BTC Media, the organizer of the world's largest Bitcoin conference, has released details about the expanded 2022 version of the event. Bitcoin 2022 is scheduled for April 6 to April 9 in Miami. Bitcoin 2021 saw more than 12,000 attendees descend upon Miami and organizers expect Bitcoin 2022 to play host to more than 30,000 Bitcoiners from around the world and millions more who will tune in to the multi-language live stream. 

The four-day event will feature an industry day, two general conference days, and a one-day &ldquoSound Money Fest" music festival. It will unite founders, C-suite executives, bitcoin experts and newcomers in Miami for panels and discussions, networking events, live performances, entertainment and giveaways. 

Bitcoin 2022 Industry Day on April 6 will be where the Bitcoin ecosystem converges with legacy finance, fintech and energy infrastructure, including content tracks and targeted networking tracks for institutional finance, institutional bitcoin mining, and Bitcoin technical development. Industry Day will host more than 6,000 global industry leaders, 80 speakers, 4,000 companies, and a pitch day serving as a platform for the next generation of Bitcoin startups. 

Tickets are now on sale, with three tiers of access announced: General Admission (April 7-9), Industry Pass (April 6-9), and Whale Pass (April 6-9). 

The Whale Pass is the event's most exclusive ticket, granting VIP access across all four days of the conference and including premium food and beverage, exclusive networking opportunities and matchmaking, dedicated transportation and concierge services, front-row seating, and access to Whale Night parties. Whale Passes for Bitcoin 2021 sold out after topping out at $21,000 per ticket. 

Organizers are also offering gratis and subsidized tickets to open-source Bitcoin contributors and students. More details coming soon. 

&ldquoAt Bitcoin 2021, we booed, we cheered, we laughed and we cried," said BTC Media CEO and event organizer David Bailey. &ldquoThe conference ran the emotional gamut, and our 2022 pilgrimage will do the same. This conference is going to capture the world's attention. Let's show them what freedom, sovereignty, and prosperity really mean. Get your tickets today, and we'll see you in Miami." 

If you are interested in partnering, speaking, volunteering, or would like to discuss other ways to be involved in the event, contact the team. 

Link to purchase tickets: https://b.tc/conference/registration

Link to contact the team: https://b.tc/conference/contact-form

 

The latest chapter of the Ripple vs. SEC saga was written last week when Ripple filed a petition to force the SEC to provide evidence detailing the trading behaviour of its employees as it pertains to BTC, ETH, and XRP. Ripple wants to know if SEC employees were actively holding or trading XRP. The letter additionally acknowledged that the defendant had already sought to obtain the anonymized trading records four times from the SEC and made no progress.

The Significance

As per the defendant's legal counsel, Ripple wishes to learn about the SEC's trading regulations regarding regulating digital assets, as well as if the agency permitted its personnel to trade XRP. The court approved Ripple's request to force the SEC to submit such documents back in June.

Moreover, the regulator accordingly issued a guideline titled "Ethics Guidance Regarding Digital Assets" at the start of 2018. It demonstrated that, up until January 2018, the agency had not prohibited its employees from dealing in cryptocurrencies. This, according to Ripple, is congruent with the SEC's stance that digital assets would generally not be viewed as securities, and so the entire lawsuit, integrity and credibility are hence called into question.

Judge Netburn Goes Back and Forth

Judge Sarah Netburn has concurred with XRP's legal team and will make a decisive ruling on deliberative process protocols on September 28th.

Netburn's judgment came at the end of a recent phone call, which intended to make progress and move past a disagreement over Ripple's petition for 'fair use' access to confidential SEC information and documentation. Judge Netburn will now take part in an on-camera study of the internal papers without the presence of Ripple's legal team in an attempt to determine if the SEC crossed a line in terms of deliberative process procedures.

However, Judge Sarah Netburn has also recently ordered Ripple to turn over a million internal staff Slack-based messages, possibly in an effort to be as impartial and unbiased as possible. The decision came after the SEC filed a request this past August to seek access to the messages, which are also measured in terabytes.

The abovementioned messages involve conversations about Ripple's goals of creating speculative trading via XRP, as well as the impact of Ripple announcements, efforts, and various concerns about XRP's price. The SEC is also interested in the connection and overall significance of XRP sales regarding Ripple's business activities, in addition to XRP's regulatory status.

Jack Dorsey and Twitter seem poised to deliver on the challenge posed by Elon Musk in their conversation at the B-Word conference, by integrating Bitcoin into payment methods for tipping of content creators on the social network. Twitter is reported to have included code in recent software update that indicates Bitcoin will be added to the Tip jar, joining Cash App, PayPal and Venmo as payment options. Jack spoke of his vision for Bitcoin implementation for his businesses in the B-Word, confronting Elon Musk with facts surrounding Bitcoin's true use of renewable energy, and Tesla's current position regarding accepting it as payment. Faced with the grounded in fact arguments Elon shifted the focus of the conversation by calling out Jack to move forward with Bitcoin acceptance in his businesses. Though Jack seemed to dodge answering the callout directly, his acknowledgement and smile provided a glimpse of his intent. Well Elon that Bitcoin adoption channel seems to be in the works, your move.

This move by Twitter to lay the ground work for Bitcoin acceptance on the platform is just the tip of the iceberg for Jack Dorsey and his companies. In August it was announced that Twitter and Square also had plans to build out a decentralized Bitcoin exchange, develop Bitcoin educational material, and plans for Square to roll out an assisted custody hardware wallet. Jack is moving forward with his plans and vision of Bitcoin as a key component of his future, and diving deep to explore the possibilities within his business lines.

Though he did not speak to his exact intentions for Bitcoin integration in the B-Word, he did indicate things were in the works, and Jack Dorsey's commitment to the best principles of Bitcoin were very well expressed. As mentioned in our earlier article, the B-Word was an explorative conversation between some forward thinking, influential minds, who can and are effecting adoption of Bitcoin for the right reasons. We like Jack Dorsey and his efforts developing creative and groundbreaking use cases for Bitcoin. Hopefully these latest announcements will spur Elon and Tesla to ante up, and also again accept Bitcoin payments.

 

It's hard to argue that Ethereum (ETH) currently reigns supreme as the king of the altcoins, but does this mean that its dominance is unchallengeable? We have borne witness to quite a few altcoins spike both in price and value recently, to the point that it has left several crypto enthusiasts to wonder about whether Ethereum will stay atop the altcoin mountain or if it will eventually be overtaken by one of its main competitors. Here's are our top three picks in the battle against Ethereum for base-layer supremacy.

Solana (SOL)

Solana has lately skyrocketed in popularity as the cryptocurrency's price continues to rise to new all-time highs. SOL was selling at around $30 a little over a month ago and the current price is a bit around $150, which is a phenomenal amount of growth, to say the least. Bandwidth and transaction costs are two issues that have often hampered cryptocurrencies. Solana overcomes both of these by enabling over 70,000 transactions per second at a low cost. It has additionally managed to perform more transactions since its debut in 2017 than that of Ethereum. Moreover, Solana's transaction speed and bandwidth make it ideal for general usage as well as the creation of exchanges and platforms on top of it.

Like Ethereum, Solana could soon begin burning tokens and like Cardano, smart contracts may be added soon too. Solanart, the project's NFT marketplace, had additionally managed to reach a new milestone of a million SOL in total volume. Make no mistake about it, Solana is highly scalable and a top contender that can certainly challenge Ethereum's dominance.

Cardano (ADA)

Currently sitting in the top three cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, Cardano (ADA) is only beaten by both Bitcoin (BTC) and its rival Ethereum. However, this is not to say that Charles Hoskinson's project hasn't been successful, far from it in fact. ADA was trading at less than $0.5 just over a year ago, which makes its recent growth all the more spectacular as it lately reached over $3 to set a new all-time high. With the Alonzo hard fork expected to occur on September 12th, we shall leave the &lsquoShelley' era behind and enter &lsquoGoguen', during which the highly anticipated smart contract capabilities will finally be added to the network. Once this happens, the developers will be allowed to build decentralized applications (dApps) on top of Cardano. Hoskinson is a former co-founder of Ethereum and while he has praised Vitalik Buterin for his work, it would not be a far-fetched assumption to say that Charles wouldn't want to challenge the altcoin king's dominance given his checkered history with it.

Polkadot (DOT)

Polkadot may be defined as a platform that enables several blockchains to communicate messages, particularly value, in a trust-less manner, while sharing their unique features and pooling their security. In a nutshell, it is a scalable heterogeneous multi-chain technology.

Polkadot seems to be heterogeneous primarily because it is completely adaptable and makes no assumptions about the type or structure of the network's links. All non-blockchain systems could become parachains if certain requirements are met. Polkadot is similar to a collection of separate chains (such as Ethereum or Bitcoin), but with two significant additions, namely trust-free interchain transact ability and pooled security. Currently, DOT's price is $33 per token, and while Polkadot has dropped down the ranks a bit, it is still in the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap. Like Cardano, Polkadot was founded by a former Ethereum co-founder, Gavin Wood.

Interested in buying a cryptocurrency before it goes mainstream? Here's the opportunity.

FRISCO, Texas - On August 24th, the Kranz Finance team announced the name of the new Decentralized Exchange Aggregator that is under development: OnlySwap, becoming the only swap necessary to use. OnlySwap will be using Kranz Token as an Automated Market Maker Token and as a Reward Token that will be rewarding businesses proportionally on every transaction for accepting cryptocurrency. Since Kranz Token has a burn function on every transaction, the supply will become increasingly scarce over time, especially after full implementation on the exchange.

What Is Kranz Token? KRZ Token is an ERC-20 and BEP-20 token contract that is covering the cost for, and rewarding, businesses to start accepting cryptocurrency.

What costs does Kranz Token cover for businesses? With its Integration Fund, Kranz purchases any necessary technology (like a new tablet/computer) or the cost of any software development (like website integration) to make accepting cryptocurrency easier.

How is Kranz Token rewarding businesses? Kranz has a Reward Fund with token allocations specifically set aside for businesses that cooperate with them and start accepting cryptocurrency.

Where does Kranz Token get its funding? There is a 1% fee on every transaction (with a 3% sell fee on Uniswap and Pancakeswap). 50% of the fees are burned, 30% goes toward the Integration Fund, 10% goes toward the Reward Fund, and 10% goes toward Liquidity.

The DEX Aggregator is only the first step. The Decentralized Exchange Aggregator is currently under development by OnlySwap, Inc., but they also have plans to unify a Centralized Exchange with it on the same website. This upcoming Centralized Exchange will be completely covering the arbitrage and volatility for businesses so that they can accept cryptocurrency and have the $USD that they need to be deposited directly into their business bank account.

Businesses who would like to accept cryptocurrency should e-mail: [email protected]

For more information, please visit https://www.kranz.finance/

How To buy Kranz: Kranz is available on XT.com, Uniswap, and Pancakeswap. KRZ is also available on the UniTrade bridge so that you can convert KRZ, back-and-forth, from an ERC-20 token to a BEP-20 token (https://www.unitrade.app/bridge).

XT.com Trade Link:

https://www.xt.com/trade/krz_usdt

Uniswap Link:

https://app.uniswap.org//swap?outputCurrency=0xf54b304e2e4b28c7e46619d1a340f9b2b72383d7

Pancakeswap Link:

https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance//swap?outputCurrency=0xf54b304e2e4b28c7e46619d1a340f9b2b72383d7

KRZ/ETH Chart View:

https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0x718e7c6022255fc9b7c6a43d0c00c8dca193321d

KRZ ETH and BSC Contract Address:

0xf54b304e2e4b28c7e46619d1a340f9b2b72383d7

Media Contact

Company: Kranz Finance

Contact: William Gill, Project Leader

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: https://www.kranz.finance/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KranzToken

SOURCE: Kranz Finance

GZIRA, Malta, Sept. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Polker (PKR) team, announces that they will organise a trading competition to celebrate their BitMart listing. This famous "Play-to-Earn" NFT Game Polker is also endorced by Akon, the Senegalese-American R&B superstar, singer, songwriter, and record producer from New Jersey. Akon has released a video voicing his support for Polker.game - an up-and-coming Play-to-Earn NFT game (Akon's video https://youtu.be/vONY86jRy-I ). Akon rose to fame in 2004 after the release of his album 'Locked Up' and is perhaps most famous for his hit single 'Smack That' featuring Eminem. Akon was even listed in Forbes top 100 most powerful Celebrities.

"Shoutout to Polker man, this game is revolutionary, I got a chance to play and wow, a card game experience in 3D, built-in Unreal Engine 4, this is hands down, this is the best play to earn, NFT game in the space." &ndash Akon

What is Polker.game?

Polker.game has just announced their Play-to-Earn platform, a unique and impressive online gaming experience utilizing Unreal Engine 4. The game is available for absolutely anyone to play, for those looking to play a couple of quick hands at a table without wagering any money &ndash then the game is available completely free.

Polker.game claims that their focus has always been on community, transparency, fairness, and also on creating a good game &ndash and they have certainly been successful in all aspects with this release. The game focuses on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and in-game upgrades which become available by winning more hands within the Polker platform. NFTs have been the biggest trend within the blockchain industry so far in 2021, and blockchain gaming is forecasted to be the next. With Polker integrating NFTs and blockchain gaming into its impressive gaming platform it really does seem set to be the next big thing.

$PKR & Polker.Game

$PKR is the native token of Polker.game and can be used to purchase NFTs, gaming assets like cosmetics, and can be staked with an impressive APR (Forecast of 15% as of August 2021). $PKR isn't required to play Polker due to the play-to-earn nature of the game, however, the token will create a large part of the ecosystem and metaverse in the future.

$PKR is cross-chain compatible and currently available on Ethereum, Smart Chain, and Tron &ndash with Polygon bridge coming soon too.

$PKR Listing on BitMart

Until now $PKR has been available on multiple decentralized exchanges (DEX) &ndash including UniSwap and PancakeSwap. Although the DeFi has increased in use massively over the past few years it is still an area that many investors and cryptocurrency users are unfamiliar with. Polker.game is now listed and live on BitMart &ndash a popular and traditional centralized exchange (CEX).

To celebrate the BitMart listing Polker is organising a trading competition and more details can be found on the BitMart exchange.

The Future of Polker.game?

Company with both an international and highly experienced development team. Polker is also only part of the PKR ecosystem, with pkr.io displaying a huge amount of new development and innovation in addition to Polker. With the massive shoutout from Akon and their recent listing on BitMart, Polker.game is sure to be making waves within the blockchain gaming and NFT communities.

Social Media

Twitter: https://twitter.com/POLKER_PKR

Telegram: https://t.me/polkercrew

Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/polkernews

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PolkerPKR

Medium: https://polker-pkr.medium.com/

Media Contact

Company: Polker.game

Contact: David Lee, PR Manager

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://polker.game/

SOURCE: Polker.game

Citigroup is actively considering the trading of Bitcoin (BTC) futures contracts on CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), echoing efforts by several other banks to bring additional cryptocurrency exposure to its clients. Given the strict supervision that such investment offers are subject to, the global bank is contemplating futures products for a handful of its institutional clients at this given time.

Caution Must Be Exercised

According to a Citi representative, the numerous uncertainties surrounding legal frameworks and supervisory expectations have to be considered beforehand and so a cautious approach would be recommended.

This makes sense as Citi offers a wide range of financial goods and services to individuals, companies, institutions, and governments, including consumer securities trading, corporate and investment banking, transaction services, wealth management, banking, and credit. It has over 200 million client accounts and is active in over 160 nations worldwide. So, it can ill afford a mistake at this crucial stage.

What Caused This?

The corporation's proposed intentions come many months after Goldman Sachs revealed a digital assets strategy that included providing BTC derivatives to customers and creating a cryptocurrency trading desk.

Moreover, Bank of America was also allegedly planning to utilize Bitcoin futures via CME Group last month, immediately after it began researching cryptocurrencies and various digital assets.

Zeptagram is a technology firm that uses artificial intelligence to create new digital music marketplaces. They work closely with artists and content creators all over the world and strive to offer the most lucrative platform for investment and trading of music rights. On August 22nd, Zeptagram launched their Zeptacoin token sale.

What makes Zeptagram unique?

The Zeptagram NFT marketplace enables content producers and owners to mint one-of-a-kind non-fungible tokens and sell them on the market. The marketplace has several elements that allow users to express their creativity and innovation.

The Zeptagram Music Token Offering solution enables artists and content creators to create a special type of NFT of their music rights (known as Music Tokens or MTO Tokens), despite the fact that they are essentially a representation or a unit of account within the platform and concern each individual song's music rights for the purposes of selling or trading. In this way, users can trade, sell or share some or all of their music rights which includes ownership rights and royalties.

The Zeptagram MusiXchange Platform enables the community to exchange and distribute MTO tokens generated by the Zeptagram music token sale, therefore supporting their favourite musicians and content producers.

Zeptagram solutions are designed to create a completely new and innovative trading market for music in which users and content producers can be exempt from the numerous problems and inefficiencies often associated with the more traditional music market. Additionally, users will be able to do all this while simultaneously participating in what they enjoy and are familiar with.

Zeptagram's aim is to hence create a completely decentralized marketplace for Music Rights, therefore increasing value for content creators.

Zeptacoin (ZPTC)

Zeptagram will have two types of tokens, ZeptaCoin, Zeptagram's main utility token, and Music Token Offerings, limited edition NFTs for each piece of music on the platform. The Zeptacoin is the base level currency across the entire platform for several various functions, and the following are its primary features:

• Zeptacoins (ZPTC) is used for platform trading
• NFTs/MTOs may be interacted with by using Zeptacoins (ZPTC)
• Successful trade fees can be settled inside the platform using ZPTC (automatically charged during trading).
• Payments to Music IP rights holders are paid out in ZeptaCoins by default.
• ZeptaCoins shall be listed on secondary markets such as cryptocurrency exchanges.

Music Token Offerings (MTO)

• Music Tokens (MTO) are limited edition, one-of-a-kind tokens. Each MTO offering that is listed on the platform would have its own unique Music Token. This is defined as the Zeptagram's internal distributed non-fungible tokens. These NFTs have certain characteristics which are listed below:
• An MTO token contains information about a piece of music or a song, such as the title, duration, cover art, author, and so forth.
• An MTO token is actually a digital representation of music rights that can be purchased through a Music token offering.
• MTO Tokens can only be traded within Zeptagram, specifically through the platform's MusiXchange element.
• MTO tokens shall represent a buyer's share of music rights, with rewards distributed quarterly.

Distribution & ICO Details

The public ICO is scheduled to take place in September, with the listing expected to take place at the end of August or September. Furthermore, the Zeptacoin ICO private sale had already begun on August 22nd, 2021. Zeptacoin will be listed on BitMart on October 15th, 2021.

Moreover, ZeptaCoins are only available for pre-sale to unique whitelisted buyers.

For the token distribution, here's how it works:

• 10% for the Seed Round - (5,000,000)
• 2% for the Strategic Round - (1,000,000)
• 6% for the Private Round - (3,000,000)
• 0.8% for the Public Round - (400,000)
• 18.4% for Team and Advisors - (9,200,000)
• 5% for Partners - (2,500,000)
• 5% for the Community Development Fund &ndash (2,500,000)
• 30% in Liquidity Development - (15,000,000)
• 15% for the Staking Rewards &ndash (7,500,000)
• 7.8% for the Reserve - (3,900,000)

Context

As per the latest developments, a new $100 million arbitration case against cryptocurrency exchange Binance is being actively discussed around the crypto communities, in which over 1,000 traders demand restitution for losses sustained during the site's downtime on May 19th, 2021.

Binance had experienced technical difficulties for hours on end on that aforementioned date during one of the biggest market crashes of the year, with the entire cryptocurrency market falling by 33%. Traders were not able to make deals during Binance's downtime, and many saw their accounts emptied when the site finally reopened.

Binance's click-through terms of service relieve the exchange of all liability for losses suffered by new users after registering with the exchange. The firm does not have a formal headquarters and is not regulated or registered.

Hiding Under the &lsquoDecentralization' Umbrella?

David Kay from Liti Capital claimed Binance had used the term &lsquodecentralized' to great success during its tenure as the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, but solely to advance its own goals. &ldquoBinance attempts to disguise itself as a communal asset, which it is not," he added. &ldquoIt is a corporation that makes use of community resources. To that end, it has done an excellent job of blurring the borders and enveloping itself in the concept of decentralization."

David claimed that Binance used the concept of decentralization to create dividing lines in the cryptocurrency community through cultivating an in-group/out-group mindset, stating that Binance does not in fact have any official headquarters, nor is it actually regulated (although its CEO Changpeng Zhao has stated that he wants to change this soon by working with global regulatory institutions). David believes that if any such entity is against the crypto community, then it is essentially against decentralization itself.

&ldquoWe are not &lsquoanti-Binance'"

David wanted to clarify that despite what has happened and been said, Liti Capital is not actually anti-Binance. &lsquoWe support the notion that Binance can still be beneficial to the community. This situation mainly concerns the reality that we all make errors, but those faults must be corrected eventually. As such, there is no desire to ruin Binance, but this glaring issue needs to be acknowledged and corrected," Kay explained.

David recently spoke on the CryptoWeekly Podcast where he explained that while cryptocurrencies must remain largely unregulated due to their nature and the fact that government intervention will only stifle the industry's growth, centralized exchanges such as Binance which directly profit off of its consumers must be regulated and routinely checked.

Liti Capital will be paying for the arbitration in advance and shall additionally be reimbursed with a portion of the damages awarded if the procedures are decided in the claimants' favour.

SAN FRANCISCO - August 30, 2021 -- SFOX, the independent digital assets prime broker providing institutional traders and investors with access to global crypto markets from a single account, today announced former Goldman Sachs executive John Mannino has joined the company as Director of Compliance.

Mannino joins SFOX after more than two decades of extensive operations and regulatory compliance experience at Goldman Sachs. Mannino, whose last position at Goldman was Senior Vice President, Global Head Regulation Assurance & Compliance for Margin and Collateral, worked at Goldman offices in New York, Zurich, London and Los Angeles. He oversaw and ensured daily compliance for the OTC derivative margin and collateral processes while navigating the rapidly changing derivative regulatory environment as it emerged globally.

&ldquoSimilar to the derivative markets, the cryptocurrency market is experiencing a time of dynamic change and exponential growth," said Akbar Thobhani, CEO and Co-Founder of SFOX. &ldquoAs we embark on our ambitious efforts at SFOX, John's experience with regulatory and compliance frameworks will prove extremely valuable to our clients, partners, and the institutional crypto market as a whole."

Most recently, Mannino was a Finance and Risk Compliance Manager at Accenture, where he helped financial institutions manage the transition of their suite of products away from the LIBOR index.

&ldquoI look forward to using my experience navigating emerging regulatory environments to help SFOX  continue to bridge the traditional and crypto markets for institutional traders and investors by proactively engaging with regulators, and developing the structures and frameworks that professionals and institutions need to be able to participate in this dynamic market," said Mannino. &ldquoThis is a phenomenal team of financial professionals and technologists, and I'm excited to join one of the most forward-thinking pioneers of the institutional crypto market."

Mannino is a CPA. He graduated from Penn State University and earned an MBA from Boston College Carroll School of Management, completing his final year at New York University's Stern School of Business.

About SFOX

SFOX (San Francisco Open Exchange) is the independent digital assets prime broker providing institutional traders and investors with access to global crypto markets from a single account, helping over 100,000 traders, investors, and institutions trade and invest in digital assets at the best price across leading exchanges, OTC brokers, and market makers globally since 2014. SFOX's team of senior developers and executives bring experience from institutions such as Airbnb, MIT, Goldman Sachs, Google, Box, Paxos, NASA, itBit, Gemini, Ripple, ITG, TIAA, Capital Group, State Street and Harvard University. The company is backed by Y Combinator, SV Angel, Digital Currency Group, Khosla Ventures, Social Capital, Tribe Capital, DHVC, Haystack, Sequoia, Blockchain Capital, and Executives from PayPal and Airbnb.

The efficiencies in a blockchain run deep and we should easily see its appeal to the traditional financial institutions and systems. "Watch what they do and ignore what they say" is the motto here because there can be no doubt the banks are investing heavily in blockchain, or have plans to, despite what they tell us. Observations illustrate that beyond the benefits of massive crypto price increases and blockchain startup business opportunities, the growing crypto industry also demonstrates great manpower efficiency gains over traditional financial systems. More for less is the equation, and that is a formula the banks know well.

Blockdata research tells us that 55 out of the top 100 banks have exposure to Crypto & Blockchain company investments, either directly or through subsidiaries. Barclays, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan are among the top names with exposure on the list. Though the focus for many of the banks is on crypto custodial services, it is part of a greater trend of investment in the crypto & blockchain startup business sector. Blockchain startup investment volumes are already 2 x this year over 2020.

For the banks, the top points of interest in blockchain and crypto are obviously its adoption and demand acceleration, the resulting soaring profits for blockchain interested startups, & regulatory advancements. All clear signs of industry growth. Another key takeaway being noted through observation of the big crypto exchanges is that the manpower factor in producing such returns is a fraction of the traditional approach of banks. The whole formula looking very appealing to everyone in the know.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies continue to reveal opportunities through efficiency & growth. Banks, like everyone else, will not ignore blockchain's obvious growth in demand, and platform improvements on yesterday's systems. The Bank's participation in crypto is guaranteed to follow the demand of their customers, helping to evolve their business models and efficiencies.

NFT's (non-fungible tokens) gain even more momentum as NFT marketplace MakersPlace raises $30M from big-name investors. NFT is a cryptographic asset that uses blockchain technology to certify ownership of digital items. MakerPlace enables the creation and circulation of those items. The likes of rap star Eminem, Sony Music, and others are part of the investment group backing this path carving the NFT trading platform. According to MakerPlace, Coinbase Ventures, Uncork Capital, Draper Dragon Digital Assets, 9Yards Capital are also among the investors. These prominent names have a history of investing in blockchain technology platforms that promises enormous growth, MakersPlace is no exception.

"We see this fundraise as continued validation for our mission," stated Dannie Chu, chief executive of MakersPlace. "We will continue to push boundaries and empower digital creators with better tools and services while finding more ways to introduce digital art and NFTs to a mainstream collector audience." 2021 has seen big growth for MakersPlace. Collectors using the market have grown by ten times, processing over 100 million transactions. The NFT market peaked at $250 million in the month of May but shows signs of passing that volume high soon.

Evolving the industry of digital ownership in Art and Music is just the start, but currently the most popular of NFT applications. Though the idea of digital ownership has existed for a long time in the video game industry and online applications, these new presentations introduce the element of scarcity through verifiable authenticity and uniqueness on a blockchain. Taking an existing popular concept and making it even more desirable and collectible. People, especially the young, are growing to find digital ownership a concept that is more familiar, comfortable, & adds value to their digital experiences. Massive growth in the NFT sector is pretty easy to forecast. Top marketplaces like MakersPlace will be the springboard for some innovative collectible expressions.