DeFi News Official TheBitTimes.com

Block has completed the design of its new prototype ASIC chip which it says will fast-track its plan to bring “open source” Bitcoin mining rig design to market. Block, a financial services and technology company owned by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has announced it has completed the prototype design of its new five-nanometre (5nm) Bitcoin (BTC) mining chip — which it claims is key to decentralizing the supply of Bitcoin mining rigs. According to a blog post published on April 28, Block explained that developing Bitcoin mining ASIC rigs is both financially and technically challenging. The result of this has been “the excessive concentration of custom bitcoin mining silicon” in the hands of a select few companies. Block deems this centralization harmful to both miners and the Bitcoin network as a whole. We have an update on our Mining initiative. This one is about ASICshttps://t.co/bJOM9YNxfl — Thomas Templeton (@TempletonThomas) April 28, 2023 Notably, the San Francisco headq...

The CME Group aims to offer market participants more accuracy and flexibility in managing the risk of short-term fluctuations in the prices of Bitcoin and Ether. On Apr. 17, derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group, announced it will broaden its range of cryptocurrency options by adding new options to its standard and micro-sized Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) contracts. Pending regulatory review, these new contracts will be available from May 22, and expiries will be available every day of the business week from Monday to Friday.  According to the announcement, CME Group's expanded suite of cryptocurrency options will include new expiry dates for Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts. These options will now expire every day from Monday to Friday, providing traders with greater flexibility to manage short-term price risks. Furthermore, options on micro-sized Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts will add Tuesday and Thursday expiries to their existing Monday, We...

Decentralized social media platforms could provide the potential for users to own their content, and data, and make decisions about monetization. Talk of decentralized social media platforms continue to gain significant traction, with users becoming increasingly concerned with the centralized nature of traditional platforms and the potential for censorship. Even the former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey has publicly pushed for a decentralized Twitter alternative.  Cointelegraph interviewed Rick Porter, the CEO of decentralized social media start-up DSVR, about the potential these platforms have to change the way users interact and share information online. Porter said that decentralized social media platforms provide, “the potential for users to own their content, their data, and make decisions about its monetization.” Porter also believes that decentralized social media platforms can be profitable for the platforms and users, alike. According to him, decentralized social media platforms...

A number of challenges must be overcome in order for “phygital” NFT projects to gain traction. Despite the crypto winter, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) continue to draw interest. This has become apparent as many brands and retailers have started to offer digital NFTs attached to physical products. Known as “phygitals,” these offerings allow real-world products to be tied to digital NFTs.  For example, RTFKT — a digital fashion and collectible company — recently launched a project called Cryptokicks iRL. According to sources, RTFKT is creating digitally-designed sneakers backed by a physical product. RTFKT’s official Twitter account recently tweeted that Lace Engine NFT holders will be able to reserve a pair of Cryptokicks iRL, which can then be redeemed for its physical version starting May 1, 2023. 1/ We are allowing all Lace Engine holders to reserve their sneakers in the RTFKT Interdimensional Hub. This will allow holders till May to figure out a US shipping address. To pick up a Lac...

The service will initially be rolled out to select PayPal users within the United States. Digital payments platform PayPal has teamed up with MetaMask parent company ConsenSys to allow MetaMask users to purchase and transfer Ether (ETH) via PayPal’s platform. According to the Dec. 14 announcement, the service will initially be rolled out only to select PayPal users within the United States, as the country is one of MetaMask’s largest markets in terms of users.  Our US users will now be able to fund their Wallet with ETH via @PayPal! Rolling out in the next weeks in the US, excl. Hawaii, through our mobile app (make sure to update to v5.13.0)https://t.co/392JwFYF3m — MetaMask (@MetaMask) December 14, 2022 The collaboration is intended to allow users to seamlessly purchase and transfer ETH from PayPal to MetaMask by simply logging onto their Mobile MetaMask App, which will then redirect them to their PayPal account to complete transactions.  Lorenzo Santos, product manager f...