Category: Crypto News

Bridging assets could help solve issues like scalability, speed and high fees. Bridging means users can move their tokens between blockchain networks quickly and cost-effectively.

The Polygon Bridge is used for cross-chain transactions between the Polygon (MATIC) and Ethereum (ETH) blockchains. It allows users to transfer ERC tokens and NFTs to the Polygon sidechain through smart contracts.

This guide will show you how to bridge Polygon with other blockchains. However, given that Ethereum is the platform most often used for decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse, we’ll be looking at how to bridge tokens from the Ethereum network to Polygon, an increasingly popular platform due to its efficient interoperability.

How to use the Polygon bridge?

The Polygon bridge is designed to connect different blockchains with fast and cheap transactions so that users can easily transfer tokens back and forth. It also enhances the Ethereum ecosystem through efficient tools that help build scalable decentralized applications (DApps).

The Polygon Bridge allows users to move tokens from Ethereum ERC20 to Polygon Matic, Polygon’s native token, which is the cheapest way to bridge ETH to Polygon.

Related: Polygon blockchain explained: A beginner’s guide to MATIC

Here’s how to bridge assets to Polygon

There are two Polygon bridges: the proof-of-stake (PoS) Bridge, which is the official Matic Bridge, and the Plasma Bridge.

Both bridges can be used to transfer tokens from Ethereum to Polygon and vice versa, but they are different in their approach to security methods.

The PoS Bridge is the most popular and straightforward for transferring ETH and most ERC tokens. It uses the PoS consensus algorithm to secure its network.

Deposits on the PoS Bridge are instantly secured, but withdrawals may take a while to confirm. A PoS Bridge withdrawal usually takes between 45 minutes and 3 hours, while the Plasma Bridge can take as long as seven days.

The Plasma Bridge is more suitable for developers that require higher security. It uses the Ethereum Plasma scaling solution and supports the transfer of MATIC, ETH, ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens.

Related: Proof-of-stake vs. proof-of-work: Differences explained

How to use the Matic Bridge to bridge tokens

To bridge tokens from Ethereum to Polygon, the first requirement is access to a compatible cryptocurrency wallet, such as MetaMask, but other options can also be used, as shown below.

1. Log in to the Polygon Web Wallet by clicking on the Polygon Bridge.

2. Next, you need to connect your Ethereum wallet. In this example, Metamask is used, but other options, as mentioned in the image below, can also be employed.

3. A digital signature is required to connect your MetaMask wallet to your Polygon wallet. Ensure the URL is correct before clicking on sign in to proceed to avoid any scamming attempt.

4. To send your tokens from Ethereum to Polygon, go to the deposit tab and click on the required token you want to bridge. Enter the amount and click transfer. Read the notes on the following page and click continue. You will then be directed to agree to the estimated gas fees and click continue.

5. You can review your transaction details, such as the token amount and the estimated transaction fee, on the following page before completing the operation. Then click continue to sign and approve the transfer.

6. Once confirmed, you can check the transaction status on Etherscan.

You can also use Polygon Bridge Matic to run the inverse transaction to transfer MATIC to Ethereum. Similarly, you’ll need a compatible crypto wallet such as MetaMask.

To transfer tokens from Polygon to Ethereum blockchain via the PoS Bridge, follow the following steps:

You can view the status of the transaction on Etherscan. It might take up to three hours for the transaction to be verified by PoS validators and completed. Once validated, you will need to claim the tokens to the MetaMask wallet. Click continue to allow the withdrawal to complete.

How to use the Plasma bridge on Polygon

The Plasma Bridge can help you transfer MATIC or other Polygon tokens to Ethereum. However, it only supports the transfer of ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens, including ETH and MATIC. It uses the Ethereum Plasma scaling solution for higher security, which is why it’s the preferred tool by developers.

To transfer Matic, for instance, from Polygon to Ethereum, any Ethereum wallet such as Metamask can be used. You need to add the Polygon network to your wallet before you can view your MATIC and start the process. It’s easy to add the Polygon network, just follow the instructions.

For example, on Metamask, make sure that you’re connected to your MetaMask wallet. Then click the Switch to Polygon button on the top.

A pop-up from your MetaMask extension with the Polygon network details will appear, then click approve.

To see Matic on your Metamask wallet, you need to switch your MetaMask from the Ethereum Mainnet to the Polygon network. Just click on the switch network.

To bridge MATIC to Ethereum using MetaMask, you can follow the following steps:

Please note that the process involved in Step 5 is more burdensome than the PoS Bridge as you need to confirm three transactions manually for a Plasma Bridge transfer. The first will initiate your withdrawal from the Polygon wallet, which could take up to three hours.

Ethereum gas fees have been a significant issue in the last couple of years since NFTs and DeFi have become popular due to network congestion. Layer-2 systems (L2s) are a secondary layer or protocol built on top of an existing blockchain system. Their main goal is to solve the transaction speed and scaling difficulties faced by the major cryptocurrency networks.

Polygon to Ethereum bridge fees can be reduced by using tools like QuickSwap.

QuickSwap is Polygon’s primary decentralized exchange (DEX) and functions as the core of the network.

Any ERC-20 token with liquidity can be traded on QuickSwap, and fees are naturally paid in MATIC, offering considerable savings.

Japanese gaming giant Sega is looking at integrating cloud technology and NFTs as part of its new “Super Game” project to connect different games to each other.

The news has caused a predictable backlash from the crypto-skeptic section of the gaming community, with many people voicing their frustrations at the firm online this week.

The Super Game initiative is set to roll out over the next five years and will reportedly see the development of a wide range of new cross-platform triple A grade games. The firm is said to be weighing up an investment of around $800 million into the project.

The suggestion of potential NFT and cloud support was made during an interview on Sega Japan’s recruitment website. Gaming news outlet Video Games Chronicle provided a translation for English speakers earlier this week.

During the interview, Sega producer Masayoshi Kikuchi noted that the gaming industry has a “history of expansion” into new forms of culture and technology such as social media in particular, with streaming and watching others play games via platforms like YouTube and Twitch becoming popular in recent years.

Kikuchi went on to suggest that a move into cloud tech and NFTs would therefore be inevitable, noting that:

“It is a natural extension for the future of gaming that it will expand to involve new areas such as cloud gaming and NFTs. We are also developing SuperGame from the perspective of how far different games can be connected to each other.”

Some Sega fans vented their frustrations on Twitter, with user NotEdgyYet stating “Don’t you dare Sega you’re doing good right now, don’t screw up now.” While matthewhenzel noted “I’ve said this before and I stand by it.. NFT = NO FVCKING THANKS! Not for me.”

The pushback seemed much tamer than other occasions in which big gaming firms announced NFT plans, possibly because these comments were from Sega Japan execs and not from the U.S. branch.

Related: Japanese business giant Nomura to explore crypto and NFTs with new unit

Over on Reddit, members of the r/gaming community were also questioning the potential NFTs integrations, with “Radingod123” suggesting that gaming firm’s like the idea of NFTs due to the supposed pyramid scheme elements.

However other users such as “Bouldurr” offered a different take on the subject, arguing that the idea to have cross game portable digital assets that can be owned and sold is a “cool one” that could work in the right circumstances:

“NFTs are a technology. They aren’t inherently good or bad. The trepidation comes from the greedy micro transactions already in games. It’s understandable people don’t like the idea of ‘NFT’ games.”

“But the idea has promise in certain situations. I’d love to be able to sell my hearthstone collection even if it was pennies on the dollar,” they added.

In news that might frustrate anti-crypto gamers even further, iconic actor Jim Carey, who plays the role of Dr.Robotnik in the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, based on the Sega games, also unveiled plans to enter the NFT space.

Apart from acting, Carey is also a respected artist and during an interview earlier with Access to promote Sonic the Hedgehog 2 earlier this month, the 60-year-old stated that he will soon be launching an NFT collection dubbed “Magic Hour” featuring digital art and spoken word pieces.

Crypto venture capital firms have been investing at unprecedented rates recently and Andreessen Horowitz is one of the industry’s leaders making huge returns on their investments.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) general partner Chris Dixon has topped the Forbes “Midas List” of the world’s best venture capital investors in 2022.

Seldom does a crypto or Web3 funding round finalize without a16z being involved somehow. According to an April 12 report by the publication, Dixon turned the $350 million Crypto Fund I into realized and unrealized gains of $6 billion in 2021. That equates to an eye-watering 17.7x gain according to “sources with knowledge of the fund’s financials.”

By comparison, the overall cryptocurrency market itself only managed a 200% gain from $780 billion on January 1, 2021, to $2.3 trillion by the end of December of the same year.

a16z got into crypto early, leading a $25 million funding round into Coinbase in 2013. By the time Coinbase went public in April 2021, the firm held a 15% stake following 14 more funding rounds. The shares were worth $10 billion on the first day of trading resulting in a 60x return for the company. However, this was several years before Dixon’s crypto fund was launched in June 2018 with $300 million raised in total at the time according to Crunchbase.

There have been other notable investments by a16z including decentralized exchange Uniswap, the Avalanche blockchain, NFT creator Dapper Labs, and Ethereum staking platform Lido, all of which have surged in valuation or collateral since.

Dixon, who rarely appears for interviews, told Forbes:

“My job is not to predict the future. My job is to be smart enough to know who the smart people are who will.”

The company is currently raising funds for the world’s largest crypto fund worth a whopping $4.5 billion. In January, the firm said it planned to raise $3.5 billion for the fund, in addition to another $1 billion for Web3 seed investments.

Journalist Alex Konrad said that a16z “plans to roll back its crypto fund into the firm — making crypto core to its main funds, akin to cloud or the internet.”

Related: Venture capital year in review 2021: Cointelegraph Research Terminal

Concerns have been raised by some crypto industry observers that too much venture capital involvement and investment in a project may erode its decentralization. a16z’s holdings of the UNI tokens and sway in governance votes for  has been a particular issue. But either way, the crypto industry’s most prominent VC firm is still hunting for new investment opportunities in the sector.

Celsius has been positioned as one of the leading yield-generating CeFi platforms on the market, battling neck-and-neck with other dedicated CeFi platforms such as BlockFi and Nexo. Their positioning is seemingly weakened this week, certainly with retail investors, as the platform sent out an announcement to all users and released a public announcement that new funds supplied – even from existing accounts – into Celsius’ platform would no longer be eligible to earn yield unless they are accredited investors.

Let’s look at what we know from today’s release, and the events that have led up to today’s announcement.

Celsius & Regulatory Challenges In The States

Celsius released an announcement on their company Twitter channel, and founder and CEO Alex Mashinsky offered up a similar thread of information on Twitter. However, neither channel offers much transparency behind the reasoning around the move, which has largely been credited by speculators to be the result of increased SEC scrutiny.

In the company’s official blog post on the matter, there was also little clarity on the why behind these changes. What we do know is that these changes were unlikely to be made at the behest of Celsius on their own, as the end result is more barriers to entry for retail consumers. It’s unclear the specific needs to be an accreditted investor on the Celsius platform. The company utilizes VerifyInvestor.com, which typically charges $70 per individual for a verification application. While Celsius is apparently eating the cost of verification, will small crypto users be verified? Large questions loom, and it’s likely that many will elect not to even attempt verification. The platform will roll-out it’s ‘Custody’ feature as it’s replacement for swapping, borrowing, and transferring tokens. However, the ‘Earn’ feature was undoubtedly a major drive for Celsius’ existing business.

Celsius offers a native platform token to earn boosted rewards, but to date has been unable to offer the token to U.S. users. These restrictions are seemingly progressing this week for United States-based customers. | Source: CEL-USD on TradingView.com

Related Reading | Bitcoin Data: Number Of Active Entities Remain In Bear Market Channel

A Buildup Of SEC Criticism? 

Last year, we covered numerous stories of regulatory pressure applied to Celsius, BlockFi and the like. The pressure has largely come on a state-by-state basis, and certainly hasn’t been limited to Celsius. However, it seems that state pressures are still a major factor, as Celsius has specified in today’s report that there would still be limitations on availability surrounding it’s new ‘Custody’ product. Impacts of today’s report are limited solely to U.S.-based users.

Where we go from here remains to be seen.

Related Reading | How Shiba Inu Soared 20% On Robinhood Listing, Watch Out For Volatility

Featured image from Pexels, Charts from TradingView.com
The writer of this content is not associated or affiliated with any of the parties mentioned in this article. This is not financial advice.

Crypto trading company Currency.com has announced it halted operations for clients based in Russia following the country’s “violence and disorder” imposed on the people of Ukraine.

In a Tuesday announcement, Currency.com said Russian residents would no longer be able to access its services following the platform’s decision to stop Russia-based clients from opening new accounts. According to Currency.com’s website, the Gibraltar-based crypto trading platform has offices in Kyiv, London, and Vilnius, but was previously licensed and headquartered in Belarus.

“We condemn the Russian aggression in the strongest possible terms,” said Vitalii Kedyk, head of strategy for the platform’s London operations and CEO of Currency.com’s Ukraine arm. “In these circumstances we can no longer continue to serve our clients from Russia.”

Major crypto exchanges have responded to calls on social media to either freeze Russian digital assets or otherwise restrict access for residents amid the country’s military invading Ukraine. A Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph in February that the exchange would not “unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts,” while Kraken CEO Jesse Powell hinted that the only way it would cut off Russian users’ access to crypto would be in response to sanctions.

Related: How crypto became a major source of relief for embattled Ukraine

However, many private businesses including credit card companies Visa and Mastercard have announced following Feb. 24 that they will be scaling down or entirely stopping operations in Russia in response to the war. Ukraine’s government, in contrast, has utilized crypto platforms to solicit donations from around the world, raising more than $60 million as of the time of publication.

Bored Apes take on the restaurant and movie business

Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC, NFT holders own the intellectual property rights to their specific ape and can use the likeness of their ape(s) for commercial purposes. One such BAYC member, Andy Nguyen, decided to open a Bored Ape themed restaurant aptly named Bored & Hungry in Long Beach, California. 

Nguyen is a food entrepreneur who has co-founded various other culinary concepts in the Orange County area. He is the owner of Bored Ape #6184, which he purchased for $267,000, and also own two Mutant Apes. The opening took place this past weekend and Bored & Hungry is the first restaurant to accept both Ether (ETH) and ApeCoin (APE) as a form of payment. 

Nguyen revealed to HypeBeast that his purpose is to “show people that you can create a brand/business out of this IP. Taking away the stigma of, ‘It’s just a jpeg.’”

In other BAYC news, Yuga Labs has partnered with Coinbase to produce a film trilogy featuring the BAYC community. The first movie in the trilogy, with the length of a short, will premiere at the NFT.NYC conference in June.

The official website denominated the upcoming franchise as “The Degen Trilogy” but doesn’t offer details as to what it will be about, merely saying “something is coming” and “probably nothing.” Reminiscent of the Yuga Labs’ announcement for BAYC’s forthcoming metaverse called Otherside, prospective fans can only connect their Coinbase accounts for now.

Meanwhile, Yuga Labs invited Bored Ape owners to audition for roles in the trilogy by submitting their Apes and an accompanying backstory. If an owner’s Ape is chosen, they are subject to receive a $10,000 licensing fee, paid out either in Bitcoin (BTC) or APE.  

Related: NFT creator Yuga Labs raises $450M, bringing company valuation to $4B

iHeartMedia to bring to life NFT characters in a podcast

iHeartMedia, one of the largest radio outlets in the U.S., scooped up its own Mutant Ape and multiple NFTs from other prominent collections in order to herald the company’s entrance into Web3. While Axios first reported the news last week, iHeartMedia officially announced on Tuesday the creation of an NFT-based podcast network called the Non-Fun Squad, short for nonfungible. Using the IP of their owned profile picture (PFP) NFT collections, the podcast will center around and use the voices of the characters in the Non-Fun Squad.

iHeart-owned NFTs include CryptoPunk #2821, Mutant Ape #10144, World of Women #7147 and #7730, as well as those from emerging NFT projects, including CrypToadz #5947, Loot for Adventurers #2020, and Quirkies #307 and #1988. This may be the first time that individual NFT characters will be given their own personalities and the opportunity to interact with each other within the media and audio spaces.

iHeartMedia partnered with the crypto platform Anchorage Digital, who tweeted about the announcement. 

China’s Sichuan province launches NFT marketplace

Despite the Chinese government’s wariness regarding cryptocurrency and NFTs, the cultural and tourism authority of the Sichuan province in southern China announced they are developing an NFT trading platform. The purpose they said is to “encourage the music industry to actively adopt modern technology.” China uses the terms digital collectibles and NFTs interchangeably in the statement. 

Reportedly there already existed a local music NFT platform that the government is now backing, while the local blockchain company will continue to develop the project. Sichuan is allegedly a hot spot for the production of modern Chinese music.

Another NFT project backed by China’s Shandong province’s state-run television station revealed its own plans to develop its own blockchain and issue NFTs on its marketplace. Meanwhile, China’s popular WeChat messaging app continues to suspend some accounts linked to NFTs and supposed speculative activity. 

Other Nifty News

The CryptoVoxels metaverse will be the home of the Spells of Genesis trading card exhibit part of a virtual NFT history museum. The SoG game celebrates five years of gameplay and hopes to honor its own rare SoG cards as well as assets from various other popular NFT collections.

A Nansen report found that the rapid growth of the NFT market, which is larger than that of the cryptocurrency market year-to-date, may be due to Blue Chip and Metaverse NFTs sales. The report cites collections like Azuki, Clone X and Doodles that have surged in popularity, and even predicts that the NFT market will reach an $80 million market cap by 2025.

Cryptocurrency mixers have been an interesting topic of discussion ever since the advent of cryptocurrencies and their adoption by retail investors around the world. 

Cryptocurrency mixers are services that essentially focus on one feature of a blockchain network: privacy. 

Cryptocurrency mixers, also known as tumblers, provide anonymity so no one can trace the sender or receiver of a transaction. This can help protect the identity of individuals who want to be completely anonymous and non-traceable. How cryptocurrency mixers work is that they break down the funds sent using the mixer and scramble them with other transactions. They break the link which associates the holder’s identity to the crypto they own.

A process used to anonymize cryptocurrency transactions is known as CoinJoin, created initially back in 2013 by Bitcoin (BTC) developer Gregory Maxwell. In the thread on the Bitcointalk forum, Maxwell elaborated on how these transactions are structured and how the privacy of the transitions can be significantly enhanced without making huge changes to the network. Essentially, this concept involves a mixing block box from where users get their transactions and comprises hundreds of transactions from various wallets. CoinJoin is one of the most popular cryptocurrency mixers on the market.

There are primarily two kinds of mixers, centralized and decentralized mixers. Centralized mixers receive cryptocurrency from users into the mixer and send back different cryptocurrencies by charging a fee. The transaction addresses of the several users who deposit their cryptocurrency into the mixers are managed by a program. Cryptocurrencies returned to users are not the same as those initially deposited, and they may be returned to the user’s account through more than one transaction. 

In contrast, decentralized mixers utilize other crypto protocols to obscure transactions using either a coordinated network or peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Cointelegraph discussed the pros and cons of centralized and decentralized mixers with Marie Tatibouet, chief marketing officer of crypto exchange Gate.io. She said:

“Centralized services are obviously more accessible and more approachable. However, they will have access to your Bitcoin and IP addresses. Hence, they are not the most private service in the world. Decentralized mixers can be a little less approachable, but they are a lot more private.”

Related: What is a cryptocurrency mixer, and how does it work?

However, cryptocurrency mixers and tumblers have a bad reputation since they may be used for money laundering or masking huge amounts of earnings. Although not illegal by law, the service providers stand a chance to get embroiled in a crypto money-laundering investigation. There have been several instances where cryptocurrency mixers and their users have come under the scanner by various jurisdictions and governments. 

Mixers could be in a gray area 

Most recently, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency wants to regulate cryptocurrency mixers under the country’s relevant Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.

The agency’s head of the financial investigation, Gary Cathcart, said that transaction mixing tools offer a layer of anonymity to criminals, allowing them to maintain the flow of criminal cash by obscuring its origin. 

According to Cathcart, subjecting mixers to AML laws would ensure that mixing services conduct thorough AML checks and audit all the transactions that are passing through the mixer. While on the surface, this might seem like an idea that works, there is a high possibility that such checks would discourage any users attempting to use the mixer.

A closer look at the numbers reveals that the concerns of the crime agencies are not without reason. A recent report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis called “2022 Crypto Crime Report” found that the total cryptocurrency value received from illicit addresses hit an all-time high of $14 billion in 2021, nearly doubling from $7.8 billion in the previous year. 

At the same time, it is also worth noting that the total market capitalization of the entire market has grown significantly along with the adoption of digital assets by retail investors. Chainalaysis’s crime report also highlights the Illicit percentage share of all cryptocurrency currency, which was at a four-year low of 0.15% in 2021. 

This indicates that as the digital asset market develops further, the checks and balances being placed on transaction routes by market participants have been acting as a deterrent for criminals and money laundering activities alike. In fact, most of the transactions flagged as received from illicit addresses are from hackers that stole funds from various DeFi protocols like Wormhole and Poly Network in 2021.

Anton Gulin, regional director at crypto exchange AAX, told Cointelegraph that the whole essence of mixers is not illegal by default. “However, some countries are steadily imposing the Financial Action Task Force’s Travel Rules, providing that exchanges and other virtual asset market players must collect, verify and transmit originator and beneficiary customer information for any cryptocurrency transaction.”

The imposition of this rule prevents regulated entities like centralized exchanges from receiving funds from mixers, which, in turn, puts the entire activity into a gray area. Adrian Jonklass, head of research at blockchain API provider Covalent, told Cointelegraph:

“They operate in a gray area because at a global level the regulations around fundamentals of what comprises virtual assets, whether they fall under money transfer regulations, and or commodity regulations and or securities regulations and or some new category is still being developed.”

The FATF’s rule on the digital assets industry has the potential to curb activity even further. A survey of crypto businesses conducted by Notabene, a crypto compliance firm, found that 70% of the respondents are either already following the Travel Rule or are planning to align their compliance to it in early 2022.

Relevance of crypto mixers in 2022

While cryptocurrency mixers are originally designed to further anonymity and privacy, the evolution of blockchain technology and innovations like whitelisting and decentralized identifier protocols could make them less relevant.

Guilin said that there is no apparent benefit to using a crypto mixer in 2022, stating that “by now, it’s widely associated with something illegal and is indeed related in the majority of cases. Therefore, most of the mixer addresses have been clustered by Know Your Customer providers and are easily traceable.” 

This means that users cannot use their funds after mixing them without being traced by the market participants, as transactions withdrawn from a mixer are marked and go against the logic of using a mixer in the first place. 

Cryptocurrency mixers definitely still have the potential to appeal to the original crypto romantics that consider the privacy and anonymity of their cryptocurrency transactions a high priority. 

However, their relevance today could be waning due to the retail adoption models and other checks and balances that the market participants in the ecosystem are now utilizing. The industry and blockchain technology at large have evolved exponentially since Maxwell spoke of the concept of CoinJoin; It could be important for service providers to realize this as well.

Pledge, a fundraising platform, has created “PledgeCrypto,2/51” which allows non-profits to accept crypto donations in more than 130 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether, and then turn them into fiat money.

Fundraising platform Pledge has launched PledgeCrypto to allow nonprofits to accept crypto donations in more than 130 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT), and then turn them into fiat money.

Famous music artist and prominent advocate for transgender rights Ariana Grande, who is also the founder of her own charity, Protect and Defend Trans Youth Fund, has offered to match up to $1.5 million in donations. Grande is raising money for LGBTQ organizations that advocate for and provide direct services to transgender youth.

The announcement says PledgeCrypto is a free, fully-integrated fiat and cryptocurrency donation platform where donations are delivered to verified non-profit organizations. It does not require technical knowledge, crypto wallet expertise or KYC documentation.

Pledge CEO James Citron say about 300 million people worldwide presently own cryptocurrency and intend to fund causes they care about. Apart from Ariana Grande’s campaign, additional charity partners for Pledge Crypto include The Boys and Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles, Big Brothers and Big Sisters LA, Streetcode Academy, Worthy of Love, Safe Place for Youth, CoachArt, Goodie Nation and Taraji P Henson’s Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation.

Pledge has also introduced a mechanism that allows each crypto transaction to contribute to verified carbon offset initiatives via the United Nations Climate Neutral Now Initiative to offset the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining and transactions.

The year 2021 will be remembered as the year of new all-time highs for digital assets; however, it was also the most successful year yet for crypto philanthropy. As reported by Cointelegraph in early Feb., In 2021, crypto contributions totaled $69.6 million as opposed to $4.2 million in 2020. In the same period, crypto donation volume rose by 1,558% or roughly 16 times.

Related: Tracked crypto donations to Ukraine surge to $108M as Kraken, Bored Ape joins in

In March, Ukraine’s government officials teamed up with cryptocurrency exchanges FTX and Kuna and staking provider Everstake to create a donation platform for individuals wanting to donate Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies to aid in the war against Russia.

Fresh data on Indian crypto exchanges’ trading volume reveals a significant decline in trading practices among Indians just ten days after the tax rule implementation. India’s new 30% crypto tax rule came into effect on April 1, despite many stakeholders and exchange operators warning against its ill effects. 

A research data report shared by Indian blockchain analytic firm Crebaco with Cointelegraph shows that trading volume on top Indian crypto exchanges has declined as high as 70% in the past 10 days.

The trading volume on WazirX, the leading crypto exchange in India, declined from $47.8 million on April 1 to $13.2 million on Sunday. CoinDCX’s trading volume dropped from $12.16 million to $5.76 million, followed by Bitbns with an overall decline of 41.29% in the past ten days.

Apart from harsh crypto tax laws directly inspired by India’s gambling laws, many payment processing partners that offer Unified Payments Interface (UPI) accessibility have also severed ties with crypto exchanges.

Related: Coinbase to invest in Indian crypto and Web3 amid tax regulation clarity

Coinbase recently had to suspend the crypto payment option just a day after inaugurating its crypto trading services for Indians. Meanwhile, payment processors such as MobiKwik had cut ties with the likes of WazirX and other crypto exchanges after a recent warning from the government.

Interestingly enough, even though crypto taxes have been based on the gambling laws, the fantasy sports and gambling applications in the country have full access to all forms of payment integration including UPI.

Many stakeholders in the crypto community have warned that these impractical tax measures and added restrictions on crypto trading would do more harm to the thriving crypto economy in the country, and the early effects are visible.

Tech venture capital firm White Star Capital has secured $120 million in funding for its second Digital Asset Fund (DAF II) to invest in crypto networks and early-stage blockchain and Web3 businesses.

The fund is primarily backed by game publishing giant Ubisoft and will take a particular focus on decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming. It will invest as much as $7 million in each of 20-25 companies in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The firm’s increased attention to DeFi, Web3, and blockchain-based technology suggests that it will begin to support companies that utilize or develop Metaverse solutions as well. This would bring it into the space in which Animoca Brands has carved out a neat corner for itself.

White Star’s previous investments from its first DAF in 2020 include Stacks-based DeFi protocol ALEX, and decentralized exchange (DEX) Paraswap, among others.

It also helped back the Bitcoin Odyssey on March 10, an initiative for investment firms to invest $165 million in solutions designed to drive Bitcoin adoption.

Metaverse and NFT gaming investments are on the rise early this week as traders look for distractions from negative price action in the crypto markets. Bitcoin (BTC) is down 5.62% over the past 24 hours trading at just below $40,000.

On April 11, Fortnite creator Epic Games announced it had raised $2 billion from Sony Group Corporation and LEGO Group holding company KIRKBI. Investors were intrigued by Epic’s new commitment to developing virtual games for the Metaverse.

Related: Near Protocol eyes a Terra-like price rally after new $350M funding raise

Animoca recently announced it had acquired racing game publisher Eden Games for $15.3 million in order to bolster its REVV Motorsport NFT game ecosystem and build out more Metaverse games.