BNB Chain gives tech roadmap update for 2023
BNB Chain has published a comprehensive technological roadmap update for the network looking ahead to the rest of 2023.
The developers of the largest and most active blockchain in the world will continue to focus on scalability, user experience, and blockchain decentralization going forward, according to the February 14 blog post.
FLOKI soars over 40% after an Elon Musk joke
The popular meme-inspired cryptocurrency – FLOKI – spiked around 41% after Elon Musk uploaded a photo of his dog dressed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Twitter.
Other tokens, such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and SHIBA INU (SHIB), also climbed following Musk’s actions. The former is up nearly 6%, while the latter rose 5%.
Polygon sets March date for zkEVM mainnet Beta to go live
Polygon, an Ethereum scaling project, picked March 27 as the date for its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) beta main network to go live.
Polygon did not specify what the beta network will include but shared that the team will be releasing more details leading up to the March date in the coming weeks, and that security of the network will be of highest priority.
UAE central bank to issue CBDC as part of its financial transformation program
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) is planning to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for cross-border and domestic use as part of the first of its newly-launched financial infrastructure transformation (FIT) program.
The CBUAE introduced the FIT program and highlighted its aim to support the country’s financial services sector. The central bank highlighted that the program would promote digital transactions and enable the UAE’s competitiveness as a financial and digital payment hub.
US announces January CPI, the market reacts positively
Inflation rose in January by 0.5% following a 0.1% increase in December. The CPI was up 6.4% from the same period in 2022. Both numbers were higher than expected.
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 1.77% following the news, trading at $22,100. Ethereum is up 3.25%. In the past 24 hours, the entire market capitalization has increased by 2.5%, reaching 1.03 trillion USD.
Polkadot mulls research into ‘token morphism’ amid regulatory crackdown
Polkadot announced that it achieved token morphism in November 2022, a process it said was the direct result of three years of dialogue with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Now, the project is considering funding a study that will explore how it managed the feat, according to a post on its governance forum. The proposed purple paper will offer guidelines on token morphism for Polkadot and the wider crypto ecosystem.
CME Group records increased demand for crypto products despite bear market
Terrence A. Duffy, chairman and CEO of leading derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), disclosed that his company has noticed some growth in demand for its crypto products.
Duffy revealed that demand for CME’s crypto derivatives products has surged since November. The CME chief executive believes market conditions in 2022 could have affected institutional demand for its products.
Tether dominates Brazil
The federal tax authority, which compiles data from foreign and local exchanges on cryptocurrency usage, said that the value of all transactions for tether jumped 58% last year compared to a year earlier.
Last year, Brazil approved a law regulating cryptocurrencies, a major step forward as the country embraces digital assets.
Bitcoin hits record 44 million non-zero addresses
The launch of Bitcoin nonfungible tokens (NFTs) — known as Ordinals — has tipped the number of non-zero Bitcoin addresses to a new all-time high of 44 million, according to crypto analytics platform Glassnode.
In a Feb. 13 report from Glassnode, the firm explained that for the first time in Bitcoin’s 14-year history, a portion of network activity is being used for purposes other than peer-to-peer monetary Bitcoin (BTC) transfers.
Curve (CRV) surged because of “hinting” about stablecoin crvUSD
On February 14, Curve Finance posted a proposal to update the protocol, which would support stablecoin pools with built-in price reference oracle, support interaction with other DeFi projects.
Curve also implied that this update was necessary for crvUSD to operate autonomously. Many investors see this as a signal that Curve’s stablecoin is in the final stages of development and is about to be released. CRV was quick to react to the news, spiking by over 12% (for the past 24 hours).