press release

PRESS RELEASE. ESTONIA — MARCH 8, 2021 — YIELD App, the DeFi wealth management platform bridging traditional and digital finance, is pleased to announce the launch of its Ethereum fund, allowing users to earn high-interest returns on their Ether (ETH). Following a successful public launch and token listing (YLD), YIELD App can now offer its users up to 20% APY on their ETH and stablecoins. Ethereum deposits will be gradually open to YIELD App users over the next several days. The platform now accepts deposits of USDC, USDT, ETH, and YLD.

YIELD App has seen notable progress since the public launch of its web application on 12 February 2021. Over 10,000 users have already registered, helping the platform reach more than USD $5 million AUM. Currently, over 33 million YLD tokens are held in YIELD App wallets – accounting for over 30% of the current supply – and more than 500 users have “Tier 5” accounts (20,000+ YLD), granting them a 10% APY boost.

Designed for both the retail and institutional market, YIELD App accommodates the needs of investors interested in digital asset classes while also allowing crypto veterans to capitalize on DeFi’s incredible opportunities without navigating a sea of complex protocols. DeFi is powerful, and YIELD App serves as a gateway for users to benefit from DeFi’s high-interest yields while keeping their funds secure and protected. The new Ether fund enables users to now receive the same high-interest yields of the DeFi Alpha Fund I without selling the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap.

“Ether is the backbone of decentralized finance, and many consider it the most important cryptocurrency in the world,” says Tim Frost, CEO of YIELD App. “We want to provide people with the opportunity to earn high interest on their Ether without selling the asset that allowed DeFi to emerge and could very well be the home to the future of global finance. This is an important milestone on our roadmap and a great development for our client base, who are looking for more ways to passively earn on crypto assets they want to hold long-term.”

Decentralized finance (DeFi) refers to a breadth of financial instruments and tools built on top of blockchains like Ethereum. DeFi removes the middleman from the equation and provides equal access and opportunities for everyone by using technology that is open, transparent, and immutable. Many of DeFi’s most popular protocols have taken familiar aspects of conventional finance (such as borrowing, lending, and insurance) and rebuilt them from the ground up, all powered and possible through blockchain.

DeFi has continued to set new records this year. Since 1 January 2021, DeFi’s total value locked (TVL) has climbed from USD $15 billion to $35 billion, a 233% increase. DeFi’s growth has been spectacular, but accessibility has hampered mainstream adoption. YIELD App bridges the divide by building a DeFi-powered service that is intuitive, secure, and backed by DeFi’s most innovative protocols. In the near future, YIELD App will launch additional funds, fiat ramps, in-app token swaps for each token pair, and card services.

About YIELD App

YIELD App believes that everyone should have access to the best investment opportunities. YIELD App’s mission is to unlock the full potential of DeFi and make it available to the world. To achieve this, the company provides an innovative platform that bridges traditional and decentralized finance in the easiest way possible. For more information, visit yield.app.

This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

Source: news.bitcoin.com

Author: Press release

Morgan Stanley, Soros Tap Into Bitcoin, Speedy Taproot, Ethereum’s Berlin + More News

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

US-based NYDIG, a Stone Ridge-run subsidiary firm that provides crypto services to institutional investors, said it raised USD 200m in a growth capital round led by Stone Ridge, Morgan Stanley, New York Life, MassMutual, Soros Fund Management, and FS Investments, among others. NYDIG claims that insurers now own, in aggregate, more than USD 1bn of direct and indirect bitcoin (BTC) exposure facilitated by NYDIG, and held on this platform.

CI Global Asset Management announced that Canadian securities regulators have issued a receipt for the final prospectus of the CI Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, which is expected to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange starting tomorrow, March 9.

Crypto lending platform Celsius Network (CEL) has an implied valued of USD 3.13bn, approximately three times greater than its current market capitalization of USD 1.1bn, according to research from Alpha Sigma Capital. Taking into account the USD 126.14m in revenue the company generated last year, the report found that “Celsius is currently undervalued.”

Crypto startup Eco opened its rewards-focused Eco App to the public, following an alpha test with millions of dollars deposited, the team behind it said. Furthermore, according to the announcement, they have raised more than USD 35m, including over USD 26m in a recent round led by a16z Crypto, with participation from Founders Fund, Activant Capital, Slow Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Tribe Capital, Valor Capital Group, and more than a hundred other funds and angels.

A new activation proposal is being voted on regarding Taproot, a proposed protocol upgrade that should improve Bitcoin’s privacy and flexibility. Opinions are being expressed and votes cast on Speedy Trial (ST) proposal, the goal of which is to allow the Taproot activation attempt to succeed or fail quickly, with all commenters so far giving it their support, though some with additional provisions / reservations. Per the document detailing the proposal, shortly after the release of software containing this proposed activation logic, nodes would begin counting blocks towards the 90% threshold required to lock in Taproot. If the lock-in threshold isn’t reached within three months, the activation attempt fails – there is no mandatory activation and everybody tries again with different activation parameters. If the lock-in threshold is reached, Taproot is guaranteed to activate, but not until around six months after signal tracking started.

Berlin, an Ethereum (ETH) upgrade, is scheduled to go live on the Ethereum mainnet at block 12 244 000, the Ethereum Foundation said. “We expect this to happen around Wednesday, April 14, 2021, but because of block time variability, the exact date may change,” they added. This upgrade encompasses five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIP), including updates to gas cost efficiencies and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Ripple has reiterated its claim that the American regulatory Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) is “dead wrong” in its claims that the XRP token is an unregistered security. The comments came after it scored a legal victory against the British investment and asset manager Tetragon Financial. The latter had asked an American court to allow it to redeem its Series C preferred Ripple stock holdings and block the American firm from using cash and assets until payment had been completed. But a Delaware judge ruled that Tetragon’s claims were not applicable as the SEC’s case against Ripple is still unresolved. Ripple said, per Bloomberg, “The SEC still has to try to prove their case in court, which we do not believe they will be able to do.”

The imprisoned software tycoon John McAfee claimed on Twitter that the SEC’s “allegations are overblown,” adding: “My team evaluated every promotion based on management, business plans and potential. No one could have foreseen the altcoin market crash. We were paid in the same coins that crashed.” McAfee further argued that his dogecoin (DOGE) and other coins’ promotion were not pump and dumps.

Much of the new allegations from the Feds are about my “coin of the day”. For a few days in 2017 I chose coins I believed had value.

One of them was Doge – now being touted years later by Elon Musk. The coin has increased well over 1000% since I chose it.

Not a pump and dump.

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) March 7, 2021

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), America’s top tax body, said it has launched a project named Operation Hidden Treasure, which will involve training its agents to hunt for individuals who fail to report their crypto income. Per and article on forbes.com, the IRS’ Director of the Office of Fraud Enforcement, Damon Rowe, told a meeting of the Federal Bar Association that its agents will learn how to examine blockchain networks to identify potential instances of tax evasion, and will work with Europe’s Europol in its endeavors.

The investment banking giant JPMorgan is set to step up its crypto game with a series of new hires – intended in part to bolster the workings of its JPM coin token, which it launched in autumn last year. Per its website, the company now has 56 open blockchain-related jobs, mostly based in the USA, India, Singapore, and the UK. The firm is also keen to step up its work on the Liink interbank cross-border payments platform.

Hamburg-headquartered private bank Donner & Reuschel is set to offer cryptocurrency buying and custody to its clients. They will launch this offering “as soon as possible,” reported local media, adding that this is a result of high market demand for digital asset custody.

Entertainment software company Atari SA plans to start an online casino next month, said Bloomberg. The companies expect to see bets of USD 150m in 2021 and USD 400m over two years. According to the announcement, the casino is developed in partnership with Decentral Games (which is backed by Digital Currency Group, whose main subsidiary is Grayscale Investments) on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, and it will include Atari-themed games and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which can be leveraged to earn digital currency.

Publicly-listed mining company Argo Blockchain has finalized its acquisition of a new, 320-acre land plot in West Texas, United States, which it plans to use for the construction of a new 200MW cryptocurrency mining facility in the next 12 months. Per the press release, Argo Blockchain acquired DPN LLC, and by extension the Texas acreage, for an initial price of USD 5m satisfied by the issue of around 3.5m new shares in Argo to DPN shareholders. “A further payment of shares worth up to USD 12.5m will also occur if certain contractual milestones are fulfilled,” it said.

Source: cryptoliveinsider.com

Ethereum rolls out Berlin upgrade with 4 EIPs

After months of planning, the Ethereum community has laid out a timeline for its upcoming Berlin upgrade, marking an important milestone in its development roadmap.

Berlin is scheduled to go live on the Ethereum mainnet at block 12,244,000, or Apr. 14, Tim Beiko wrote on Monday. Ropsten, the first testnet to upgrade, is scheduled for Mar. 10. The Goerli and Rinkeby networks are expected to upgrade in one-week increments on Mar. 17 and Mar. 24, respectively.

Ethereum node operators are being advised to upgrade to a Berlin-compatible version as soon as possible for the three testnets and before Apr. 7 for the mainnet. Beiko explained:

“Ethereum node operators should upgrade their nodes prior to the fork block on the networks they want to participate in. Due to block time variability, it is recommended to update several days before the expected date.”

Exchanges, wallet service providers and ETH holders are not required to do anything to accommodate the upgrade.

A total of four Ethereum Improvement Protocols, or EIPs, will be implemented via Berlin. They include:

EIP-2565, which lowers the cost of the ModExp precompile;

EIP-2929, which increases certain gas costs;

EIP-2718, which introduces a new transaction type; and

What cryptocurrency will become the main one in a year?

BitcoinEthereum

EIP-2930, which includes a transaction type with optional access lists.

Berlin follows the Istanbul and Muir Glacier upgrades, which took place in December 2019 and January 2020, respectively. The current upgrade was named after Devcon 0, which took place in Berlin. Ethereum’s next planned upgrade will be called London, where Devcon 1 happened.

Ethereum is still riding the momentum of its Eth2 rollout in December 2020. Eth2 kicks off a multiyear upgrade of the blockchain network as it attempts to transition from existing proof-of-work consensus to a proof-of-stake model.

The ETH price rose 6.5% on Monday to $1,767. At current values, Ethereum has a total market capitalization of $201 billion.

Source: news.lazyhackers.in