🌐 Vietnam, the Philippines, and Ukraine are leading countries endorsing the concept of metaverses . This is reported in the report of the CoinKickoff website based on the analysis of 1.6 million tweets on this topic.
In 56.8% of posts, Vietnamese users are positive about the new type of digital platforms. In the Philippines, this figure reaches 56.2%, in Ukraine - 54.9%.
Filipinos are the most likely to search Google for metaverse-related terms, with 2,421 searches per 1,000 people in the country. Users from Ukraine have 252 search queries.
It is Western countries that are most resistant to the introduction of metaverses, the researchers added. Among them are Denmark, New Zealand, the USA and Canada.
Among Americans, Florida residents show the greatest interest in the topic - 670 search queries per 1,000 people.
In 56.8% of posts, Vietnamese users are positive about the new type of digital platforms. In the Philippines, this figure reaches 56.2%, in Ukraine - 54.9%.
Filipinos are the most likely to search Google for metaverse-related terms, with 2,421 searches per 1,000 people in the country. Users from Ukraine have 252 search queries.
It is Western countries that are most resistant to the introduction of metaverses, the researchers added. Among them are Denmark, New Zealand, the USA and Canada.
Among Americans, Florida residents show the greatest interest in the topic - 670 search queries per 1,000 people.
📈 Tether Continues To Demonstrate Strength Of Reserves, Reveals $700m Profits For Q4/2022 In Latest Attestation Report
Tether Holdings Limited made available its December 31, 2022 assurance opinion completed by BDO, a top five-ranked global independent public accounting firm. The attestation re-affirms the accuracy of Tether’s Consolidated Reserves Report (CRR), which breaks down the assets held by the Group as of Dec 31, 2022. The CRR shows that, in addition to reducing its secured loans as committed, Tether ended 2022 with zero commercial paper and at least $67 billion in consolidated total assets and excess reserves of at least $960 million.
🗓 The Management of the Company asserts the following as of 31 December 2022:
🔹The Group’s consolidated total assets amount to at least US$ 67,044,148,175;
🔹The Group’s consolidated total liabilities amount to US$66,083,530,757, of which US$66,057,260,169 relates to digital tokens issued;
🔹The Group’s consolidated assets exceed its consolidated liabilities.
Tether Holdings Limited made available its December 31, 2022 assurance opinion completed by BDO, a top five-ranked global independent public accounting firm. The attestation re-affirms the accuracy of Tether’s Consolidated Reserves Report (CRR), which breaks down the assets held by the Group as of Dec 31, 2022. The CRR shows that, in addition to reducing its secured loans as committed, Tether ended 2022 with zero commercial paper and at least $67 billion in consolidated total assets and excess reserves of at least $960 million.
🗓 The Management of the Company asserts the following as of 31 December 2022:
🔹The Group’s consolidated total assets amount to at least US$ 67,044,148,175;
🔹The Group’s consolidated total liabilities amount to US$66,083,530,757, of which US$66,057,260,169 relates to digital tokens issued;
🔹The Group’s consolidated assets exceed its consolidated liabilities.
🔥 The Optimism team announced the second OP airdrop
The developers of the Optimism L2 protocol will distribute 11.7 million native OP tokens among more than 300,000 unique addresses.
🎁 During the first airdrop in May 2022, 232,000 users received a total of almost 232 million OPs.
This allowed to begin the formation of a decentralized project management system, the team noted. Since then, 88,000 addresses have voted on over 90 proposals to distribute 50M OP across the ecosystem. In February 2023, the community will make a decision regarding the first update of Optimism , Bedrock.
💬 “At the same time, the core network is turning into a booming economy. More than 1.5 million addresses have sent 64 million transactions since the first airdrop, spending about $15 million in fees,” the statement said.
The developers of the Optimism L2 protocol will distribute 11.7 million native OP tokens among more than 300,000 unique addresses.
🎁 During the first airdrop in May 2022, 232,000 users received a total of almost 232 million OPs.
This allowed to begin the formation of a decentralized project management system, the team noted. Since then, 88,000 addresses have voted on over 90 proposals to distribute 50M OP across the ecosystem. In February 2023, the community will make a decision regarding the first update of Optimism , Bedrock.
💬 “At the same time, the core network is turning into a booming economy. More than 1.5 million addresses have sent 64 million transactions since the first airdrop, spending about $15 million in fees,” the statement said.
🏦 Voyager customers will refund funds to Binance.US accounts
📑 Voyager Digital users will be able to recover some of their funds through the accounts of Binance.US, the winner of the auction for the bankrupt lender's assets. This follows from the documents for the court, writes Decrypt .
The partners expect the deal to close and payouts to begin in March.
The registration period for Voyager customers on Binance.US started last week. The Platform will create new or link existing accounts before resolving claims.
💻 Affected users must provide an email address, social security number, and date of birth. The functionality of the corresponding portal demonstrates to clients the value of their assets.
💬 "The actual amount of the refund will be a percentage of the amount of your claim, as determined by the Voyager rebalancing," the statement said.
Specific values will depend on market conditions. The lender has a relatively high percentage of altcoins that have performed worse than BTC/ETH.
📑 Voyager Digital users will be able to recover some of their funds through the accounts of Binance.US, the winner of the auction for the bankrupt lender's assets. This follows from the documents for the court, writes Decrypt .
The partners expect the deal to close and payouts to begin in March.
The registration period for Voyager customers on Binance.US started last week. The Platform will create new or link existing accounts before resolving claims.
💻 Affected users must provide an email address, social security number, and date of birth. The functionality of the corresponding portal demonstrates to clients the value of their assets.
💬 "The actual amount of the refund will be a percentage of the amount of your claim, as determined by the Voyager rebalancing," the statement said.
Specific values will depend on market conditions. The lender has a relatively high percentage of altcoins that have performed worse than BTC/ETH.
💵 PayPal customers purchased $604 million worth of cryptocurrencies
The value of digital assets purchased by customers on the balance sheet of PayPal at the end of 2022 was $604 million. Such data are contained in the annual report of the payment company for SEC.
Of this amount, $291 million came from Bitcoin, $250 million from Ethereum, and the remaining $63 million from Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. The company did not disclose specific numbers in the latter case.
At the end of September, the total volume of positions in cryptocurrency amounted to $690 million.
Disclosure of such information became mandatory from March 2022.
The value of digital assets purchased by customers on the balance sheet of PayPal at the end of 2022 was $604 million. Such data are contained in the annual report of the payment company for SEC.
Of this amount, $291 million came from Bitcoin, $250 million from Ethereum, and the remaining $63 million from Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. The company did not disclose specific numbers in the latter case.
At the end of September, the total volume of positions in cryptocurrency amounted to $690 million.
Disclosure of such information became mandatory from March 2022.
🏦 Vitalik Buterin donated 99 ETH to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sent 99 ETH (~$152,000 at the time of writing) to Ahbap, a non-profit organization that raises money to help earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.
The wallet, labeled Ahbap Yardım / Earthquake Support by USDTSCAN, accepts donations in ERC-20 standard tokens . At the time of writing, the address holds assets valued at ~$2.2 million.
Most of the proceeds come from USDT ($890,650), Ethereum ($618,000) and USDC ($410,000).
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sent 99 ETH (~$152,000 at the time of writing) to Ahbap, a non-profit organization that raises money to help earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria.
The wallet, labeled Ahbap Yardım / Earthquake Support by USDTSCAN, accepts donations in ERC-20 standard tokens . At the time of writing, the address holds assets valued at ~$2.2 million.
Most of the proceeds come from USDT ($890,650), Ethereum ($618,000) and USDC ($410,000).
‼️ The MetaMask team warned users about phishing
The developers of the non-custodial crypto wallet MetaMask warned users about phishing attacks through a third-party email service.
💬 "MetaMask does not collectKYC-information and will never send you an email about your account! NEVER enter your recovery passphrase on a website. If you receive an email from MetaMask, Namecheap, or anyone else, please ignore it and do not click on the link,” wrote the MetaMask team.
Email service provider Namecheap has confirmed that malicious messages were sent through its service. According to the statement, email systems were not hacked and user data was not affected.
Teams are continuing to investigate the incident and are warning users to double-check links from MetaMask or Namecheap. The developers of the latter noted that they cannot yet prevent the sending of fraudulent emails. They took the problem to the upstream service provider.
The developers of the non-custodial crypto wallet MetaMask warned users about phishing attacks through a third-party email service.
💬 "MetaMask does not collectKYC-information and will never send you an email about your account! NEVER enter your recovery passphrase on a website. If you receive an email from MetaMask, Namecheap, or anyone else, please ignore it and do not click on the link,” wrote the MetaMask team.
Email service provider Namecheap has confirmed that malicious messages were sent through its service. According to the statement, email systems were not hacked and user data was not affected.
Teams are continuing to investigate the incident and are warning users to double-check links from MetaMask or Namecheap. The developers of the latter noted that they cannot yet prevent the sending of fraudulent emails. They took the problem to the upstream service provider.
🔥 Tether Gold (XAU₮) and Euro Tether (EUR₮) Launch on Bitget
Tether Operations Limited (Tether), the company operating the blockchain-enabled platform tether.to that powers the first and most widely used stablecoin, is pleased to announce that Tether Gold (XAU₮) and Euro Tether (EUR₮) have been listed on the crypto derivative exchange, Bitget.
Additionally, with EUR₮’s launch on the crypto derivative exchange, Bitget customers have gained access to the Euro-pegged stablecoin from the company that powers the first and most widely used stablecoin in the ecosystem today.
💬 “By having access to the stablecoin that represents ownership of physical gold and the Euro-pegged stablecoin that’s backed by the same company behind the first, most stable and trusted stablecoin, we believe the Bitget Community is poised to continue to grow and thrive,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether. “We are thrilled to be launching XAU₮ and EUR₮ on one of the leading crypto derivative exchanges across the globe.”
Tether Operations Limited (Tether), the company operating the blockchain-enabled platform tether.to that powers the first and most widely used stablecoin, is pleased to announce that Tether Gold (XAU₮) and Euro Tether (EUR₮) have been listed on the crypto derivative exchange, Bitget.
Additionally, with EUR₮’s launch on the crypto derivative exchange, Bitget customers have gained access to the Euro-pegged stablecoin from the company that powers the first and most widely used stablecoin in the ecosystem today.
💬 “By having access to the stablecoin that represents ownership of physical gold and the Euro-pegged stablecoin that’s backed by the same company behind the first, most stable and trusted stablecoin, we believe the Bitget Community is poised to continue to grow and thrive,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Tether. “We are thrilled to be launching XAU₮ and EUR₮ on one of the leading crypto derivative exchanges across the globe.”
📑 Glassnode analysts have reported an increase in on-chain activity on the network of the first cryptocurrency in recent weeks, but without the classic transfer of coins. They linked it to the launch of Ordinals, an NFT on the bitcoin blockchain, called “an attack on the network” by supporters of the first cryptocurrency.
Ordinals allow you to write information no larger than 4 MB in a bitcoin block. In anticipation of a new trend, supported by the decentralization of the first cryptocurrency, users began to massively load the blockchain with copies of Ethereum projects like pixelated CryptoPunks and Rocks, audio files, other pictures, etc.
⚙️ Network activity led to mempool loading and commission growth, while the average block size increased from a stable 1.5-2.0 MB to 3.0-3.5 MB.
Ordinals allow you to write information no larger than 4 MB in a bitcoin block. In anticipation of a new trend, supported by the decentralization of the first cryptocurrency, users began to massively load the blockchain with copies of Ethereum projects like pixelated CryptoPunks and Rocks, audio files, other pictures, etc.
⚙️ Network activity led to mempool loading and commission growth, while the average block size increased from a stable 1.5-2.0 MB to 3.0-3.5 MB.
🏦 Ex-Jump Trading Developers Raised $19M to Create the Monad Blockchain
Founded by former Jump Trading developers, Monad Labs has raised $19 million in a funding round led by Dragonfly Capital.
Other investors include venture capital firms Placeholder Capital, Lemniscap, Shima Capital, and business angels Naval Ravikant, Cobie and Hasu. In total, the project was supported by more than 70 market participants.
Monad creates EVM-interoperable first-level blockchain "designed to improve the entire Ethereum ecosystem."
💬 “We are developing a new Ethereum virtual machine from scratch. It will have high performance,” said James Hunsaker, co-founder of the startup.
⚙️ The new blockchain will be based on the Proof-of-Stake algorithm . The project team promises that the system will be capable of processing 10,000 transactions per second.
Founded by former Jump Trading developers, Monad Labs has raised $19 million in a funding round led by Dragonfly Capital.
Other investors include venture capital firms Placeholder Capital, Lemniscap, Shima Capital, and business angels Naval Ravikant, Cobie and Hasu. In total, the project was supported by more than 70 market participants.
Monad creates EVM-interoperable first-level blockchain "designed to improve the entire Ethereum ecosystem."
💬 “We are developing a new Ethereum virtual machine from scratch. It will have high performance,” said James Hunsaker, co-founder of the startup.
⚙️ The new blockchain will be based on the Proof-of-Stake algorithm . The project team promises that the system will be capable of processing 10,000 transactions per second.
📑 The Evolution of Tether's Reserves
Tether’s success has always been contingent on USD₮ being backed by extremely liquid, conservative reserves. During a year when many crypto companies experienced massive headwinds, Tether has continued to improve its reserves in line with market conditions (rates, liquidity, etc).
Over the course of 2022, Tether has successfully reduced its commercial paper exposure to zero without any gaps in liquidity for USD₮ holders and without drawdown to Tether. USD₮ is now backed in excess of 81% by cash and cash equivalents without any exposure to commercial paper. This includes over $39 billion in direct exposure to US Treasuries with the remainder constituted by money market funds, reverse repo agreements, and cash & bank deposits.
These reserves represent conservative and highly liquid collateral that allows Tether to process redemptions quickly and in large sizes.
Tether’s success has always been contingent on USD₮ being backed by extremely liquid, conservative reserves. During a year when many crypto companies experienced massive headwinds, Tether has continued to improve its reserves in line with market conditions (rates, liquidity, etc).
Over the course of 2022, Tether has successfully reduced its commercial paper exposure to zero without any gaps in liquidity for USD₮ holders and without drawdown to Tether. USD₮ is now backed in excess of 81% by cash and cash equivalents without any exposure to commercial paper. This includes over $39 billion in direct exposure to US Treasuries with the remainder constituted by money market funds, reverse repo agreements, and cash & bank deposits.
These reserves represent conservative and highly liquid collateral that allows Tether to process redemptions quickly and in large sizes.
Furthermore, despite selecting collateral based on its conservative and liquid nature, Tether’s reserves and operations have generated over $700 million in net profit which has been added to Tether’s reserves resulting in total excess reserves of $960 million.
Many of Tether’s critics over the years have claimed Tether would never be able to hold a reserve composition such as the one it currently holds. Tether will continue to prove its critics wrong.
Many of Tether’s critics over the years have claimed Tether would never be able to hold a reserve composition such as the one it currently holds. Tether will continue to prove its critics wrong.
Tethers Emerging Markets Focus
Unlike many of Tether's competitors, our focus is not on the United States, but on emerging markets around the world. The US is fortunate to have highly developed financial infrastructure and the world's premier currency, the Dollar.
Emerging markets, on the other hand, often struggle with limited financial infrastructure, unstable currencies, and limited access to the Dollar.
Tether's focus on emerging markets has been a key part of the Tether story and expands operations beyond a single main country.
Tether's focus has resulted in real adoption across the world.
In Brazil, “more than $1.4 billion was moved using $USD₮ across 79,836 operations in August. In October, almost $1.8 billion was transacted using USD₮ in 119,366 operations.” In Africa, the Bitfinex Leos community has been sharing stories from Tether users in Africa. These have featured users from Nigeria and Kenya documenting how Tether allows them to manage their businesses and financial lives despite currency instability and poor financial infrastructure.
In Lebanon, Turkey, Argentina, and Myanmar people have increasingly turned to USD₮ to navigate currency crises and impaired financial infrastructure.
Tether will continue to fight for financial freedom and support projects and organizations which advance global freedom and financial inclusion in the emerging markets.
Unlike many of Tether's competitors, our focus is not on the United States, but on emerging markets around the world. The US is fortunate to have highly developed financial infrastructure and the world's premier currency, the Dollar.
Emerging markets, on the other hand, often struggle with limited financial infrastructure, unstable currencies, and limited access to the Dollar.
Tether's focus on emerging markets has been a key part of the Tether story and expands operations beyond a single main country.
Tether's focus has resulted in real adoption across the world.
In Brazil, “more than $1.4 billion was moved using $USD₮ across 79,836 operations in August. In October, almost $1.8 billion was transacted using USD₮ in 119,366 operations.” In Africa, the Bitfinex Leos community has been sharing stories from Tether users in Africa. These have featured users from Nigeria and Kenya documenting how Tether allows them to manage their businesses and financial lives despite currency instability and poor financial infrastructure.
In Lebanon, Turkey, Argentina, and Myanmar people have increasingly turned to USD₮ to navigate currency crises and impaired financial infrastructure.
Tether will continue to fight for financial freedom and support projects and organizations which advance global freedom and financial inclusion in the emerging markets.
⚙️ In 2023, BNB Chain plans to double the blockchain throughput from 2200 TPS to 5000 TPS. According to the roadmap, the network also provides for an increase in the number of active validators from 29 to 100.
Previously announced solutions based on zk rollups, BNB Greenfield, multi-threaded EVM and higher performance nodes are also expected to launch this year.
Previously announced solutions based on zk rollups, BNB Greenfield, multi-threaded EVM and higher performance nodes are also expected to launch this year.
🔥 Litecoin network launches fork of Ordinals NFT project
An analogue of the Ordinals protocol appeared in the Litecoin blockchain, which allowed users to place various objects in the form of images, text, videos, and other formats.
⚙️ Developer Anthony Guerrero admitted that it took him a week to complete this "extremely simple" task. The motivation was a reward of 22 LTC (~$2065). He posted the code to GitHub.
The specialist updated the Ordinals code to work with input data from the Litecoin network. He took into account parameters that differ between blockchains, such as the supply limit and the difference in block creation time.
The first object he posted due to the protocol transfer was the MimbleWimble white paper . In May, the developers activated this update on the Litecoin network.
💬 Guerrero explained that the launch of a mechanism for creating NFT-like "inscriptions" in Litecoin became possible thanks to the adaptation of Taproot and SegWit updates to the Bitcoin network.
An analogue of the Ordinals protocol appeared in the Litecoin blockchain, which allowed users to place various objects in the form of images, text, videos, and other formats.
⚙️ Developer Anthony Guerrero admitted that it took him a week to complete this "extremely simple" task. The motivation was a reward of 22 LTC (~$2065). He posted the code to GitHub.
The specialist updated the Ordinals code to work with input data from the Litecoin network. He took into account parameters that differ between blockchains, such as the supply limit and the difference in block creation time.
The first object he posted due to the protocol transfer was the MimbleWimble white paper . In May, the developers activated this update on the Litecoin network.
💬 Guerrero explained that the launch of a mechanism for creating NFT-like "inscriptions" in Litecoin became possible thanks to the adaptation of Taproot and SegWit updates to the Bitcoin network.
⚙️ Coinbase Launches Base L2 Testnet Solution
The largest US crypto exchange Coinbase has launched a test network of the second level solution Base, developed on the basis of the OP Stack architecture from Optimism.
💬 “Base is L2 based on Ethereum. It offers a secure, low-cost, and developer-friendly way to build decentralized applications,” the company said.
They emphasized that the new solution does not involve the issuance of a token - ETH is used to pay transaction fees.
Base will interact with the company's main products, including Coinbase Wallet.
The American exchange will also join Optimism as the main developer of the OP Stack. A portion of Base Network transaction fees will go to the Optimism Collective treasury .
📈 The news had a positive impact on the price of OP - over the past 24 hours, the utility token of the Optimism project has grown by 17%, to $2.91 (according to CoinGecko).
🏦 Recall that in the fourth quarter, Coinbase recorded a loss of $557 million .
The largest US crypto exchange Coinbase has launched a test network of the second level solution Base, developed on the basis of the OP Stack architecture from Optimism.
💬 “Base is L2 based on Ethereum. It offers a secure, low-cost, and developer-friendly way to build decentralized applications,” the company said.
They emphasized that the new solution does not involve the issuance of a token - ETH is used to pay transaction fees.
Base will interact with the company's main products, including Coinbase Wallet.
The American exchange will also join Optimism as the main developer of the OP Stack. A portion of Base Network transaction fees will go to the Optimism Collective treasury .
📈 The news had a positive impact on the price of OP - over the past 24 hours, the utility token of the Optimism project has grown by 17%, to $2.91 (according to CoinGecko).
🏦 Recall that in the fourth quarter, Coinbase recorded a loss of $557 million .