcoming Polygon Global Hackathon as well. “We’re excited to launch Luniverse NOVA and offer not only simple but also reliable way to build dApps to Polygon community,” said a spokesperson for Lambda256. “Developers can build decentralized applications (dApps) on Polygon networks without having to worry about the complexities of node settings and management. With its user-friendly interface, advanced features, and competitive pricing, we believe Luniverse NOVA will become a popular choice for developers looking to take advantage of the Polygon ecosystem.”

With the launch of Luniverse NOVA, Lambda256 aims to further strengthen its position as a leading provider of blockchain technology solutions. The company has been actively working on developing new products and services to help drive the adoption of blockchain technology across various industries. More details of the Luniverse NOVA can be found on the official website.

About Luniverse

Luniverse is a Web3 infrastructure service platform that offers innovative technology such as a development environment, API, and operation tools that allow users to quickly and easily create blockchain services. The development environment allows all developers and companies to apply blockchain technology to businesses and enter the Web3 space without difficulty. Highly efficient blockchain services can be developed and operated with ease thanks to simple network settings, convenient operating tools, and high-performance chains of over 3000TPS. Aiming to become an eco-friendly blockchain, Luniverse dramatically reduced power consumption that can occur during virtual asset mining. As a result, it received certification from DNV, a third-party international organization, and also joined the CCA in working toward a goal of low carbon emissions by 2040.

In 2023 Luniverse will upgrade to Luniverse NOVA, a new version of Luniverse that includes all services required to build Web3, NFT, and other blockchain services. It will introduce blockchain node services, Multichain API for Ethereum and Polygon blockchain development, as well as a dashboard and data indexing features required for easy blockchain service operation.