Author: RareHippo News

A former sovereign wealth fund professional is targeting $150 million for crypto fund of funds under the Nural Capital banner, betting on the Web3 revolution, with backing from one of the industry’s biggest moneymakers. Rabia Iqbal plans to close the new firm’s first fund at the end of February, according to a source familiar with the matter and marketing materials obtained by Blockworks. Iqbal declined to comment. Nural’s flagship vehicle, First Light Fund, plans to deploy capital to crypto-focused hedge and venture capital managers, along with token investments and direct equity stakes in the blockchain sphere. “First Light was constructed…

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The official Twitter account of meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin has surpassed three million followers. It’s the second-largest cryptocurrency on the popular social media platform behind only Bitcoin. For comparison, rival meme coin Shiba Inu has 2.7 million Twitter followers. The Dogecoin account has witnessed astonishing growth over the past year, recording a 681% increase in followers. The canine coin’s Reddit community also boasts 2.3 million subscribers. It was the most viewed cryptocurrency-related subreddit of 2021. Dogecoin’s popularity exploded in the fourth quarter of 2021 because of its Elon Musk-driven price rally. The Twitter account topped a million followers by the end…

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Real estate sales on metaverse platforms surpassed half a million dollars last year, according to metaverse analytics firm Metametric Solutions. The company added that real estate sales on four major metaverse platforms — Sandbox, Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and Somnium — reached $501 million in 2021. The four platforms have a total of 268,645 parcels of varying sizes on them. The analytics company has projected that real estate sales in the metaverse could double this year, reaching nearly $1 billion in 2022. The metaverse real estate market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 31% from 2022 to 2028,…

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Shiba Inu has lost some of its luster since soaring 45,000,000% last year. The popular meme token has slipped about 37% so far this year. And at today’s price, more Shiba Inu holders are losing money than making money, according to IntoTheBlock data. One big concern about this crypto player is its limited utility. In recent days, though, Shiba Inu announced something that could expand utility — and in one of the world’s hottest new areas. I’m talking about the metaverse. These are virtual worlds where users can buy land, build houses, and take part in a many other virtual activities. Shiba…

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Phantom, a crypto wallet for accessing the Solana ecosystem, has raised $109 million in a Series B funding round and is now valued at $1.2 billion. Paradigm led Phantom’s funding. Existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Variant Fund, Jump Capital, DeFi Alliance, and Solana Ventures, also participated in the round. This was an equity funding round and will help Phantom expand across multiple blockchains, including adding support for Ethereum before the end of this year, its CEO Brandon Millman told The Block. Phantom is also looking to launch its Android app in the first half of this year, said Millman.…

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When cryptocurrency companies started making their presence felt in Western New York, some economic development officials began expressing concern that while the businesses could make use of vacant industrial sites, they would also create environmental headaches, but not jobs. Blockfusion is trying to put the lie to that belief. “Around 58 people in December were working on our facility. We currently have over 20 positions open on our website. We are interviewing daily,” CEO Alex Martini-Lo Manto said. “We can’t hire fast enough.” Mayor Robert M. Restaino was impressed with what he heard in a recent meeting with Martini-Lo Manto.…

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Once billed as one of the hottest rising stars in crypto, Solana’s repeated run-ins with bots, outages and frustrated traders during the recent market crash might be about to knock the blockchain network off its pedestal. The protocol suffered its sixth serious outage of more than eight hours this month over the weekend, which a notice on its website attributed to excessive duplicate transactions causing a high level of network congestion. Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko also pointed to an explanation on Twitter which cited market volatility as causing downtime, as bots rushed to earn bounties on leveraged positions eligible for liquidation. During these periods of…

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An explosion of fervor around the buzzy blockchain-based digital collectibles known as non-fungible tokens has helped OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, top $4 billion in trading volume this month for the first time ever, defying the broader cryptocurrency market’s lackluster performance as celebrities and corporations embrace the hype around NFTs. KEY FACTS Buoyed by as much as $261 million in daily trading volume, NFTs on OpenSea topped $4 billion in trading volume for the month of January after posting $218 million in trades Wednesday, adding to a monthly record that’s up nearly 20% from the previous peak of $3.4…

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In the light of several reports of suspicious activities on users’ accounts, the leading cryptocurrency payments provider, Crypto.com, has announced that it will be suspending its withdrawal services. In a tweet on Monday, Crypto.com noted that it has received a number of reports from its users alleging that their Crypto.com wallets have been compromised and funds transferred out of them. Customers’ Funds “Safe”; Or Are They? Per the announcement, the exchange pointed out that its team is conducting every necessary assessment to efficiently determine the issue, adding that users do not need to panic as their funds are safe. https://twitter.com/cryptocom/status/1483050866894868484?s=20 However,…

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Binance Holdings Ltd. reached an agreement with Thai billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi’s Gulf Energy Development PCL to study a digital asset exchange in the Southeast Asian nation. The Bangkok-based firm said the memorandum of understanding with Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, is driven by the likely “rapid growth” of Thailand’s digital infrastructure in the coming years, according to a letter to the Stock Exchange of Thailand seen by Bloomberg.  A Binance spokesperson said “it’s the first step” to exploring opportunities in Thailand. Gulf Energy Development and the Thai stock exchange didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The partnership marks…

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