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The celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson launched the People’s Fund of Maui initiative, which accepts crypto donations. During August, the Hawaiian island of Maui was impacted by wildfires that caused massive property and personal damage. We're honored to announce the People’s Fund of Maui, a fund putting money directly in the pockets of those who were affected by the recent wildfires. As @Oprah and I have seen firsthand, the impacts of these wildfires have been devastating, and we’re here to ensure with 100%… pic.twitter.com/iH6cPwbQ3k — Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 31, 2023 The fundraising initiative will provide financial help to the Maui community by accepting donations in crypto. In his Twitter account, Johnson claims: “Every adult resident who lives in the affected area and was displaced by the wildfires in Lahaina and Kula is eligible to receive $1200 per month to help them through this period of recovery.” Dwayne “The Rock”...

Mastercard’s chief digital officer, Jorn Lambert, has stated that the payment giant’s newly launched Multi-Token Network (MTN) has all it takes to unlock the intrinsic value of blockchain technology and accelerate mainstream adoption . Mastercard continues development While the market capitalization of the global crypto space still stands above the $1 trillion mark despite the turbulence it has experienced over the past 12 months, Mastercard, a leading payments processor, says the actual value of blockchain technology is yet to be unlocked. In a July 3 interview with PYMNTS, Jorn Lambert, Mastercard’s chief digital officer, argued that the revolutionary technology’s benefits may not go entirely mainstream “until there exists the ability actually to develop financially-regulated applications” powered by blockchain.  You might also like: Ripple leveraged by Montenegro central bank for CBDC project While many financial institutions have tapped blockchain technology fo...

Gün Sirer says the U.S. “won the first wave of the internet revolution” because it enabled responsible innovation. Now, it must do the same with blockchain. Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer will be calling on United States officials to “nurture” and “support” responsible blockchain innovation, warning that they face “ disastrous consequences ” if they don't. Gün Sirer’s comments in defense of what he describes as a “revolutionary technology” is part of a testimony that he is scheduled to give to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on June 13 — the audience will include Chair Patrick McHenry, Ranking Member Maxine Waters and other members in the House Committee. Gün Sirer’s testimony aims to explain how blockchain can “transform society” by making digital services “more efficient, reliable and accessible to all.” My written testimony for the House Financial Services Committee hearing on blockchains and the future of digital assets is now public. You can read it to preview wh...

Cointelegraph Accelerator, Animoca Brands, Cipholio and Brinc will host a Demo Day to introduce seven promising Web3 projects to investors. As numerous Web3 events have reiterated since early 2022, bear markets are ideal times for building. Triggered by the Terra ecosystem crash in May 2022 and aptly named as “crypto winter” following the FTX collapse in November, the current bear market saw the crypto market cap shrinking from $3 trillion to below $1 trillion. While the year-long bear market tore off a good chunk of the market cap, it also presented an opportunity for new ideas to flourish as the industry’s focus shifted from price volatility to innovation . Unfazed by the market conditions, the Web3 ecosystem has continued to build around fresh concepts to prevent the same crashes from happening again and also to find new ways for users to interact with decentralized digital realities. Monthly active developer count since Bitcoin was launched compared to when Ethereum and its smart ...

At the Bitcoin Builders Conference, Daniel Fogg from IOV Labs and Rootstock spoke with Cointelegraph about how emerging markets are shaping the future of the crypto space. Mass crypto adoption is already taking place around the world, but not in the United States or Europe, nor does it have Bitcoin as a flagship asset for mainstream acceptance. According to Daniel Fogg of smart contract platform Rootstock, the increase in adoption is instead ongoing in emerging markets, where cryptocurrencies are offering solutions to people’s everyday problems.  In an interview with Cointelegraph’s Joe Hall at the Bitcoin Builders Conference in Miami, Fogg spoke about Bitcoin pragmatism, adoption worldwide and how emerging economies are shaping the future of the crypto space. Joe Hall and Daniel Fogg at the Bitcoin Builders Conference 2023. Source: Cointelegraph According to Fogg, emerging markets are leading the way in crypto adoption for one major reason — countries that have significant macr...

Only 11,440 NFT traders were active on March 11 which was the lowest figure recorded since November 2021. Nonfungible token (NFT) trading volumes took a massive beating following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) last week as traders fled the markets fearing the repercussions of a major United States bank going under. According to a March 16 report from data aggregation platform DappRadar, NFT trading volumes were hovering between $68 million to $74 million in the lead-up to SVB’s collapse on March 10, then fell to $36 million on March 12. The dip was accompanied by a 27.9% drop in daily NFT sales count between March 9 to March 11. NFT trading volume and sales count on all networks between March 1-13. Source: DappRadar 11,440 NFT traders were “active” on March 11 also, the lowest figure recorded since November 2021 according to DappRadar. The report explained the depeg of USD Coin (USDC) which hit as low as $0.88 moved trader attention away from the NFT market: As a result “NF...

Jaime Leverton has led digital asset mining player Hut 8 over the past two years, wading through the waters of the bull market of 2021 and the bear market of 2022. In January 2023, during the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, Jaime Leverton, CEO of Hut 8, a crypto mining entity that trades as a public company, sat down with me for a fireside chat at the Crypto Summit on the Promenade. Leverton outlined some of her views on the recent shakeout in the cryptocurrency market and reflected on how Bitcoin (BTC) mining fares during the current turbulent period for the industry. Throughout 2021 and 2022, the crypto industry experienced significant growth, followed by bear market struggles, bankruptcies and job cuts. Leverton took on the position of leading Hut 8 Mining as CEO a little over two years ago and experienced those ups and downs from the front line. Jaime Leverton CEO of Hut 8 (left) and Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr (right) during Crypto Summit 2023 i...

One of the biggest factors harming Ethereum's credible neutrality is the use of censoring MEV relays by crypto ecosystems and exchanges. For most crypto ecosystems, being compliant with federal Sanctions have a negative impact on its global reach. However, when it comes to Ethereum, investors have significant power to decide the degree of compliance the ecosystem obeys. Nearly 60% of all post-Merge Ethereum blocks comply with the United States Sanctions put forth by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). While the crypto community stands against this transformation, many fail to realize their own contribution to helping Ethereum attain total OFAC compliance. One of the biggest factors harming Ethereum's credible neutrality is the use of censoring MEV relays by crypto ecosystems and exchanges . Miner extractable value (MEV) relays work as a mediator between block producers and block builders, which are being used by prominent crypto players, such as Binance, Celsius Netwo...