Highlights
Bitcoin Completes Fourth Halving, Promising Changes in Mining Rewards and Market Dynamics
Binance Shifts User Emergency Fund to Stablecoin USDC in Strategic Overhaul
Polkadot 2.0 Launches, Revolutionizing Blockchain Scalability and Interoperability
Bitcoin has just completed its fourth halving event at the 840,000th block, marking a significant milestone where mining rewards were halved from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This periodic reduction, set every 210,000 blocks or roughly every four years, is a core mechanism of the Bitcoin protocol designed to control inflation and enhance scarcity. The event, eagerly anticipated by the crypto community, has sparked speculation about potential surges in Bitcoin’s price, with projections reaching up to $250,000. Meanwhile, major Bitcoin miners have been ramping up their operations in anticipation, underscoring the event’s critical impact on the mining landscape and Bitcoin’s long-term value trajectory.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has recently transitioned all funds in its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) to USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar and issued by Circle Internet Financial. Established in 2018, SAFU acts as a financial safety net for users in dire circumstances. This shift is part of a broader strategic realignment under the new CEO, Richard Teng, who succeeded Changpeng Zhao following a significant legal settlement with US authorities. The SAFU, typically maintained at around $1 billion, aims to ensure stability and reliability through the adoption of a trusted and transparent stablecoin, with its value verifiable in real-time on the blockchain. This move reflects a commitment to securing customer assets and enhancing trust in the platform’s financial practices.
Polkadot 2.0 is poised to reshape the blockchain landscape by addressing critical challenges in scalability and interoperability through its innovative multichain protocol. As an open-source platform, Polkadot enables seamless cross-chain transfers of data and assets, promoting greater connectivity between diverse blockchains. The latest upgrade introduces features like dynamic core models and a coretime marketplace, enhancing the network’s flexibility and transaction capacity. These improvements aim to significantly boost Polkadot’s throughput, achieving speeds of up to 1 million transactions per second. With its revised governance model and collaborative approach to regulatory compliance, Polkadot 2.0 not only aims to enhance network efficiency and security but also sets a new standard for the development of decentralized applications and the broader Web3 ecosystem.
News
Bitcoin halving 2024 — Done and dusted!
Binance Converts Its Billion-Dollar ‘SAFU’ Emergency Fund into USDC
Blockchain data-availability protocol Avail announces 600M token airdrop
Google opens a new office in El Salvador: the boost for digital transformation
Products
How Polkadot 2.0 refines blockchain scalability and interoperability
Pi Network reaches 10M KYC’d users, but token is still not tradeable
Worldcoin launches its own ‘human-centric’ blockchain network
Tether announces restructuring to go beyond stablecoins
Regulation
Binance to return to India after paying $2M fine for non-compliance: Report
BWA Lays Down Self-Regulatory Guidelines on Token Listings for Indian Crypto Exchanges
South Africa to Start Work on Stablecoin Regime, Will Start by Considering Use Cases
Gary Gensler’s resignation ‘troll’ post disappoints Crypto X
Funding
Andreessen Horowitz raises $7.2B for new venture funds
Web3 Startups Raise Nearly $1.9B in Q1 2024 Despite Overall Downtrend in Crypto VC Interest
Avalon raises $10M to launch hybrid Web3 MMO
Web3 iGaming Software Provider DeGaming Secures €3.5M in Equity Funding From XVC Tech
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