A month after offering OTC (Over The Counter) Bitcoin options, American multinational investment firm Goldman Sachs is now reportedly contemplating adding OTC Ethereum options to its growing list of services.

Andrei Kazantsev, the banks Global Head of Crypto Trading, recently revealed the idea at a Goldman client webinar, citing rising interest in the world's second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap from the bank's customers. He also announced that the bank plans to eventually launch cash-settled Ether options as well.

Customers have been paying greater attention to Ethereum since the bank launched OTC Bitcoin options back in mid-March, which they now regard as somewhat of an investable asset class, as per the words of George Lewin-Smith, an associate who works alongside Goldman Sach's virtual assets team.
 

The United Kingdom government has declared its intentions to mint its very own NFT as part of a drive to become a world leader in the crypto and DeFi sector.

As such, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has directed the Royal Mint, the government-owned firm in charge of minting coins in the U.K, to design and release the NFT by the summer. More information, according to City Minister John Glen, will be available very shortly.

Minister Glen also highlighted a number of initiatives the U.K will take to increase regulatory control and overall acceptance of digital assets, including intentions to:

1. Bring stablecoins into compliance with the countrys existing electronic payment rules.
2. Consult on establishing a world-leading system for regulating the trade in BTC and various altcoins.
3. Request that the Law Commission investigate the legal standing of blockchain-based communities known as DAOs.
4. Investigate the tax implications of DeFi loans and staking.
5. Create a Cryptoasset Engagement Group, which will be led by ministers and shall include representatives from U.K authorities and crypto companies.
6. Investigate the use of blockchain technology in the issuance of debt instruments.

The team behind the popular Axie Infinity (AXS) crypto P2E game recently announced that they will repay online users who lost their money after hackers reportedly stole about $600 million from the game's blockchain infrastructure not too long ago.

What exactly happened?

Hackers recently took advantage of a security flaw in a bridge, the technology that converts tokens into ones which can be utilized on another network, to steal 173,600 ETH as well as 25.5 million USDC tokens in two transactions. According to Ronin, the blockchain that powers Axie Infinity, the compromise occurred on March 23rd but was only identified on March 29th.

As per Aleksander Leonard Larsen, Chief Operating Officer of Sky Mavis, the team is entirely dedicated to reimbursing the users as quickly as feasible, and a solution is still being worked on.

The assets stolen include deposits of gamers and speculators as well as Axie Infinity Treasury earnings. Larsen said that 56,000 ETH taken belonged to the Treasury and that the company does not suspect insider participation in the crime as of this moment.

What happens now?

Axie Infinity is one of the most popular P2E games today, which like The Sandbox (SAND) and various other Play-To-Earn games, enable players to acquire tradeable cryptocurrencies. Daily active users increased last year in Covid-affected developing nations such as Brazil, Venezuela, and the Philippines.

However, following the aforementioned exploit, it is difficult to ascertain as to what the game's future will be. There are already many other P2E alternatives that gamers could always shift to, so the pressure is on the Axie Infinity team to quickly and decisively resolve the ongoing issue so as to guarantee that it cannot happen again. Moreover, an increasing number of people believe that the fact the hack was only discovered almost a week after it happened is indeed a red flag and it might be time to leave Axie Infinity behind if the users cannot be reimbursed quickly.

With everything that has been happening over the past few years, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, China shutting down all crypto mining efforts within the country, and most recently the Russia-Ukraine war, it is becoming abundantly evident that Bitcoin (BTC) holders may simply not want to sell anymore as the market continues its road to recovery.

Stablecoins like TerraUSD (UST) become increasingly popular

Do Kwon, the creator of Terraform Labs and Ethereum Layer-1 blockchain rival Terra, appears to be seeking to amass USD $10 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) reserves for the project. The purchase will go a long way towards backing the projects BTC stablecoin, known as TerraUSD (UST). Also, not only is this number in the same conversation as the large amounts being famously purchased by MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor, but Terras buying of BTC will in all likelihood happen more gradually as opposed to sporadically.  If everything goes as planned though, the crypto industry believes it might be a huge bull-run catalyst.

Since the values of Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), and altcoins such as Dogecoin (DOGE) have grown more erratic in recent months, cryptocurrency enthusiasts are increasingly gravitating toward stablecoins such as Terra to invest in due to their more predictable price action. With a total market cap of more than $34 billion, LUNA, the native token of the blockchain network Terra, is the ninth largest cryptocurrency, overtaking both Polkadot (DOT) and Avalanche (AVAX).

Why is Terra important?

TerraUSD is a stablecoin designed to lessen the volatility associated with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Tether (USDT), another popular stablecoin, is linked to more traditional currencies, such as the U.S dollar, using cash and cash equivalents rather than an algorithm and accompanying reserve token.

Terra was created in 2018 by Do Kwon and Daniel Shin. Kwon also serves as the CEO of Terraform Labs as previously alluded to, the same company that is developing the Terra ecosystem as well as protocol.

Moreover, the Terra ecosystem is a fast expanding network of decentralized applications (dApps), which has resulted in continuous Terra demand and rising Luna prices. Terra stablecoins can thus be spent, saved, traded, and swapped on the Terra blockchain. Terraform Labs does not profit from transactions involving their crypto. According to Kwon, it is entirely reliant on external money to function.

Terras value almost doubled this past February, increasing from a low of $47 to $91 and is now worth more than $100. The war between Russia and Ukraine is partly responsible for the increase in its value. With the way that the world and the crypto market in general is going, it is becoming abundantly clear that stablecoins like Terra will in all likelihood continue to perform exceedingly well as more investors are actively choosing to play it safe and rely on dependable stablecoins.

Searches for the phrase Ethereum Merge have recently surged considerably among blockchain investors and crypto enthusiasts, owing to the fact that its structure shall soon be modified in pursuit of improving overall energy level efficiency.

The shift implies that Ethereum will transition from a PoW (Proof-of-Work) methodology to a PoS (Proof-of-Stake) mechanism, with the goal of reducing its reliance on fossil fuels and thereby decreasing the damage caused to the environment.

One of the aims of this move is to render Ethereum cryptographic mining unnecessary in order to lessen the environmental effect of the process, as well as to increase blockchain security against possible assaults and exploits.

Nevertheless, as a result of this merger, fewer tokens will be minted since the quantity of Ether will be reduced. Additionally, Ethereum merge will not result in the formation a new token and the transaction costs wont be reduced either, according to Ethereum developer Tim Beiko.

Kraken, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, now supports Bitcoin's Lightning Network for low-cost and quick BTC withdrawals and deposits.

According to Pierre Rochard, Bitcoin Product Manager at Kraken, adoption will primarily come from consumers who have fiat in their bank accounts and want to convert it to Bitcoin.

He went on to suggest that Kraken appears to be an ideal venue for them to do so, after which they may top up their mobile Lightning wallet and utilize it as a medium of exchange. That is certainly the next phase in the evolution of Bitcoin, he concluded.

Kraken became a member of the Lightning Network and established its own Lightning node. As such, every client may now use the new integration which permits withdrawals and deposits of maximum 0.1 BTC, or 10 million satoshis, per transaction.

After three years and one veto, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has officially signed a bill into law earlier today that intends to extend the state's acceptance of blockchain technology across multiple industrial as well as financial sectors.

As a result of the legislation, Governor Inslee established the Washington Blockchain Work Group which would reportedly explore various possible uses for blockchain technology in the rapidly advancing digital age in which we currently find ourselves.

The Work Group will include seven government officials and eight leaders from various trade organizations from around the state. It will primarily research practical use-cases of blockchain technology and submit a report to Governor Inslee by December 1st, 2023.

With this, Washington becomes the most recent of many U.S. states to adopt blockchain technology or cryptocurrencies in general, including Wyoming, Texas and New York.
 

OpenSea, the highly popular NFT marketplace, has just provided a preview of its long-rumored integration of non-fungible tokens on the Solana blockchain, which is currently scheduled for April.

The video showed a sequence of community requests for Solana NFTs, with the caption proclaiming that this is infact the greatest kept secret in Web 3.0.

Presently, OpenSea only supports NFTs on the Klaytyn, Ethereum, and Polygon blockchains and is the worlds biggest marketplace with almost $24 billion (USD) in overall sales volume.

Although the majority of non-fungible tokens are on Ethereum, Solana nevertheless contains some significant NFT collections like Degenerate Ape Academy and Solana Monkey Business.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will officially begin accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments for taxes on urban real estate inside their municipal borders, also known as Imposto sobre a propriedade predial e territorial urbana (IPTU).

The new pro-cryptocurrency tax regulations will go into effect in 2023, according to the Secretary of Economic Development, Innovation, and Simplification, Chico Bulhes.

To that end, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced the opening of a new office in the region to support this cause led by Brazilian Mayor Eduardo Paes. With the implementation of this proposal, Rio de Janeiro will become the first Brazilian city to accept BTC payments.

Finally, there are also plans of implementing NFT-oriented governance regulations in a variety of areas, including tourism, culture and art.
 

With the crypto market seeing a brief upswing as of late, prominent digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) have all performed well.

Ethereum in particular, the second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, has actually seen its value remain over $3k for many days now, allowing its market capitalization to officially surpass that of traditional financial organizations such as Bank of America and MasterCard.

On the right track but a long way to go

Notwithstanding its recent climb, Ethereum remains well behind other major financial companies like JPMorgan Chase. Nevertheless, this specific banks market capitalization pales in comparison to Bitcoin, which is presently worth more than $840 billion.

Moreover, the Ethereum market cap has since increased by over 10% in the previous week to more than $375 billion as of the time of this writing. This growth also correlates with the assets value increasing by around 11% to its current price of more than $3,000. This is entirely understandable considering that recent reports indicated that huge sums of ETH withdrawals frequently preceded an increase in the coins price. This is clearly what is happening right now, since over 180,000 units of Ethereum were taken from various cryptocurrency exchanges about two weeks ago.

Another bullrun on the way?

In an attempt to comprehend what is driving Ethereums current price in its upward movement, some crypto analysts have speculated that the upcoming Ethereum Merge is attracting investors in droves.

As such, the highly anticipated change of the Ethereum network from a Proof of Work (PoW) system to a Proof of Stake (PoS) network will make the asset even more appealing to institutional investors who may be holding back due to worries about energy usage and environmental concerns. However, with the networks PoS update, more investors are likely to come into Ethereum.

Simultaneously, the network may be able to gain control of the NFT and DeFi spaces from other smart contract-oriented blockchains such as Avalanche, Cardano, and Solana. Still, as is so often the case in this sector, only time will tell what will happen as Ethereums rivals are experiencing success in their own right, particularly Charles Hoskinsons Cardano.

Unstoppable Domains, a top platform for user-controlled digital identity on Web 3.0 with over 2 million registered NFT (non-fungible token) domains, recently announced that they have hired two senior executives to oversee the company's worldwide development initiatives in Europe and Asia.

Big catches for Unstoppable Domains

As such, Sajjad Rehman has joined Unstoppable Domains as the new Head of Europe, after leaving Amazon's Twitch VP of Business Development EMEA. Meanwhile, Nilkanth Iyer, who formerly held senior positions at CAST and IBM, has joined the organization as the new Head of Asia.

Sandy Carter, Unstoppable Domains' Senior Vice President of Business Development, stated that the team is very excited to welcome two seasoned professionals who can help the platform make an impact in Europe, Asia, and beyond. She added that with Sajjad's and Nilkanth's assistance, Unstoppable Domains will continue to strengthen the new alliances in these locations, increase the staff, and finally welcome millions of new Web 3.0 consumers.

What will be the new hires' main responsibilities?

With nearly 15 years of experience behind him, Sajjad will primarily be responsible for onboarding new partners, including metaverse applications, cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges, fintech services, and lastly gaming platforms in Europe. Before Twitch, he served as the Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Jagex, where he was instrumental in the growth and exit of one of the U.K's most successful venture-backed game studios.

Meanwhile, Nilkanth Iyer will concentrate on collaborating with wallets and exchanges in Asia to capitalize on the enormous possibilities for development. Since partnering with India-based Layer-2 solution Polygon, Unstoppable Domains has gained significant traction in the region. Nilkanth formerly worked at IBM in cloud ecosystem development, where he was responsible for onboarding a million developers to the IBM Cloud Platform. He most recently assisted in the expansion of software intelligence business CAST in India, the Middle East, and ASEAN. He will leverage his extensive industry expertise to assist Unstoppable Domains gain further traction in major markets including South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.

With these two, Unstoppable Domains looks to live up to its moniker and truly become an unstoppable force on a global scale.

What is AQRU?

AQRU is a secure, easy-to-use and reliable investment platform that is available on the web as well as on all iOS and Android compatible devices. Users can buy or transfer a wide variety of cryptocurrency assets while simultaneously also earning annual interest of up to 12% on what they may invest in, which is paid every second.

AQRU is also registered in the Republic of Lithuania and is fully regulated, although it should be mentioned that the platform does not currently work with U.S based clients.

Why choose AQRU?

Naturally, there are many platforms out there which seem to offer the same service as AQRU. Upon closer inspection however, it becomes clear to see that this platform provides some unique and innovative features that may not be found elsewhere.

For starters, there is a 12% interest rate on various stablecoins and that the interest is paid in kind, which means that the USDT interest rate will be paid in USDT, DAI interest rate will be paid in DAI, and so on. If we were to compare this rate with others on the market, we would see that this is infact one of the highest available particularly when it comes to stablecoins. Moreover, the interest rate is 7% on BTC and ETH and there is even a $30 million insurance policy against hacking endeavors.

As if that werent enough, the interest is paid in real time per second as aforementioned. This is of the utmost significance as usually, most other platforms would normally have a lock-in period whereas with AQRU it is possible to withdraw funds whenever desired. There are also no fees whatsoever regarding the purchase of crypto assets, and the minimum deposit is just 100 EUR with no cap on how big the investment might be as the stated percentage on the total value of the investment is provided and paid daily with no hidden agenda or ulterior motives.

Finally, AQRU has instant withdrawals and cash withdrawals that function on a 24 hour basis with absolutely no lock-in periods either or any fees on fiat withdrawals. Needless to say, AQRU really has thought of everything.

But how does one sign up?

Getting started on AQRU couldnt be any simpler, as it only takes about 20 seconds to open an account and sign up. Upon registering, AQRU also offers a free 10 USDT bonus just for joining! Users are also encouraged to check out the website beforehand and see how everything works. Once signed up, they can then witness their interest growing in real-time.

Lastly, users will be required to verify their identities via a straightforward online verification system that only takes a couple of minutes to complete, after which deposit and withdrawal functionalities will be made available. As previously alluded to, the withdrawals can be made in either fiat or crypto, and whereas the fiat withdrawals are without any fees, there are however some low fees for crypto withdrawals. Lastly, users can expect to receive their asset within a day inclusive of the interest which would have been earned at the time.

For more information and regular updates, be sure to check out AQRUs website.