Senate Democrats and one independent lawmaker have sent a letter to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman regarding the company’s safety standards and employment practices toward whistleblowers.

Perhaps the most significant portion of the letter, first obtained by The Washington Post, was item 9, which read: “Will OpenAI commit to making its next foundation model available to U.S. Government agencies for pre-deployment testing, review, analysis, and assessment?”

The letter outlined 11 additional points to be addressed, including securing OpenAI’s commitment to dedicating 20% of its computing power to fuel safety research and protocols to prevent a malicious actor or foreign adversary from stealing AI products from OpenAI.

First page of the letter from Senate Democrats. Source: The Washington Post

Regulatory scrutiny

Although regulatory scrutiny is nothing new for OpenAI and the encompassing artificial intelligence sector, the letter from Democrat lawmakers was prompted by whistleblower reports of lax safety standards for GPT-4 Omni to ensure the market release of the product was not delayed.

Related: Synchron, ChatGPT to help paralyzed patients chat and text again

OpenAI whistleblowers also claimed that efforts to bring safety concerns to management were met with retaliation and allegedly illegal non-disclosure agreements, driving the whistleblowers to file a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2024.

Shortly after, in July, tech giants Microsoft and Apple renounced their memberships for OpenAI's board due to increased regulatory scrutiny, the decision not to take up a board seat came despite Microsoft's $13 billion investment in OpenAI in 2023.

Existential fears persist

Former OpenAI employee William Saunders recently revealed that he quit the company because he felt the ongoing research at OpenAI might pose an existential threat to humanity, likening the potential trajectory of OpenAI to the infamous crash of the RMS Titanic in 1912.

Saunders clarified that he was not concerned about the current iteration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT large language model but was more concerned with future versions of ChatGPT and the potential development of advanced superhuman intelligence.

The whistleblower argued that employees working within the artificial intelligence sector have a right to warn the public about potentially dangerous capabilities exhibited by the rapid development of synthetic intelligence.

Magazine: AI Eye: Is AI a nuke-level threat? Why AI fields all advance at once, dumb pic puns

Analysts believe Ether (ETH) price could rally to all-time highs over the next couple of months following the launch of the first-ever spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. Traders believe these funds are “heavily undervalued.”

The spot ETH ETFs started trading on July 23, a day after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave the final approval to issuers, including BlackRock, Fidelity, 21Shares, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, VanEck and Invesco Galaxy.

Within just 15 minutes of trading, the ETFs recorded an impressive volume of $120 million.

ETH/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

“The $ETH ETF has insane numbers. First 15 minutes already 50% of Bitcoin's first day in terms of volume: $112 million,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm MNTrading, wrote in his own X response.

“The Ethereum ETF launch is heavily undervalued, and I expect it to trade towards an ATH in the coming 1-2 months.”

Meanwhile, fellow trader Daan Crypto Trades described the initial flows as “decent,’ predicting heightened crypto market volatility.

“Going to be a volatile day ahead with lots of movement, I'm assuming!”

In an earlier post, Daan Crypto Trades shared the following chart showing the key levels ETH price needed to clear in its recovery path.

According to their analysis, Ether bulls needed to overcome resistance from a stubborn supply zone stretching from $2,672 to $3,730 to secure the uptrend. This was also dependent on holding firmly above $3,350.

“ETH needs to hold $3,350, and it would look strong. Expecting a lot of movement these days surrounding the ETF launch.”

ETH/USD four-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades

“ETH’s price hits $3,450 as investors buckle up for a wild ride,” declared crypto investor Alessa Mutto in a July 23 post on X, adding, “I am very bullish about crypto and ETFs and believe they will go parabolic in the next few years.”

However, Mutto admitted that, with time, spot Ethereum inflows will tell where Ether’s price will go moving forward.

Related: Bitcoin gains $1.2K in 1 hour as BTC price rebounds on Ether ETF launch

Spot ETH ETFs see $360 million in trading volume in the first 90 minutes of trading

Spot Ethereum ETFs have accumulated $361 million in combined trading volume one and a half hours into trading, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

Source: Eric Balchunas

In an earlier post, Balchunas provided insight into the volumes by comparing them to when spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading in the United States on Jan. 11.

“Here’s volume after the first 15 minutes of trading. Total of $112m traded for the group (which is only about half of what Bitcoin ETFs’ volume pace was on DAY ONE, although 50% would exceed expectations IMO).”

US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs have been heralded by market participants as the most successful ETF launch ever. The funds have seen $300 billion of cumulative trading volume in the first six months, bringing the total assets under management to $62.12 billion as of July 22.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Decentralized exchange dYdX is reportedly discussing the sale of some of its derivatives trading software. 

A July 23 Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources said dYdX Trading Inc, the developer of the dYdX exchange, has been negotiating the deal with crypto market makers

Among the potential buyers of dYdX’s v3 protocol are Wintermute Trading and Selini Capital. Wintermute Trading is a United Kingdom-based algorithmic trading firm specializing in digital assets, while Selini Capital manages alternative investments, particularly digital assets.

A few minutes after the potential sale was reported, the dYdX v3 version was compromised. In a warning posted on social media platform X, users were advised not to visit the dYdX website or click any links until further notice.

Source: dYdX

dYdX v3 primarily focuses on perpetual contracts — a type of futures contract with no expiry date that allows traders to speculate on the price of cryptocurrencies with leverage. According to data from DefiLlama, its v3 version has a cumulative trading volume of $1.22 trillion since January.

Cointelegraph reached out to dYdX but did not receive an immediate response.

dYdX’s next chapter

The possible deal follows recent changes in the exchange’s leadership. On May 13, dYdX’s founder, Antonio Juliano, stepped down from his CEO position without giving any indication of his future plans.

Prior to founding dYdX, Juliano was a software engineer at companies such as Coinbase, Uber and MongoDB. The company is now led by Ivo Crnkovic-Rubsamen, dYdX’s former chief strategy officer. Investors on dYdX include venture firms Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm.

After a community vote, the protocol launched its v5 version in June, introducing isolated margin, isolated markets, and support for Raydium Markets. The changes allowed traders to assign collateral to specific trades, reducing the risk of cross-trade collateral impact and providing dedicated insurance for each collateral pool.

Magazine: 1 in 6 new Base memecoins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities

The website for crypto exchange dYdX’s version 3.0 has been “compromised,” according to a July 23 social media post from the exchange’s team. However, the team stated that version 4.0 on Cosmos has not been compromised and is functioning normally. Users are being warned that they should not “visit the website [for V3] or click any links until further notice.”

The user interface for dYdX V3 is located at dydx.exchange. 

Source: dYdX

dYdX has confirmed that the app’s smart contracts have not been compromised. Only the user interface is affected, so funds currently deposited should not be at risk, and the site should not be used to attempt withdrawals.

Related: dYdX moves to Cosmos-based blockchain for v4 to optimize decentralization

Cointelegraph journalists attempted to connect to the compromised website with a test Ethereum account that held no balance. In response, the site produced an error stating, “Your wallet is not eligible. Something went wrong. Please try again with an active wallet.”

dYdX hacked site error message. Source: dydx.exchange

A similar error message was shown in a fake Collab.land phishing scam that a victim reported to Cointelegraph in February. This earlier scam appeared to check the user’s wallet balance once it was connected to the site. If the wallet did not have a balance, the user was told to try again with an “active wallet.” If the user then connected with a wallet that held funds, they were presented with a signature request. If they signed this request, their account was drained.

The hacked version of the dYdX website appears to work in a similar way.

At the time of publication, the team has not provided further details as to how the attacker was able to gain control of the app’s domain name. But DNS hijacking attempts against Web3 protocols have become common recently. On July 11, both Compound Finance and Celer network were targeted in a DNS attack, and the attacker successfully redirected Compound’s website to a malicious website that attempted to drain tokens.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Magazine: Crypto-Sec: Evolve Bank suffers data breach, Turbo Toad enthusiast loses $3.6K

Ether (ETH) has been trading within a narrow 6% range between $3,370 and $3,560 for the past week. Notably, Ether's last close above $3,600 occurred on June 17, potentially missing a significant opportunity from the spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) listing in the United States on July 23, an event anticipated for over three years.

One can hardly blame the lack of momentum in cryptocurrencies given that Bitcoin (BTC) is trading merely 10% below its all-time high. More importantly, US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs have amassed $961 million in net inflows over the last two trading days. The lack of excitement for Ether becomes evident in ETH derivatives metrics. But does that imply that traders are betting on a price decline?

Uncertainty in Ethereum ETFs flows and Mt. Gox Bitcoin transfers

Analysts were optimistic about the net inflows for the spot Ethereum ETFs. However, there were concerns about potential outflows from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), which was converted from a trust fund that previously did not allow investors to cash out. Grayscale’s decision to keep ETHE expense fees at 2.5%, which is much higher than competitors, also influences this movement.

Crypto market maker Wintermute wrote in a July 21 research report that it expects Ethereum spot ETFs to generate up to $4 billion in inflows in the initial 12 months of trading. Others, like the ASXN crypto asset manager, were more optimistic, anticipating $4 billion in net inflows in less than five months. The firm added that the launch of Grayscale's mini Ether ETF, which charges 0.15% fees, will mitigate eventual outflows.

Regardless of the initial demand for the aggregate spot Ethereum ETFs, cryptocurrency investors are somewhat concerned after the Mt. Gox exchange estate moved 47,500 Bitcoin, worth $3.2 billion, on July 23. The bankruptcy process plan announced on July 5 established plans to carry out payments to creditors. The uncertainty stems from not knowing how much of the 140,000 BTC held by Mt. Gox addresses will be sold in the market.

In essence, Ether bulls are hesitant to add positions ahead of the aggregate spot ETF net flow data, at least for the initial days, and due to the fear of a potential market sell-off driven by Bitcoin that has been locked for over a decade. These concerns explain why Ether's price has been unable to break above $3,600 in the past five weeks. But does that justify investors’ lack of optimism according to ETH derivatives?

Ether derivatives show a lack of confidence, but there’s a silver lining

The options market provides insight into the dynamics ahead of the spot ETF expectations. If the market is optimistic, one typically sees a -7% delta skew, as put (sell) options become cheaper than equivalent call (buy) options. Conversely, a skew metric above 7% usually indicates an imminent fear of price corrections.

Ether 2-month options 25% delta skew. Source: Laevitas.ch

Data shows Ether options skew has been unable to break below the neutral -7% threshold over the last couple of weeks. This is particularly noteworthy as the ETH price gained 21% between July 7 and July 21, indicating a lack of conviction even as Bloomberg analysts had high confidence in the imminent spot Ethereum ETF launch.

Traders should also consider the ETH monthly futures markets to assess investor sentiment. In a neutral market, these contracts usually trade at a 5% to 10% annualized premium (basis rate) relative to regular spot ETH markets to compensate for their extended settlement periods.

Related: Nansen launches industry-first Ether ETF analytics dashboard

Ether 2-month futures premium relative to spot markets. Source: Laevitas.ch

Notice that the ETH futures premium has held above the 10% neutral threshold for the past week, signaling moderate optimism. For comparison, the indicator jumped to 25% in mid-March after Ether's price rallied 77% in less than five weeks. Hence, it would be incorrect to state that Ether investors are bearish. Additionally, the lack of confidence represents a potential price upside if the spot Ethereum net inflows are confirmed.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

As artificial intelligence continues to embed itself into society’s fabric, the drive to develop faster and more efficient systems often overshadows the equally critical need for AI safety. With the AI market projected to reach $407 billion by 2027 and an expected annual growth rate of 37.3% from 2023 to 2030, the prioritization of commercial interests raises concerns regarding the safety and ethics of AI development.

Erosion of public trust

The public’s trust in AI technology is eroding because of the AI industry’s relentless focus on speed and efficiency. There is a significant disconnect between the industry’s ambitions and the public’s concerns about the risks associated with AI systems.

As AI becomes more ingrained in daily life, it’s crucial to be clear about how these systems work and the risks they may pose. Without transparency, public trust will continue to erode, hindering AI’s wide acceptance and safe integration into society.

Lack of transparency and accountability

The commercial drive to rapidly develop and deploy AI often leads to a lack of transparency regarding these systems’ inner workings and potential risks. The lack of transparency makes it hard to hold AI developers accountable and to deal with the problems AI can cause. Clear practices and accountability are important to build public trust and ensure AI is developed responsibly.

Spread of harmful biases and discrimination

AI systems are often trained on data that reflect societal biases, which can lead to discrimination against marginalized groups. When these biased systems are used, they produce unfair outcomes that negatively impact specific communities. Without proper oversight and corrective measures, these issues will get worse, underscoring the importance of focusing on ethical AI development and safety measures.

Concentration of power and wealth

Beyond biases and discrimination, the broader implications of rapid AI development are equally concerning. The rapid, unchecked development of AI tools risks concentrating immense power and wealth in the hands of a few corporations and individuals. This concentration undermines democratic principles and can lead to an imbalance of power. The few who control these powerful AI systems can shape societal outcomes in ways that may not align with the broader public interest.

Existential risks from unaligned AI systems

Perhaps the most alarming consequence of prioritizing speed over safety is the potential development of “rogue AI” systems. Rogue AI refers to artificial intelligence that operates in ways not intended or desired by its creators, often making decisions that are harmful or contrary to human interests.

Without adequate safety precautions, these systems could pose existential threats to humanity. The pursuit of AI capabilities without robust safety measures is a gamble with potentially catastrophic outcomes.

Addressing AI safety concerns with decentralized reviews

Internal security and safety measures have the risk of conflict of interest, as teams might prioritize corporate and investor interests over the public. Relying on centralized or internal auditors can compromise privacy and data security for commercial gain.

Decentralized reviews offer a potential solution to these concerns. A decentralized review is a process where the evaluation and oversight of AI systems are distributed across a diverse community rather than being confined to a single organization.

By encouraging global participation, these reviews leverage collective knowledge and expertise, ensuring more robust and thorough evaluations of AI systems. This approach mirrors the evolution of security practices in the crypto world, where audit competitions and crowd-sourced reviews have significantly enhanced the security of smart contracts — self-executing digital agreements.

AI safety in the crypto world

The intersection of AI and blockchain technology presents unique security challenges. As AI emerges as a growing sub-vertical within the crypto industry, projected to be worth over $2.7 billion by 2031, there is a pressing need for comprehensive AI and smart contract safety protocols.

In response to these challenges, Hats Finance, a decentralized smart bug bounty and audit competitions marketplace, is rolling out a decentralized AI safety program designed to democratize the process of AI safety reviews. By democratizing AI safety through community-driven competitions, Hats Finance aims to harness global expertise to ensure AI systems are resilient and secure.

Web3 security researchers can participate in audit competitions for rewards. Source: Hats Finance

Traditional AI safety research has often been confined to select institutions, leaving a wealth of global expertise untapped. Hats Finance proposes a model where AI safety is not the responsibility of a few but a collective endeavor.

How decentralized AI review works

The first step in the Hats Finance process is developers submitting AI models. These developers, ranging from independent researchers to large organizations, provide their AI models for evaluation. By making these models available for review, developers are taking a crucial step toward transparency and accountability.

Once the AI models are submitted, they enter the open participation phase. In this stage, a diverse community of experts from around the world is invited to participate in the review process. The global nature of this community ensures that the review process benefits from a wide range of perspectives and expertise.

Next, the AI models undergo multifaceted evaluations where each model is rigorously assessed by a diverse group of experts. By incorporating various viewpoints and expertise, the evaluation process provides an analysis of the model’s strengths and weaknesses and identifies potential issues and areas for improvement.

After the thorough evaluation, participants who contributed to the review process are rewarded. These rewards serve as incentives for experts to engage in the review process and contribute their valuable insights.

Finally, a comprehensive safety report is generated for each AI model. This report details the findings of the evaluation, highlighting any identified issues and providing recommendations for improvement. Developers can use this report to refine their AI models, addressing any highlighted concerns and enhancing their overall safety and reliability.

Source: Hats Finance

The Hats Finance model democratizes the process and incentivizes participation, ensuring AI models are scrutinized by a diverse pool of experts.

Embracing the DAO structure for enhanced transparency

Hats Finance is transitioning to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to further align with its goals. A DAO is a system where decisions are made collectively by members, ensuring transparency and shared governance. This shift, set to occur after the public liquidity bootstrapping pool sale and the token generation event of Hats Finance’s native token, HAT, aims to sustain the ecosystem of security researchers and attract global talent for AI safety reviews.

Hat Hunters, $HAT LBP is set for next week🔥

Start: July 22nd, 2024, 15:00 UTC
End: July 25th, 2024, 15:00 UTC

🌐 Platform: @FjordFoundry
🔗 Network: Arbitrum
📦 Supply: 4,000,000 tokens (4% of total supply)
🚫 Vesting: None

Pull the thread to know all about it🧵 pic.twitter.com/A8MdUyAKij

— Hats.Finance 🦇🔊 (@HatsFinance) July 16, 2024

As AI continues to shape the world, ensuring its safe and ethical deployment becomes increasingly crucial. Cointelegraph Accelerator participant Hats Finance offers a promising solution by leveraging decentralized, community-driven reviews to tackle AI safety concerns. By doing so, it democratizes the process and fosters a more secure and trustworthy AI landscape, aligning with the broader goal of integrating AI in ways that are beneficial and safe for all.

Learn more about Hats Finance

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain in this sponsored article, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.

When a 24-year old U.S. citizen living in Turkey can infiltrate not one but two of America’s largest communication networks while the rest of the world sleeps, something in the world of data security is amiss. 

The latest AT&T hack involved the theft of calls and texts of over 100 million AT&T customers. Although the stolen files contained no personal data or text content, the hacker demonstrated how a reverse-lookup program could easily connect the call and text message metadata to the names of family members, colleagues, and, in some cases, a user’s general location and movements. Stopping short of issuing an apology, AT&T simply acknowledged regret for the incident and casually slipped in the fact that disclosure of the data breach was delayed for two months by the FBI and Department of Justice.

AT&T is one of many organizations that tout “cyber resilience” — a buzzword strategy that shows how well a company or government agency can anticipate, withstand, recover from, and adapt to cyber-attacks. With cyber-attacks rising dramatically in the past year — as the AT&T debacle illustrates — the term is now synonymous with embarrassing system vulnerabilities.

Related: Ignoring quantum threats in CBDC design is reckless

Some experts are resigned to the current landscape of perpetual data breaches, suggesting that cyberattacks are inevitable and that a prevention mindset should be dumped in favor of one focused on cyber resilience. This passive approach ensures that organizations stay alive and profitable, but it does little, if anything, to address the most critical issue — protecting the valuable personal information of American citizens.

America needs to rethink data security from the ground up. Although having the resources and contingency plans in place to recover from a hack or digital meltdown is important, an entirely different approach — one focused on decentralizing data ownership and control from the outset — should also be implemented. This approach — known as data sovereignty or, more broadly, digital sovereignty — refers to an individual’s right to control, maintain, and monetize their digital footprint.

Americans should care about data sovereignty for two pressing reasons. First, taking back control over one’s data assets could provide individuals with the opportunity to monetize their own data. Reclaiming this economic self-determination would shift power away from the small number of “data monarchs” who control much of the world’s information and reshape the “asymmetrical marketplace” where individuals know very little about how much their data is worth and how it is used compared to the companies that leach and profit from that data.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has exacerbated this asymmetry. The quest to ingest as much information as possible — without permission from or compensation for technology users — has skewed this opaque marketplace further in favor of those few data monarchs. One case in point: social media platform Reddit is planning to sell user comments to Google and other companies to the tune of more than $200 million to feed AI projects. Reddit users will not receive a cent, nor do they have the option to sell, broker, or license their commentary data. But they should.

A Reddit user on noted in January that Reddit was selling user data to Google — shortly after it stopped allowing users to opt out of data sharing. Source: Reddit

The second reason why Americans should care about data sovereignty is privacy, which could have an outsized impact on the 2024 presidential election. If the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal taught us anything it was how the powerful trifecta of data, analytics, and political persuasion can influence American electoral politics. In that incident, Facebook micro-targeted its users to influence their voting preferences, and while social media users technically gave consent to Facebook, that consent was obtained through a type of contract of adhesion where no opportunity was given to users to negotiate the terms of data usage.

Self-sovereignty over data could add a layer of protection to shield individuals from shrouded political manipulation and protect American society from unethical practices that influence democratic processes. On the other hand, if American citizens or politicians want to compete for influenceability, then it should literally be on their own terms.

Data sovereignty and indigenous data sovereignty defined by the National Library of Medi. Source: The National Library of Medicine

Data sovereignty — which is inherently decentralized — is also a commonsense solution to vulnerable cyber resilience strategies. Instead of storing information in the cloud or in a centralized database, data control could be managed at the individual level and secured by post quantum blockchain encryption. If the AT&T data breach wasn’t enough proof, another example that underscores the need to shift towards decentralized data governance is the recent Crowdstrike software update, which not only caused global systems to crash, but also revealed how interconnected and homogenized data security software offerings have become.

Related: Ethereum ETFs are coming — Here’s what you need to know

Americans can have their data and eat it too. How? For starters, cybersecurity experts and policymakers should consider studying instances where data sovereignty is thriving. For example, the self-sovereign mindset has seen considerable uptake by Indigenous groups, who are staunchly advocating for control over their census, health, social services, and environmental data. Studying how the Indigenous world is practicing data sovereignty and governing the use of their own personal information would be an informative case study and potential new technology or regulatory sandbox opportunity for digital economic zones.

Additionally, legislators should reboot efforts to compel tech companies to disclose the value of their users’ data and advocate for new legislation that curtails organizations’ ability to offer data use contracts that extinguish the negotiating power of users. The DASHBOARD Act, which tackled the data valuation issue, was a bipartisan legislative effort introduced in 2019 that has since stalled. Nevertheless, state privacy laws are gaining traction: 18 states have enacted privacy statutes tailored to a more user-centric approach. These efforts are clearly heading in the right direction, as some state laws, like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), give residents the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of their personal information.

Finally, entrepreneurs should continue experimenting with the design of blockchain-enabled data sovereignty platforms, products, and services and the creation of post quantum-secured, distributed international data spaces that are designed for individuals, not corporations.

Ultimately, America needs a new approach to data security — one that favors decentralization and self-determination and that disfavors complacency and resignation to the power of the few.

Agnes Gambill West is an affiliate senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She's the co-chair of the North Carolina Blockchain Initiative, an appointee to the North Carolina Innovation Council, and serves on the Business and Consumer Payments Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. She has experience working as a proprietary trader and is the co-founder of an Ethereum-based blockchain payments company. She received a JD from University of North Carolina School of Law, an LLM from Duke University School of Law, and an MSc from Oxford University.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are now officially trading on stock exchanges, and the preliminary inflow data for the first 15 minutes of trading has been revealed by analysts.

According to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, BitWise outperformed its competitors during the first quarter-hour of trading, recording $25.5 million in capital inflows, second only to Grayscale's Ethereum Trust, created in 2017.

Source: Eric Balchunas

Total inflows into the nine Ethereum investment vehicles reached $112 million in the first 15 minutes of trading, which is far more than traditional ETF offerings, the Bloomberg analyst claimed.

Balchunas also noted that while current inflows into Ethereum ETFs equal roughly half of the inflows witnessed on day one of the Bitcoin ETF launch, the inflows still exceeded expectations. 

Buy the rumor, sell the announcement?

Despite the launch of the highly anticipated Ethereum ETF and the initial $112 million in inflows, the price of Ether has fallen since the start of the trading day.

Related: Ethereum ETF inflows could hit $10B, sending ETH to new highs — Analyst.

Source: TradingView

Ether (ETH) began the day trading at roughly $3,540, before falling to a low of $3,426. It managed to regain some ground and is currently trading around $3,471.

Hot competition among ETF issuers

To attract investors, most of the nine Ethereum ETF issuers have slashed fees or eliminated them for a period, showcasing the competition among issuers.

In a July 17 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, 21Shares revealed it planned to waive fees for the first six months of trading and then levy a 0.21% management fee after the six-month timeframe.

BlackRock employed a similar fee discount structure, advertising a 0.12% initial management fee that will climb to 0.25% once one year has elapsed or the ETF reaches $2.5 billion in assets under management, whichever comes first

Bitwise leveraged a unique strategy of pledging 10% of its spot Ether profits to fund Ethereum developers in partnership with the Protocol Guild, representing over 170 Ethereum builders.

Magazine: Ethereum restaking: Blockchain innovation or dangerous house of cards?

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has quashed reports suggesting he may consider appointing JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon or BlackRock CEO Larry Fink as Secretary of the Treasury if reelected.

In a July 23 post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said neither Dimon nor BlackRock CEO Larry Fink were part of his plans for a potential cabinet if he were victorious in November. He seemed to contradict an exclusive report released on July 16 by Bloomberg Businessweek, whose team sat down with Trump in June.

“I don’t know who said it, or where it came from [...] but I never discussed, or thought of, Jamie Dimon or Larry Fink for Secretary of the Treasury,” said Trump.

Bloomberg reported that Trump had said he would consider Dimon as secretary of the Department of the Treasury. On July 20, the New York Post — a publication that Trump reportedly prefers before other news outlets — reported that the Republican nominee was considering Fink for the same position.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Bitcoin (BTC) bulls fought to protect $66,000 on July 23 as the United States spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) wowed analysts.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Ether ETF performance impresses

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price strength rebounding after initial weakness on the Wall Street open.

The launch of trading for the spot Ether ETFs appeared to catch market participants by surprise as impressive volumes, which totaled over $100 million in just 15 minutes, sent ETH/USD up 2.3%., retracing an initial rout.

“Spot ETF launch so far seeing the expected - take profit selling in both perps & spot. Move retraced & OI still elevated,” popular trader Skew wrote in part of his coverage on X.

Skew referred to heightened open interest on ETH derivatives markets around the launch.

ETH market data. Source: Skew/

“The $ETH ETF has insane numbers. First 15 minutes already 50% of Bitcoin's first day in terms of volume: $112 million,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm MNTrading, wrote in his own X response.

“The Ethereum ETF launch is heavily undervalued and I expect it to trade towards an ATH in the coming 1-2 months.”

ETH/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Fellow popular trader Daan Crypto Trades described the initial flows as “decent,’ predicting heightened crypto market volatility.

As Cointelegraph reported, the run-up to the ETF release was characterized by conversely flat ETH price action, which went against that seen on Bitcoin prior to the launch of its ETF trading in January.

Bitcoin faces up to near-term bearish threats

Bitcoin meanwhile retraced an initial downmove of its own, retaking $67,000.

Related: XRP price hasn’t seen $1 since 2021 — But this could change in Q4

The latest data from monitoring resource CoinGlass showed a new patch of buyer liquidity emerging at $65,750, while overhead sell-side pressure also increased.

BTC liquidation heatmap (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

As anticipation of fresh upside built, traders remained broadly optimistic.

Source: Mags

“5 monthly candles to turn the previous cycle highs into support,” popular trader Jelle argued in his latest high-timeframe BTC price analysis.

“Strong foundations being built, for the next bear market lows. The best is yet to come.”

BTC/USD chart. Source: Jelle/X

In its latest bulletin to Telegram channel subscribers, trading firm QCP Capital said that crypto markets nonetheless remained in wait-and-see mode following the latest ETF launch.

“The market's reaction to the ETH Spot ETF launch has been muted, with investors waiting to see if it follows the ‘buy the hype, sell the news’ pattern,” it wrote.

“For comparison, BTC dropped to $38k after its ETF launch highs but broke all-time highs two months later.”

QCP warned that judging by options market behavior, traders expected downside forces to win out in the short term. These took the form of fresh payouts to creditors of defunct exchange Mt. Gox, as well as geopolitical uncertainty.

“With the ETH Spot ETF potentially not impacting prices on the outset, coupled with potential selling pressure from the US Government and Mt Gox, prices may remain subdued until momentum builds up leading to the elections,” it concluded.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Decentralized smartphone APhone and Aethir have jointly launched a new scaling solution that promises to increase APhone’s user capacity by tenfold and provide more scalability for the decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) industry.

The new scaling solution will allow APhone to accommodate over 800,000 daily concurrent users while reducing the monthly user cost to below $0.60, compared to the previous over $6 dollars — making for an over 90% cost decrease.

The significant cost reduction was achieved through Aethir’s distributed GPU cloud computing network, according to William Paul Peckham, the chief business officer of Aphone, who told Cointelegraph:

“[Aethir] were able to reduce the cost by streamlining operation and striking favorable deals with hardware manufacturers and data centers. Their tech allows them to virtualize and split the hardware without sacrificing capacity to offer superior quality for the phone service without demanding extra hardware.”

The new scaling solution will save APhone over $3.2 million every quarter, thanks to Aethir’s distributed GPU infrastructure.

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Aethir Edge AI to enhance Web3 mobile applications

As part of the strategic partnership, the decentralized smartphone will incorporate Aethir Edge, an enterprise-grade artificial intelligence (AI) device integrated into the platform’s cloud infrastructure.

Aethir Edge will play a key role in Aphone’s operational framework by enhancing the speed and efficiency of Web3 applications.

Aethir Edge hosts APhone’s instances, hence assuring lower latency and smooth performance for more resource-intensive decentralized applications (DApps) like Web3 games, or metaverse platforms.

Aethir Edge will also enhance security and network performance, according to Mark Rydon, the co-founder and head of strategy at Aethir.

Rydon wrote in a statement shared with Cointelegraph:

“By assigning unique IP addresses to each cloud smartphone, Aethir Edge is massively beneficial for applications requiring distinct network identities, such as gaming, IoT, and decentralized finance platforms,”

Related: Ether’s ‘most obvious bullish setup’ is set for H2 2024, says former Wall Street trader

DePIN industry could hit $3.5 trillion by 2028

DePIN is one of the fastest-growing industries, with an estimated total addressable market of over $2.2 trillion.

The DePIN industry is expected to reach over $3.5 trillion by 2028, which would mean an over $1.3 trillion increase, according to a Messari report from January 2023.

The ambitious milestone could be reached with the right regulatory and technological advancements in the next four years, according to APhone’s Peckham:

“While Messari's $3.5 trillion prediction for 2028 is ambitious, reaching such a valuation will depend on regulatory developments, technological advancements, and broad adoption across industries. DePIN removes costs from intermediaries while increasing security of the network, which is becoming increasingly valuable for scaling businesses.”

Others are also optimistic about the industry’s future. For instance, Carlos Lei Santos, the co-founder and CEO of Uplink, expects the next $1 trillion company to emerge from the DePIN sector.

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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has introduced a new cryptographic protocol called Circle STARKs that promises to improve blockchain security and efficiency.

In his latest post, Buterin explains that this technological leap utilizes smaller fields like Mersenne31 to significantly improve proving speed without compromising security measures.

“The most important trend in STARK protocol design over the last two years has been the switch to working over small fields.”

Related: Charles Hoskinson rejects Vitalik Buterin’s view on pro-crypto voting

Smaller fields, bigger gains

According to the post, traditional Scalable Transparent ARguments of Knowledge (STARKs) operate over 256-bit fields, which, while secure, are typically inefficient.

Circle STARKs leverage smaller fields, resulting in reduced computational costs, faster-proving speeds and more efficient gains, such as verifying 620,000 Poseidon2 hashes per second on an M3 laptop.

Buterin notes that previous STARK implementation made smaller fields “naturally compatible with verifying elliptic curve-based signatures” but “led to inefficiency” due to the large numbers involved.

Related: Vitalik Buterin warns of politicians claiming to be ‘pro-crypto’

Circle STARK security

Traditional small fields have limited possible values and can become exposed to brute-force attacks.

Circle STARKs counteract this vulnerability by performing multiple random checks and using extension fields, expanding the set of values that attackers need to guess.

This security measure creates a computational prohibitive barrier for attackers, maintaining the protocol’s integrity.

“With STARKs over smaller fields, we have a problem: there are only about two billion possible values of x to choose from, and so an attacker wanting to make a fake proof need only try two billion times—a lot of work, but quite doable for a determined attacker!”

Related: StarkWare verifies first zero-knowledge proof on Bitcoin

Practical implications

The Fast Reed-Solomon Interactive Oracle Proofs of Proximity (FRI) prove that a function is a polynomial of a certain degree and is a crucial aspect of Circle STARKs.

Introducing Circle FRI, an approach that maintains the integrity of the cryptographic process, Circle STARKs ensure that non-polynomial inputs fail the proof.

Circle STARKs offer more flexibility and versatility for efficient computational performance by utilizing small fields and this new mathematical structure.

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The Ethereum initial coin offering (ICO) — one of the most important events in the history of cryptocurrency — began on July 22, 2014, just a little over 10 years ago. 

The ICO ran for 42 days until Sept. 2 and allowed participants to buy 2,000 Ether (ETH) for the price of 1 Bitcoin (BTC).

Cointelegraph spoke with Nick Johnson, the lead developer of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and former member of the Ethereum Foundation, about Ethereum and how it changed his life and the crypto landscape forever.

“It heralded an enormous change in how we looked at crypto and looked at blockchains because while the Bitcoin EVM [Electron Virtual Machine] has some programmable functionality, it’s quite limited by design,” Johnson told Cointelegraph. “Ethereum really develops the idea of a general purpose Turing complete chain as being a valuable thing.”

With that general-purpose Turing complete chain came smart contracts and a far greater degree of programmability. As Johnson said, what Ethereum enabled is its legacy.

“You only have to look at the profusion of applications that weren’t even envisaged when it was originally designed, like [non-fungible tokens], like ENS. All the automated market makers and stuff like that [...] All of those things have only been enabled because the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik were building a general purpose chain rather than something solely focused around the exchange of value.”

How special is Ethereum?

Before the Ethereum ICO, other cryptocurrencies tended to be simple variations on the Bitcoin theme. For example, Litecoin (LTC) started life as a Bitcoin clone with only a slightly modified codebase.

From its inception, Ethereum was different. Cointelegraph asked Johnson what crypto might have looked like if Ethereum had never been developed.

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“At some point, somebody would have built something similar,” Johnson said. “But Ethereum made a lot of very smart technical decisions early on in the game. You only have to look at the profusion of Ethereum-compatible chains to see the enormous influence that it had on the development of the industry.”

That is not to negate the considerable impact that Ethereum had on shaping the industry and accelerating its growth.

“I think it moved things along a lot faster than they would have otherwise,” Johnson said.

Encountering Ethereum

Johnson said that in 2014, he started playing around with Bitcoin. He bought a few, and he sold a few. His curiosity in cryptocurrency was certainly piqued, but ultimately, he was “a bit disappointed with its limitations.”

“The programmable bit of programmable money was what interested me,” Johnson said.

It wasn’t until a couple of years later that Johnson’s path would take him back to the industry.

“In 2016, I was contacted by a large financial services company. I was working at Google at the time, and they wanted to know if I would like to come work for them on this thing called Ethereum,” he said.

Johnson duly attended the interview but left with absolutely no intention of joining the firm, describing the atmosphere as “suit and tie, staid, and not very interesting.”

Ethereum, however, was another matter entirely.

“I started playing around with it and very rapidly got hooked on it and started building Ethereum Solidity libraries and so forth,” he added. “Within a couple of months, I was contacted by the Ethereum Foundation asking if I’d like to interview for a role with them, and I jumped on the opportunity.”

The infamous DAO hack

Ethereum’s early years were not without controversy. In 2016, Ethereum launched its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), raising $150 million.

The DAO was designed as a venture capital fund to help grow and build the Ethereum network and was initially hailed as a great success, but less than three months from its launch, the DAO was hacked to the tune of $60 million.

That’s something Johnson won’t forget in a hurry, he explained.

“That actually occurred as particularly memorable for me because [the hack] occurred on a Friday, and I was due to start work at the foundation the following Monday,” he said.

To combat the theft, the Ethereum network conducted a hard fork in July 2016 and rolled the blockchain back to before the hack. At the time, the hack and the later fork were two of the most controversial things to ever happen in crypto.

Furthermore, not everyone agreed to accept the fork, resulting in two competing Ethereum chains: Ethereum, which accepted the fork and its rollback, and Ethereum Classic, which did not.

Johnson acknowledged the stress and uncertainty of the time, saying that “it was very much a trial by fire.”

“From where we were standing, we saw this was a flaw in a smart contract. But it was so early on that we worried that people could easily have interpreted it as some sort of referendum on the system as a whole,” said Johnson.

But, while the DAO hack was highly contentious in 2016, time is a great healer of wounds. In 2024, the DAO hack is something nobody seriously thinks about.

Early days and the birth of ENS

Johnson joined the Ethereum Foundation during an initially chaotic period, but things soon settled down, and the real work could begin.

Cointelegraph asked Johnson about working at Ethereum in its very early days. Johnson worked with the Swarm team, which developed decentralized data storage, and Go Ethereum, an interface dealing with the Go programming language initially developed by Google.

Johnson described it as “very loosely managed” at that time, which allowed him the creative freedom he sought.

Johnson’s interest in internet infrastructure would eventually lead to him creating the Ethereum Name Service, based on the Domain Name System (DNS) of the internet.

“We went through an initial iteration that was completely different to the one we eventually launched. It was much more similar to DNS and based on that infrastructure,” Johnson said.

In the process of building it, however, Johnson learned lessons that reshaped the naming service and the form that the public got to see.

“We learned a lot about what would work better in this unique situation and restructured it in a way that works much better with Ethereum smart contracts,” he said.

The future of Ethereum

On its 10th birthday, Ethereum has matured considerably. In 2022, the network switched from proof-of-work consensus to proof-of-stake, and in March 2024, Ethereum launched the Dencun upgrade, reducing layer-2 transaction costs.

Cointelegraph asked what comes next for Ethereum and the Ethereum Name Service.

Related: Crypto community marks 10-year Ethereum ICO anniversary with global events

Johnson says that for both, the focus is “L2 and scalability.”

“ENS recently announced our L2 roadmap because we believe that L2 solutions are now mature enough for us to build on top of them. We need to build it in a way that works with all of the chains and preserves functionality,” said Johnson.

ENS is “kind of the same” as the wider Ethereum network in that regard, Johnson said, who predicted an even brighter future for Ethereum as scalability continues to improve.

It’s only recently that Donald Trump has paid any attention to crypto. But now he wants to be the “crypto president,” and he’s raising digital assets as a geopolitical issue.

Asked on July 16 why he’s suddenly embracing the crypto community, he told Bloomberg:

“If we don’t do it, China is going to pick it up and China’s going to have it—or somebody else, but most likely China.”

In the interview, Trump explained how the recent experience with his “Mugshot” NFT Collection “opened my eyes” to cryptocurrencies, saying, “80% of the money [from the NFT sale] was paid in crypto. It was incredible.”

“So we have a good foundation [i.e., crypto]. It’s a baby. It’s an infant right now. But I don’t want to be responsible for allowing another country to take over this sphere,” he added.

His remarks raised several interesting questions — and not just whether China, which banned crypto trading and Bitcoin mining in 2021, is even interested in reentering the crypto trading and mining markets.

It touches on the relationship between governments and the crypto/blockchain sector generally.

To what extent can any single sovereign nation control decentralized and diversified digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH)?

Is it even possible?

Why China?

China was once a major crypto player. The largest crypto exchanges, such as Binance, were located in China, and as much as 75% of Bitcoin mining took place on the Chinese mainland, according to estimates.

But in 2021, China cracked down on crypto trading and mining, and by July of that year, Bitcoin mining had essentially vanished on the mainland.

Recent developments, however, have raised speculation “that the Chinese government may be warming to cryptocurrency and that Hong Kong may be a testing ground for these efforts,” noted Chainalysis in October.

Indeed, in April 2024, the central government approved the launch of several Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Hong Kong. Some observers think China wants to make Hong Kong a crypto hub — despite a continued trading ban on the mainland.

China’s Bitcoin ban a “strategic blunder”

Does China regret vacating the crypto playing field in 2021?

“Absolutely,” Daniel Lacalle, chief economist of Tressis, told Cointelegraph. “China made an enormous mistake banning crypto trading and mining, particularly when they want to de-dollarize at some point. The decision did not help the yuan and eliminated an important disruptive technology development.”

“Beijing’s 2021 mining crackdown was a strategic blunder,” Emiliano Pagnotta, associate professor of finance at Singapore Management University, told Cointelegraph. “They accounted for 75% of the mining industry and, in a short period, lost a considerable percentage to the US, chiefly.”

Why a strategic error? “An adversary to Bitcoin has much more leverage against the security properties of the network by controlling the majority of the hashrate. That latent threat is much more powerful than the ban itself, which only caused a temporary fall in the hashrate,” said Pagnotta.

Still, he couldn’t say for sure whether China lamented its decision.

Yikai Wang, assistant professor in the economics department at the University of Essex, said, “I don’t think that China regrets banning crypto trading and mining in 2021 because the capital markets in China and Hong Kong are different.”

China wants to maintain tight control of capital outflows on the mainland, Wang told Cointelegraph, which is why it banned crypto trading.

But Hong Kong, while controlled by China, has a different economy. It has always had open market policies and free capital flow, and crypto might find a natural home in the former British colony. Wang added:

“Hong Kong serves as the hub to allow some capital flow in and out of mainland China, which is important for Hong Kong and also for mainland China.”

“The digital asset ETF market in Hong Kong has indeed seen substantial growth since its launch in April 2024,” Patrick Pan, chairman and CEO of OSL — a crypto-exchange now operating in Hong Kong — told Cointelegraph.

Pan added that mainland China “has maintained a stringent stance against cryptocurrency trading and speculations.”

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Pan points out, however, that China has largely accepted the importance of cryptocurrencies’ underlying blockchain technology.

“China’s development and gradual rollout of the digital yuan showcase an interest and capacity to embrace blockchain technologies, which bring long-term benefits to the country’s financial infrastructure through enhanced efficiency and security of its financial systems,” said Pan.

China may be softening its stance on crypto

Chinese government decision-making is opaque, so one may never know if China truly regrets its 2021 crypto ban. But what is clear is that “the country is reassessing its approach, especially as it sees the strategic value in digital assets,” Zennon Kapron, founder and director of consulting firm Kapronasia, told Cointelegraph, adding:

“The softening stance in Hong Kong could be a strategic move to remain competitive in the fintech and digital finance space without fully reversing its mainland policy.”

But is it too late?

“China still has advantages, such as access to cheap hardware and electricity in certain regions,” Kapron allowed. “If the government were to provide incentives or loosen restrictions, it’s conceivable that some level of dominance could be reestablished.”

It wouldn’t be easy, though. “The global mining landscape has become more diversified, making it harder for any single country to dominate,” observed Kapron.

Wang said that if China allowed Bitcoin mining, it would still “have a high chance of succeeding” because Bitcoin mining is not high-tech but rather “medium-tech and a capital-, energy-, infrastructure-intensive production.” Wang added:

“Bitcoin mining is not like making CPUs, but more similar to producing solar panels, building railways, etc. China has the capacity and even the comparative advantage in this type of mass production.”

Crypto trading may be a different matter, though. China is unlikely to change its trading ban on the mainland unless it first changes its capital markets policy, said Wang.

Economist Lacalle was doubtful. “Once traders and miners see the risk of interventionism and legal or investor insecurity, it is hard for many to regain confidence.”

Pagnotta, by comparison, said China could still be a force within the crypto sector, particularly if it demonstrates more pragmatism and regulatory clarity, adding:

“Bitcoin mining is still important in China despite the ban. Most of the ASIC [application-specific integrated circuit] equipment is developed and manufactured there, and there is a lot of know-how.”

Many local governments within China have benefited from mining tax revenues, smooth energy demand and job creation in past years. Presumably, they would also support a return to legalized BTC mining.

“I am more skeptical about China embracing self-custody for its citizens, in contrast to Trump’s recent rhetoric,” continued Pagnotta. “China could ease investors’ exposure to Bitcoin-related products through ETFs,” as the Biden administration has done, but “the domestic custodial firms would always be under Beijing’s control.”

“They certainly made some mistakes in the past by banning crypto investments and Bitcoin mining,” CryptoQuant’s head of research, Julio Moreno, told Cointelegraph. “Other countries, like the US in the case of Bitcoin mining, took advantage of this ban to grow their crypto industry.”

“But China now seems more open to the crypto industry and has allowed the launch of Bitcoin and ETH ETFs in Hong Kong,” said Moreno.

Also, it’s not as if Chinese influence on Bitcoin mining reverted to zero even when mining was banned on the mainland. “All that equipment operating in China simply found a home in other places,” Moreno added.

“Despite China’s ban on Bitcoin mining, Chinese mining pools still hold nearly 54% market share,” CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju posted on July 1. “While not all participants in these pools are Chinese, some mining farms might still be operating covertly in China, with authorities possibly concealing data.”

To be clear: The mining pools Ju referenced were operating beyond the Chinese mainland. 

China’s central government also remains a Bitcoin “whale” as a result of its past activities — holding 190,000 BTC, or about 1% of the Bitcoin currently in existence. This is not a trivial amount.

Could China dominate crypto again?

Wang, for his part, believes that if China really sets its mind to it, it could still “play a super important, if not dominating, role” in the global crypto sector.

Not only does it have natural advantages in Bitcoin mining cited above, but there is a huge demand for using cryptocurrencies to send Chinese assets abroad, Wang added, especially given China’s tight capital market controls.

The biggest cryptocurrency exchange platform in the world in terms of trade volume is still Binance, “which is a company started in China by a Chinese but later moved abroad, and still 20% of Binance’s trade comes from China,” noted Wang.

Before China banned crypto trading, “there were even more Chinese cryptocurrency exchange platforms in a similar size to Binance,” added Wang.

As per Trump’s remarks, is crypto really emerging as a new theater of competition between the great powers? According to Pagnotta:

“Trump wants votes, and he understands that tens of millions of Americans hold digital assets and see it as an important electoral issue. Drawing a contrast to Biden or China in this regard is politically astute.”

He may be applying some game theory, too.

“At a more profound level, Trump does not want a Chinese/BRICS [i.e, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa]-led central bank digital currency [CBDC] to become dominant. Even if he did not suddenly become a genuine Bitcoiner, he surely comprehends enough game theory to realize that Bitcoin is the politically neutral global property rights system in the 21st century,” added Pagnotta

In doing so, the former US president could simply be applying the ancient wisdom that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

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Still, others believe the suggestion that China may once again try to gain dominance in the global crypto market is just plain wrong. Leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether are too diversified and decentralized now to allow control by any one sovereign state.

“China’s influence in the crypto market may grow, particularly through initiatives like the digital yuan,” said Kapron, “but achieving dominance over decentralized cryptocurrencies is a different challenge altogether.”

Trump’s recent utterances may reflect a strategic concern, continued Kapron, “but the reality is that the decentralized and diversified nature of these digital assets acts as a significant barrier to dominance by any single nation.”

Added economist Lacalle:

“There is no such thing as nationalist crypto. The beauty of the crypto market is that it is completely diversified and decentralized. The concept of government control of crypto makes no sense to anyone that understands independent currencies.”

SingularityNET, an artificial intelligence platform developer, has revealed a $53 million investment in a modular supercomputer dedicated to decentralized artificial general intelligence (AGI).

According to a July 23 announcement, the investment’s first phase will allocate $26.5 million to the supercomputer, incorporating modular data center solutions from Ecoblox, graphics processing units (GPUs) and processors from companies such as Nvidia, AMD and Tenstorrent, as well as AI servers from Asus and Gigabyte.

A modular supercomputer is a high-performance computing system built with a flexible and scalable architecture that can be easily expanded and upgraded by adding or replacing modules. In other words, developers can add more power as needed without replacing an entire system. According to SingularityNET, the modular supercomputer will be the world’s first dedicated to decentralized AGI and artificial superintelligence research.

SingularityNET’s supercomputer will optimize the training of deep neural networks (DNNs), large language models (LLMs) — including multimodal variations — and hybrid neural-symbolic computing architectures, such as OpenCog Hyperon.

Some of the platform’s recent hardware purchases include a modular data center equipped with Nvidia L40S GPUs, AMD Instinct and Genoa, Tenstorrent Wormhole server racks, servers featuring H200 GPUs and Nvidia GB200 systems.

“The dramatic progress the AI field has seen recently is the result of convergence of multiple aspects, including sophisticated learning algorithms and cognitive architectures, and massive amounts of data, processing infrastructure and energy,” said SingularityNET CEO Ben Goertzel.

According to the announcement, the infrastructure will enable a major shift toward AGI continuous learning and self-improvement in high-load scenarios involving large-scale knowledge distillation, pattern matching and multi-step machine reasoning.

AI race heats up

SingularityNET’s investment follows a growing global dispute over AI development. On July 22, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) allocated 100 million Singapore dollars ($74.36 million) to develop quantum computing and AI-based solutions for its finance sector.

In March, Fetch.ai, a co-founder of the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance alongside SingularityNET and Ocean Protocol, announced a $100 million investment in its infrastructure program Fetch Compute. This investment will deploy Nvidia H200, H100 and A100 GPUs to create a more powerful platform for developers.

AI development has fueled a growing demand for high-performance hardware. On July 20, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company became the first Asian firm to surpass a trillion-dollar market capitalization driven by the increasing demand from tech and manufacturing giants that rely on its semiconductors, including major clients like Apple, AMD, Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm.

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The XRP (XRP) market is well-positioned for a price surge between now and October, driven by a potential breakout on the charts, whale activity, and the end of Ripple’s legal battle with the SEC. In doing so, the XRP/USD pair could finally see values near or above $1, a level it hasn’t attained since 2021.

XRP price nears long-awaited technical breakout

XRP’s weekly chart reveals a symmetrical triangle pattern that has been forming since early 2018, characterized by converging trendlines that compress price action.

The cryptocurrency is testing the pattern’s upper trendline resistance, eyeing a successful breakout to pursue a run-up toward the next major resistance level at around $1 in the coming months. Howver, it would need to cross above $0.86—up around 45% from the current prices—which has historically acted as a significant barrier, most notably in January-March 2022 and July 2023.

XRP/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

Other technical indicators support this bullish outlook. For instance, the weekly chart’s relative strength index (RSI) is rebounding from the 50 level, suggesting increasing buying momentum. Moreover, the volume profile indicates rising trading activity, often a precursor to a sustained price movement.

XRP whale accumulation boosts upside prospects

On-chain data from Santiment shows that most XRP whale cohorts have been accumulating the token in recent weeks.

For instance, the XRP supply held by its richest cohort—those holding over 1 billion native tokens (black)—has increased to 41.44% from 40.27% in 2024. That corresponds with a slight dip in the 100 million—1 billion XRP balance cohort (teal).

XRP supply distribution among whales. Source: Santiment

More recently, other whale cohorts have also picked up momentum in accumulation, namely those holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP tokens (brown).

Related: Trump's RNC speech gave tech enthusiasts hope for the future

Accumulation among these high-value cohorts is often a bullish signal. Large investors typically increase their holdings when they anticipate higher prices in the future while leveraging their market influence to facilitate this.

Ripple vs. SEC potential settlement

The long-standing legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appears to be nearing its conclusion.

In 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP is not a security when sold on digital asset exchanges, marking a partial victory for Ripple. However, XRP is still considered a security when sold to institutional investors, meeting the conditions of the Howey test.

Significantly, a recent meeting between Ripple and the SEC has been rescheduled to July 25, 2024. This meeting is expected to discuss potential settlements.

Analysts believe that a favorable settlement could boost XRP's price. Furthermore, the potential approval of an XRP-spot ETF should further drive market interest and price.

Source: X

Despite these optimistic signs, some legal experts remain cautious.

Former SEC lawyer Marc Fagel expressed skepticism about the likelihood of a settlement, suggesting that the case might continue through the legal process. However, Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse is optimistic that a resolution could be reached before the end of summer 2024.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Nansen, a popular blockchain analytics provider, has launched the industry’s first Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) analytics dashboard.

The free-to-use dashboard will track the performance of the highly-anticipated United States-based spot Ether (ETH) ETFs, offering a real-time overview of the most critical data for traders, such as an interactive ETF flow chart and total ETF issuer balances.

The approval of the Ether ETFs marks a significant milestone for the industry, wrote Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik in an announcement shared with Cointelegraph:

“We’re thrilled to launch our ETH ETF dashboard, showcasing how Nansen empowers investors with real-time insights. As the first of its kind, it provides crucial information on ETF flows, supporting informed decisions.”

The launch of the dashboard was announced shortly after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave the final regulatory nod to ETF issuers on July 22. The first batch of Ether ETFs is set to launch on July 23.

Ether ETF will bolster institutional adoption — Nansen analyst

The debut of the first spot Ether ETFs could introduce new institutional and retail capital into the crypto space, and analysts are optimistic about the potential inflows.

The new ETF could also bolster institutional participation in the crypto space, according to Edward Wilson, an analyst at Nansen, who wrote:

"We’re optimistic about demand for this new asset, which would ultimately lead to increased institutional participation in the ecosystem and the broader adoption of digital assets.”

In terms of inflows, Ether ETFs could capture around 25% of the assets under management of the current spot Bitcoin ETFs, Charles d’Haussy, CEO of the dYdX Foundation, told Cointelegraph.

Yet, others believe that the ETFs may disappoint in the short term. Ether ETFs may only be a “sidekick” to the more established spot Bitcoin ETFs in terms of inflows, Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, told Cointelegraph:

“Bitcoin is like enough crypto hot sauce. You’re like, ‘You know, I’m good.’ These things move together anyway. Ethereum is harder to explain, but I’m just seeing it being a sidekick [to Bitcoin].”

ETFs can greatly influence the price appreciation of the underlying crypto asset. For instance, Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs accounted for approximately 75% of new investments by Feb. 15, coinciding with its rise above the $50,000 mark.

More transparency for institutional Ether ETF flows

Nansen’s Ether ETF dashboard aims to provide more transparency for the blockchain space, including for institutional buying patterns.

The dashboard will also provide users with an overview of institutional ETF flows in an effort to unlock a more “holistic view of the market” and allow users to make more data-driven decisions.

Why Investors Bet on Risky Ethereum ETFs?. Source: Cointelegraph

In contrast, investors looking at spot Bitcoin ETF flows had to rely on Dune analytics dashboards or ETF flow table charts, which provided less transparency than a holistic ETF dashboard.

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As the spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are about to see their first day of trading, asset manager Bitwise pledged to donate 10% of its profits to Ethereum developers. 

On July 22, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the final S-1 statements required to launch the spot Ether (ETH) ETFs on stock exchanges. This includes Nasdaq, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

As it debuts its ETF on the NYSE, Bitwise said that 10% of all its profits from the Bitwise Ethereum ETF (ETHW) will go to two Ethereum-focused organizations.

Bitwise to donate 10% of ETF profits to Ethereum devs

According to Bitwise, the proceeds will go to Protocol Guild, which supports over 170 core contributors to research and development for the Ethereum layer-1 protocol. Furthermore, part of the proceeds will also go to the PBS Foundation, a nonprofit that funds open-source Ethereum block relays and provides grants toward Ethereum decentralization.

Hong Kim, Bitwise’s chief technology officer, said that Ethereum is maintained by a dedicated community of open-source developers. Kim explained:

“Every investor in ETHW wants Ethereum to continue to advance, and this donation program contributes to that goal.”

Bitwise also promised to publish the wallet addresses of all of its ETHW holdings. This will allow investors to verify the fund’s holdings and flows by checking the blockchain directly.

Bitwise made a similar move for its spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs. In January, the company announced that it would donate 10% of its profits on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) to the open-source development of Bitcoin.

Apart from Bitwise, VanEck also pledged 5% of its spot Bitcoin ETF profits to Bitcoin core developers in January. The asset management firm said it also made a $10,000 donation to Bitcoin developers.

Related: Spot Ether ETFs ‘unlikely to be dramatic’ but would get steady capital — Binance CEO

Ether price will be “sensitive” to ETF inflows

Crypto analytics firm Kaiko believes that the price of ETH will be sensitive to the inflows of the ETFs that will be launched. Kaiko’s head of indexes, Will Cai, said that while a full demand picture may not emerge for several months, the price of ETH could be sensitive to the inflow numbers in the first days.

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The United States Securities Exchange and Securities Commission (SEC) has approved the VanEck Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF), marking a huge milestone for the market.

The Notice of Effectiveness of the ETF was filed on July 22 under the form S-1 and aims to provide investors with a regulated means of gaining exposure to Ether (ETH) in the US.

The approval follows a series of filing and amendments submitted to the SEC, reflecting a long line of regulatory scrutiny as the global investment manager pushes the ETF through.

Related: Grayscale’s spot Ether ETFs launch on New York Stock Exchange

The approval and key filings

VanEck began pushing for the Ethereum ETF with its initial registration filing on May 7, 2021, revealing prolonged efforts and delays to meet the regulatory standards required for its approval.

Essential filings that led up to the approval include the Prospectus under Rule 424(b)(3) and multiple amendments to the S-1 form as the firm adjusted to SEC compliance requirements.

The S-1 form is required by the SEC for companies planning their first public securities offering, while the Rule 424(b)(3) prospectus provides final offering details after the S-1 is effective.

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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Human identity project Worldcoin denied the recent allegations that it allowed insiders to profit from the movements of its token and highlighted that it has “zero tolerance” for such activities. 

On July 17, decentralized finance (DeFi) insights account DeFi Squared published an X post alleging that the Worldcoin (WLD) project engaged in price manipulation. Furthermore, the account said that it was possible that someone from the team “used insider information” to buy the token before the project announced a delay to its native token unlock schedule.

Apart from DeFi Squared, pseudonymous crypto investigator ZachXBT also chimed in, alleging that Worldcoin allowed insiders to profit from its “scam token.” The blockchain analyst said that team members and venture capitalists are complicit in what ZachXBT described as “the biggest scam token of the bull run.”

Worldcoin denies allegations of allowing insider trading

A Worldcoin spokesperson denied the allegations hurled toward it. According to Worldcoin, they are taking these allegations seriously and would not allow such activities. The spokesperson told Cointelegraph:

“The Worldcoin Foundation and contributor Tools for Humanity take any allegation of insider trading, even if unfounded and unsubstantiated, seriously and would have zero tolerance for such activity if it were to occur.”

The spokesperson added that the two organizations have not found evidence validating the claims of insider trading activities and price manipulation. The Worldcoin representative claims that they maintain a strict market integrity policy that works to prevent these activities.

The Worldcoin representative also said that the people covered by their policies are “at all times prohibited from disclosing confidential information relevant to WLD purchasing decisions.” The spokesperson added that during the relevant timings, they were on an active blackout period, prohibiting them from engaging in any WLD trading activities.

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Worldcoin delays token unlock by two years

The recent allegations against Worldcoin come amid its decision to delay the unlocking of 80% of its supply by two years. On July 16, Tools for Humanity (TFH) published a blog post extending the unlock period for tokens held by its team members and investors.

Worldcoin’s 1-month price chart. Source: CoinGecko

Following the unlock delay announcement, WLD prices soared by 68% in two days, making it one of CoinGecko’s top gainers at the time. Currently, the token sits at $2.36.

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