Intel will stop producing Bitcoin mining chips
A little over a year after Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) announced its entry into the world of producing Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) mining chips, the technology giant revealed that it is giving up on the sector. The company will stop producing its Blockscale series and has no plans to release anything to replace it, the company said on tuesday. Intel expects to stop taking orders by October 20th of this year and end shipping by April 20th of next year. “As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we are retiring the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while continuing to support our Blockscale customers,” said a company spokesperson.
A16z’s Mysterious Tweet Triggered a Rally on Optimism’s Token
Andreessen Horowitz’s investment arm a16z Crypto teased a new release on Twitter, with engineering partner Noah Citron posting a photo of an orange ball and the words “coming soon”. The similarity of the images has led to speculation that a16z may have plans to launch its own layer 2 blockchain, sending Optimism’s token (COIN:OPPUSD) about 3% higher. A day after unleashing the frenzy, a16z revealed its blockchain infrastructure plans: Magi. The Magi project is a new client for the OP Stack, the open source and standardized development stack that powers Optimism. The system was written using the Rust programming language and is intended to serve as a faster alternative to op-node, the only existing rollup client maintained by OP Labs and written in the Go programming language. The thesis of A16z is that more systems result in more robust decentralization for Optimism, and the addition of one based on Rust will attract more developers.
Trump’s Second Collection of NFTs Sold Out
A second collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), featuring 47,000 Donald Trump digital collectibles, sold out on April 19, the day after its initial release. NFTs licensed the name and likeness of former US President Donald Trump. NFT owners are promised a ticket to attend the Gala Dinner with Trump in South Florida if they buy 47 digital trading cards or buy 100 cards with encryption. The former president is campaigning for a second non-consecutive term in the 2024 election. Since a Manhattan grand jury indicted the former president of the United States on more than 30 counts related to alleged commercial fraud, the price of Series NFTs 1 of Trump, released in December 2022, rose well above its starting minimum price on OpenSea.
Central Banks test DLT in linking financial settlement systems
The Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub London Center have tested a blockchain-powered settlement system between them, according to a report published on Wednesday. Insights from the so-called Meridian Project will be used by the Bank of England in its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system. Synchronized settlements “can provide a catalyst for innovation in wholesale payments and support the emergence of new payments infrastructure that settle using central bank money,” he said.
Coinbase Considers U.S. Exit Amid Regulatory Uncertainty
According to The Telegraph, Brian Armstrong said on Tuesday that “Anything is on the table, including relocation or whatever is required,” after former UK Chancellor George Osbourne asked if he could see Coinbase leaving the USA. Regulatory agencies in the country, specifically the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), have launched an aggressive offensive against the crypto industry. Recently, the SEC sent a “Wells notice” to Coinbase, threatening the crypto exchange with legal action related to some of its listed digital assets, its staking service Coinbase Earn, Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Wallet.
Coinbase Base Gets OpenZeppelin Security Integration
OpenZeppelin, a cryptographic cybersecurity technology and services company, announced that its smart contract security platform Defender now supports Base, an Ethereum Layer-2 (L2) network developed by crypto exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN). Grassroots developers can now take advantage of Defender, which allows Web3 builders to “automate and secure smart contract administration, build with private and secure transaction infrastructure, create automated scripts, monitor and respond to smart contract exploits, and rapidly deploy Web3 security best practices”. said the press release. Meanwhile, Defender users can utilize Base features such as full EVM support and gasless transactions for their decentralized applications (dapps) and APIs for account abstraction and bridges, he added.
Space and Time Adds Blockchain Data to Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace
Microsoft Azure Marketplace customers can now integrate the Space and Time blockchain data warehouse with their existing enterprise infrastructure. Launched as part of the “Startup with Chainlink” initiative, Space and Time leverages the Chainlink price oracle platform along with other sources to extract data from blockchain protocols, decentralized applications ( dapps ) and off-chain systems with the aim of providing cases of enterprise-grade usage for smart contract applications. Space and Time raised $20 million in a strategic funding round led by Microsoft’s M12 fund (NASDAQ:MSFT) last year. “The need for verifiable data across blockchains, enterprises and AI has never been more important,” Space and Time CEO and co-founder Nate Holiday said in a statement.
Chainstack Subgraphs Launched to Enhance Trusted Access to Blockchain Data
Chainstack, a set of services that connect developers with Web3 infrastructure, announced the launch of Chainstack Subgraphs, described as “the most powerful blockchain data indexing solution delivering real-time on-chain data”. It allows Web3 developers and companies to leverage Chainstack’s infrastructure to instantly query in real time on the chain, a press release said. The dedicated indexer will launch with support for up to 13 major protocols including Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Optimism, Arbitrum, NEAR, Aurora, Fantom, Gnosis, Harmony, Cronos and Fuse.
US Judge Denies Do Kwon’s Request to Block SEC’s Access to Documents
U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff denied Do Kwon’s request to block SEC access to documents related to Terraform Labs (TFL) and Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) on April 14, according to court filings. from the court. The SEC has recently asked the Monetary Authority of Singapore to provide documents relating to the aforementioned companies after officially initiating enforcement action against Kwon. However, Rakoff said the claim was without merit and dismissed the appeal during a conference call hearing.
Hong Kong Court Manifests Cryptocurrencies As Property
A Hong Kong-based court has recognized cryptocurrencies as property that can be held in escrow in a ruling involving defunct cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin. Judge Linda Chan said that cryptocurrency has attributes of ownership and could constitute a trustee: “Like other common law jurisdictions, our definition of ‘property’ is inclusive and intended to have a broad meaning.” According to law firm Hogan Lovells, the new decision could potentially give insolvency practitioners in Hong Kong greater transparency in terms of digital assets.
Venezuelan exchange CoinCoinX ‘temporarily’ halts operations
Venezuelan crypto exchange CoinCoinX says it has temporarily halted operations amid reports that users are unable to withdraw on its platform, leaving thousands of customers unable to access their funds. In a tweeted statement, the exchange said users’ funds were “safe” and “protected,” blaming the “pause” on the “current regulatory situation in Venezuela, high costs of platform maintenance, infrastructure, development, security, and [its] ] workforce,” and added, “It is impossible for us to continue to provide the services we normally do without risking [clients’] funds and accumulating liabilities from our suppliers.” According to Cryptonews, many of CoinCoinX’s products have been backed by its sizable home mining operations.
Clinique des Champs-Élysées partners with RLTY
Clinique des Champs-Élysées, provider of surgery and aesthetic medicine, announced its second virtual open day at the metaverse to promote women’s intimate health. He partnered with virtual world creator RLTY to broadcast the event on RLTY WORLD. On April 20, Clinique will focus exclusively on women’s intimate health in an attempt to break taboos and open the conversation, says the statement, adding that “an experienced team of gynecologists, sexologists and surgeons will explain and show the solutions that exist to soothe, treat and restore the intimate parts.”
Trezor wallet enables CoinJoin feature
Trezor has launched the CoinJoin feature that enables privacy on its hardware wallets, allowing users to improve the privacy and security of Bitcoin transactions. CoinJoin is a process used to anonymize Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) transactions that allows users to send their BTC as part of a large collaborative transfer and obfuscate transaction history. In the April 19 announcement, Trezor noted that the new function is available immediately on the company’s Trezor Model T wallet. The company plans to enable the CoinJoin option for its first hardware wallet, Model One, in the near future.