Xapo President: BTC is Most Sound Money in Crazy ICO and Altcoin Mania 217

Ted Rogers, the president at Xapo, one of the most widely utilized bitcoin wallet platforms in the global cryptocurrency market, firmly emphasized that bitcoin is still the most sound money in the market.

Bitcoin is the Reserve Currency of Cryptocurrency Market

Over the past few months, the alternative cryptocurrency (altcoin) market has overtaken bitcoin, based on its dominance over the global market. While bitcoin remains as the most dominant cryptocurrency in the global market, it is no longer more valuable than all of the other cryptocurrencies in the market combined.

The decrease in the dominance index of bitcoin has been triggered by the rapid rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, along with digital tokens from initial coin offering (ICO) projects.

But, Rogers stated that bitcoin is still one of the only forms of sound money in the market that is currently being dominated by digital tokens and altcoins. He wrote:

“The altcoin/ICO mania of recent months is a circus of intellectual laziness, gambling and greed. Just hold to one central truth: bitcoin is the most sound money – the best money – human civilization has ever known.

Folks, I do think the ICO is important innovation, ETH has value as platform (not sure fair to call it ‘altcoin’) & we are headed for tokenized future. But ‘overvalued’ is trading at P/E of 20 instead of 15, worthless tokens with market caps of billions is Bosch and Bruegel madness. Period.”

Investors and analysts including Rogers firmly believe that bitcoin is the reserve currency of the highly volatile cryptocurrency market, as it is one of the few cryptocurrencies that is being utilized at a large and commercial scale internationally, apart from Ethereum which is processing more than 1.2 million transactions per day.

The market valuation of Ethereum can be justified, as Rogers suggested, given the value of decentralized applications launched on top of its protocol. But, the valuation of the rest of the cryptocurrencies in the market, remains questionable.

To those that claim #Ethereum does not have any commercial and successful decentralized applications, check EtherDelta, 0x, CryptoKitties, OmiseGo, and Status.

Ethereum’s market cap is one of the few I can possibly justify. Its also processing 1.2 million transactions per day.

— Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) January 9, 2018

What Happens With Bitcoin?

Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash tend to move together in a similar trend while digital tokens or ICO tokens move differently. If a massive sell-off from highly overvalued ICO projects and digital asset occurs, the money will not flow into fiat currencies. Rather, it will likely flow back into bitcoin and other legitimate cryptocurrencies.

If so, when bitcoin regains dominance over the global market, its market valuation will be able to surpass the trillion dollar mark, as analysts including billionaire investor Mike Novogratz stated earlier this month.

“Bitcoin could be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could. There’s a big wave of money coming, not just here but all around the world.”

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11 Years of Excellence: PaymentFarm Rolls Out Innovative AI Anti-Fraud System and Global Card Processing Solutions for PSPs, iGaming and High-Risk Markets 1011

PaymentFarm, a global leader in payment processing solutions for high-risk industries, is proud to announce a series of groundbreaking advancements aimed at helping iGaming businesses and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) expand their operations and significantly reduce processing costs. This year, PaymentFarm has successfully integrated an AI-driven anti-fraud monitoring system into its platform while introducing the most competitive card processing rates available worldwide.

Solving, Not Selling: The PaymentFarm Approach

In today’s fast-paced digital economy, high-risk sectors such as iGaming face unique challenges—ranging from fraud prevention and compliance complexities to managing steep transaction fees. Recognizing these hurdles, PaymentFarm has taken decisive action to address them head-on. The newly integrated AI anti-fraud system offers real-time transaction monitoring and intelligent risk analysis, effectively reducing chargebacks and minimizing fraudulent activities. By harnessing sophisticated machine learning algorithms, the system detects anomalies and patterns that traditional methods often miss, ensuring that each transaction is secure and that businesses can operate without disruption.

At the same time, PaymentFarm has overhauled its card processing framework to offer unmatched global rates. By collaborating with a broad network of financial institutions and payment channels, the company delivers secure, scalable solutions that enable iGaming operators and PSPs to manage costs more effectively while expanding into new markets. These strategic improvements not only lower operational expenses but also help businesses navigate regulatory challenges and meet the ever-evolving demands of global commerce.

Why PaymentFarm?

  • Worldwide card processing solutions at best rates
  • Secure multi-currency transactions (USD, EUR, GBP)
  • Integrations with 600+ PSPs and financial institutions worldwide
  • Customized solutions for iGaming and high-risk industries
  • PCI DSS compliance for top-tier security and fraud prevention
  • Fast settlements and flexible limits for seamless operations

“At PaymentFarm, we understand that businesses operating in high-risk sectors require not just robust security, but also cost-efficient and scalable payment solutions,” said Olga Strelnikova, Senior Business Developer at PaymentFarm. “Our commitment to innovation is evident in our recent integration of AI-powered fraud detection and our relentless pursuit of the best processing rates in the industry. We are excited to help our clients overcome traditional barriers and achieve sustainable growth worldwide.”

These advancements underscore PaymentFarm’s unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence. Continuously evolving to meet our clients’ needs, we refine our services to deliver customized payment solutions tailored for the challenges of high-risk industries. Our forward-thinking approach helps businesses not only overcome regulatory and operational hurdles but also seize global growth opportunities.

We’re also excited to announce that PaymentFarm will be attending multiple iGaming events throughout the year, just like the recently concluded Sigma AIBC Eurasia. We look forward to meeting in person and discussing potential cooperation options. For more information about our innovative payment solutions and how our latest enhancements can help your business thrive, please visit paymentfarm.com or contact our media relations team at LinkedIN.

About PaymentFarm

PaymentFarm leads the way in payment technologies, delivering seamless, scalable, and secure solutions tailored for businesses worldwide. Our platform enhances global payment capabilities with the industry’s best rates for card processing and multi-currency transactions. With over a decade of expertise, we provide customizable solutions designed specifically for PSPs and iGaming companies. Prioritizing efficiency and security, our advanced tools—PCI DSS compliance, AI fraud protection, and intelligent risk management—help businesses streamline payments, maximize revenue, and mitigate risk.

Acki Nacki Secures Over $6M in Preparation For Network Launch 1079

Industry-Leading Investment Firms To Validate and Support Decentralization of Acki Nacki Blockchain

GOSH, the core developer behind Acki Nacki, today announced the successful completion of its pre-launch Node Sale, securing backing from validators including Kingsway Capital, Blockchain.com, Hack VC, K5 Global, and Original Capital. As a result of the network’s recently launched decentralized starter protocol, Gossip Ignite, the Acki Nacki mainnet will go live once a critical mass of node operators are active.

Acki Nacki is an asynchronous blockchain protocol that reaches probabilistic consensus in two communication steps. At the heart of GOSH’s vision in supporting Acki Nacki is solving blockchain’s most fundamental technical challenge: transaction speed, scalability and time to finality.

“The network’s Node Owners all share the Acki Nacki vision from beginning to end,” said Mitja Goroshevsky, GOSH founder and Acki Nacki architect, leading the team who spent the 4 years prior building the technology stack for TON blockchain. “The values behind the tokenomics, how we see decentralization, as well as technology, adoption, and how we go to market, are supported thoroughly by all network participants. This level of collaboration defines the future of the decentralized world.”

With a community of over 5 million users in testnet, Acki Nacki is primed to support use cases that include payments, gaming economies, IoT networks, and AI applications. The early ecosystem already includes Popits, an on-chain content-sharing platform, and Die Last, a Web3 real-time strategy game running entirely on-chain.

A diverse group of aligned validators and Acki Nacki’s approach ensures the network emerges organically — owned and secured by its decentralized community from the first block. There is no pre-mine, airdrop, token generation event, investor or team allocation. Beyond its technical advancements, Acki Nacki introduces a radically decentralized economic model. Node Licenses allow owners to validate transactions and mine $NACKL tokens which guarantees decentralization regardless of network state. All $NACKL are distributed as block rewards through a 60-year mining schedule following a deflationary curve.

Validator Quotes

Alexander Pack, Managing Partner at Hack VC commented “Acki Nacki with its innovative consensus aims to have sub-second finality for transactions. This allows new applications to move on-chain and open up the design space.”

Peter Smith, CEO and Cofounder of Blockchain.com commented “We were impressed to see that Acki Nacki has generated a loyal community of developers, followers, infrastructure providers and now investors. We’re excited to play a part in this journey”.

Ramnik Arora, partner at Original Capital said “One of the constraints to more things moving on-chain is the lack of general purpose block space with high throughput and low finality. We’re happy to back Mitja and the Acki Nacki team – early pioneers in asynchronous blockchain design space and aiming to be the fastest blockchain possible.”

“The network’s ‘Bitcoin for Proof of Stake’ design and a 60-years mining schedule means that we view Acki Nacki to be a permanent fixture in global coordination and property rights, similar to Bitcoin and Ethereum.” says Kingsway Capital.

About Acki Nacki

Acki Nacki is the fastest blockchain possible. Based on a breakthrough consensus protocol, the Acki Nacki network reaches consensus in 2 communication steps, the lowest number possible in any interactive network, meaning that by design Acki Nacki finalizes transactions faster than any other blockchain that can be built.

Acki Nacki has a community of over 5 million users in its mini-app that allows anyone to verify blocks by playing a simple interactive game on their mobile phones. This means players contribute to network security and mine Acki Nacki network coins as block rewards. Acki Nacki is a decentralized blockchain. There is no token pre-mine, airdrop, token generation event, investor or team allocation.

Own. App and $CREATE Fund Launch Groundbreaking Token Challenge: 100 Million Tokens Up for Grabs 1239

In a bold move to redefine how creators and users engage with social media, Own. App, the decentralized, creator-first platform, has partnered with the $CREATE Fund to launch an innovative, gamified challenge: the Own. App x $CREATE FUND Token Challenge.

Running from February 26 to March 26, 2024, this month-long competition gives participants the opportunity to win a share of 100 million $CREATE tokens — driving platform growth and user adoption ahead of Own. App’s official launch. The ambitious goal? To reach 250,000 app downloads by the end of the challenge—and reward users every step of the way.

The Future of Social Engagement Meets Real Rewards

The challenge invites users to download the Own. App, join the official Discord and Telegram groups, and follow both Own. App and $CREATE Fund on X (formerly Twitter). Participants will also share their unique referral links with friends, family, and followers to boost downloads and climb the challenge leaderboard.

But this is more than just a giveaway—it’s an opportunity to become part of a growing movement aimed at reshaping digital content ownership and creator monetization. Unlike traditional social platforms that rely on algorithmic manipulation and gatekeeping, Own. App ensures that content reaches users based on merit, engagement, and quality.

Prizes for Top Performers

The competition rewards those who bring the most value to the community:

  • First Place: $1,000 USD + 100,000 $CREATE tokens
  • Second Place: $500 USD + 50,000 $CREATE tokens
  • Third Place: $250 USD + 25,000 $CREATE tokens

Expanding Reach with ETH Denver Activation

To kick things off, Own. App will roll out an on-site campaign at ETH Denver starting February 26, 2024. Attendees can scan a QR code for a direct download of the app and join the challenge instantly. A live leaderboard will track user progress in real-time, adding an extra layer of excitement and competition throughout the event.

Driving Innovation Through Community Engagement

The challenge isn’t just about downloads—it’s about empowering creators and rewarding users for meaningful participation. Through token rewards, referral incentives, and community-building efforts across Discord and Telegram, Own. App is fostering a social platform driven by authentic engagement and financial autonomy.

With marketing assets led by a dynamic team—graphics by Ulysses, social strategy by Sophie and Neha, and official media coverage led by Jason—the challenge is poised to attract thousands of new users while strengthening ties within the Web3 community.

A New Era for Creators and Digital Communities

The APP x $CREATE FUND Token Challenge isn’t just a promotional campaign—it’s a glimpse into the future of creator-driven platforms. As Own. App continues to grow, it promises to shift the balance of power away from centralized platforms and into the hands of the users who drive engagement and innovation.

The future of social media isn’t just about connecting—it’s about ownership, empowerment, and rewarding real engagement.

Download the app now at iOwn.app.

Margarita Finance Launches World First in AI Investment Management 1258

Bringing institutional-grade investment strategies on-chain, Margarita Finance’s AI-powered agent autonomously trades derivatives with full transparency. This world-first innovation enhances efficiency and lowers the barrier to entry for sophisticated trading in decentralized finance.

Margarita Finance, a blockchain-based platform reimagining structured investment products by bringing them natively on-chain, has today announced the world’s first-ever AI-powered agent to trade institutional-grade derivative strategies on the blockchain.

Heralding a new era of DeFi where AI agents can execute investment strategies, Margarita Finance aims to bridge the gap between TradFi and DeF by making complex investment products more accessible. By eliminating the human prescription involved with traditional trading, the AI agent will participate in derivative trading using advanced strategies. Each trade is entirely verifiable on the blockchain and a dedicated AI-powered X profile will provide real-time updates on key trades. With transparency at its core, Margarita Finance establishes a new benchmark for AI-driven, trustless financial management.

Beyond institutional trading, this world-leading breakthrough will have tangible benefits for everyday investors. The technology enables greater access to institutional yield and sophisticated financial strategies, through transparency and explanations that require no deeper TradFi background. By being able to automate complex decision-making, and ensuring full transparency on-chain, Margarita Finance’s AI agent champions greater financial control and unlocks additional investment opportunities.

The financial industry stands at its most pivotal inflexion point since the 2015 fintech revolution that democratized investing through robo-advisors. As AI rapidly transforms the way people work, its disruptive potential in financial services could fundamentally reshape the role of traditional investment professionals. According to Bank of England research, 75% of businesses are already utilizing AI, with another 10% planning adoption within three years. Just as robo-advisors challenged the necessity of human financial advisors, AI-enabled investment management is now poised to revolutionize the $7 trillion structured products industry – potentially eliminating the need for many traditional investment bankers and managers while making sophisticated investment strategies accessible to the average individual for the first time.

Matthias Wyss, Margarita Finance CEO said: “As AI commands interest from governments, businesses and everyday people, we’re proud to announce the first-ever AI powered agent to trade institutional-grade derivative strategies on the blockchain – the first major step in our mission to improve financial accessibility. With this launch, our AI agent will take the strain out of trading, executing sophisticated investment strategies according to individual risk appetite. We want to see more people have control of their financial decisions and allow them to do more with their hard-earned money. That is why we’re on a mission to bring emerging technologies like AI to investors and allow them to take their investments further without needing deep market expertise.”

To learn more about Margarita Finance visit: https://www.margarita.finance/.

About Margarita Finance

Margarita Finance is a blockchain-based platform reimagining structured investment products by bringing them natively on-chain. Powered by Obligate, a leader in on-chain capital markets and built on Solana, Margarita Finance combines the strengths of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and oracles to make structured products faster, more accessible, and cost-efficient.

Zoth’s ZeUSD Off to a Strong Start, Reaching Over $27M in TVL Within 6 Weeks in its Beta Launch – Public Access Set for March 1st 1285

Zoth, the first of its kind restaking layer for RWAFi, is set to open ZeUSD, its fully RWA-backed stable token, to the public on March 1.

This milestone follows ZeUSD’s remarkable success in beta, where it has already surpassed $27M Total Value Locked (TVL), demonstrating strong institutional and community confidence in its stability and utility.

ZeUSD is designed to be a fully composable, RWA-backed Collateralised Debt Position (CDP) stable token issued on top of high-quality liquid on-chain or off-chain RWAs like U.S. T-BIlls, ETFs, MMFs, Reverse Repos, etc.

Institutional Backing & Rapid Growth

Since launching in beta, ZeUSD has gained traction among institutional players and liquidity providers, contributing to its rapid TVL growth. Following this momentum, Zoth also ran an exclusive campaign where a select group of users was whitelisted for early access to ZeUSD, generating significant interest and further contributing to the TVL. ZeUSD saw strong traction from Top DeFi liquid funds, crypto whales, hedge funds, TradFi institutions and retail

Stablecoins are the fastest-growing sector in crypto, and ZeUSD is a pioneering concept in the re-staked RWA-backed stablecoin space.

This success reflects a broader shift toward regulated and asset-backed stablecoins as investors seek more secure alternatives in the evolving digital asset landscape.

“ZeUSD’s early adoption signals a new era of stability and trust in on-chain finance,” said Pritam Dutta, Founder at Zoth. “With $180M the pipeline from institutional DeFi and TradFi players, we are poised to accelerate ZeUSD’s growth and establish it as a cornerstone in the evolving stablecoin landscape.”

“Zoth is bridging the gap between TradFi and DeFi in a way that’s truly impactful, and we at Blockchain Founders Fund are excited to support their journey. ZeUSD’s rapid growth shows the strong demand for asset-backed stablecoins.” – Aly Madhavji, Managing Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund

Public Launch & Future Roadmap

With the March 1st public rollout, ZeUSD will be accessible to a broader audience, allowing users to mint, trade, and utilize it seamlessly.

“The overwhelming response during our beta phase reaffirms the market’s need for a transparent, asset-backed stablecoin that provides real utility,” said Koushik Bhargav, Co-founder of Zoth. “ZeUSD is designed to be a cornerstone of on-chain financial infrastructure, and we are excited to open it to the public, empowering more users and institutions with a reliable digital asset.”

As Zoth continues to expand its ecosystem, further integrations, partnerships, and utility enhancements for ZeUSD are already in motion, including off-chain RWA collateralization. This game-changing approach could accelerate the growth of the stablecoin market. With key industry players already taking notice, Zoth is actively working on bridging off-chain assets with on-chain liquidity, paving the way for trillions of dollars worth of stable RWAs to be brought on-chain in the near future.

This launch marks a pivotal moment in Zoth’s journey as it accelerates its vision of making real-world assets more accessible and efficient through blockchain technology.

For more details on ZeUSD and its upcoming integrations, visit zoth.io or follow @zothdotio.

About Zoth

Zoth is building the first re-staking layer for the RWAFi ecosystem, blending the scalability of TradFi with the innovation of DeFi. Zoth creates a permissionless layer for on-chain and off-chain RWAs, enhancing access and DeFi utility.

Hemi Launching Mainnet on March 12, Uniting the Bitcoin and Ethereum Ecosystems Into a Single Supernetwork 1305

Powerful momentum continues after a record-breaking testnet phase, more than $300 million in total value locked (TVL), and dozens of ecosystem launch partners.

Hemi, a modular blockchain network powered by Bitcoin and Ethereum, today announced that it will launch its mainnet on March 12, 2025.

Key Facts

  • Launching its mainnet on March 12, Hemi is a modular blockchain network designed for superior scaling, security, and interoperability, unifying Bitcoin and Ethereum as a single supernetwork.
  • Over fifty protocols will be deployed on Hemi, including decentralized exchanges (e.g., Sushi, DODO, Izumi), lending protocols (e.g., LayerBank, ZeroLend), vaults (e.g., Nucleus, Concrete, VaultCraft), top LSTs and LRTs (e.g., Kelp, pumpBTC, StakeStone), oracles (e.g., RedStone, Pyth, Stork), and key dApps (e.g., LayerZero, Pell, BitFi).
  • Hemi has already attracted more than $300 million of Total Value Locked (TVL) and announced a $15 million seed round in September 2024, led by Binance Labs, Breyer Capital, and Big Brain Holdings.
  • Hemi was founded by renowned early Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik and blockchain security pioneer Max Sanchez.

The transition from testnet to mainnet is a major milestone for Hemi, which has already attracted more than $300 million in total value locked (TVL) and rapidly built an ecosystem of dozens of protocols. This positions Hemi as a vital infrastructure layer for decentralized finance across Bitcoin and Ethereum, enabling innovation and scalability across the blockchain space.

Through the protocols offered by Hemi’s early Day One ecosystem collaborators, users will be able to:

  • build applications that are both Bitcoin- and Ethereum-aware;
  • participate in lending and DEX liquidity provision, or allocate funds into specialized vault products;
  • trade perpetuals;
  • stake and restake popular BTC and ETH tokens;
  • borrow, and swap tokens; and
  • create synthetic assets.

In particular, Hemi’s DeFi ecosystem has a strong focus on providing liquidity and yield opportunities for many of the most popular liquid staking tokens (LSTs) and liquid restaking tokens (LRTs) from the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems.

“Just over six months after introducing our incentivized testnet, Hemi has demonstrated its resilience and capability as a powerful network for advancing blockchain applications across Bitcoin and Ethereum,” said Jeff Garzik, co-founder of Hemi.

“The Hemi team has a clear and compelling vision for unlocking the programmability, portability, and potential of Web3,” said Ted Breyer, partner at Breyer Capital. “With a distinguished track record, they are uniquely positioned to deliver.”

A Layer-2 from a Different Point of View

Attempts to integrate and scale Bitcoin and Ethereum have tended to address the problem within their respective communities, resulting in a fractured ecosystem. Hemi instead approaches Bitcoin and Ethereum as components of a larger supernetwork. This surfaces the key capabilities of both networks and, in turn, enables a new class of previously unattainable blockchain applications.

Hemi’s benefits include:

  • Unifying Bitcoin and Ethereum — The Hemi Virtual Machine (hVM) integrates a full Bitcoin node within an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), enabling developers to harness the power of both Bitcoin and Ethereum using familiar and proven development tools.
  • Bitcoin Programmability — Building with the Hemi Bitcoin Kit (hBK) provides developers direct access to highly granular views of Bitcoin’s state, unlocking new applications that were previously impractical or impossible to execute in a truly trustless, secure, and efficient way.
  • Superfinality — Through its PoP consensus protocol, Hemi inherits Bitcoin’s full security in a truly decentralized and permissionless manner, exceeding Bitcoin-level finality (“superfinality”) in just a few hours.
  • Trustless Cross-Chain Portability — With Tunnels, Hemi offers a Bitcoin-secured method for moving assets between Bitcoin and Ethereum.
  • Asset Programmability — Hemi’s additional asset-programmability features include on-chain routing, time-lock, and password-protect. Gasless transfer enables asset movement without requiring a web3 wallet.

“The Hemi team can be described in one word: ambitious. Everything we learned during our testnet has been embedded into the mainnet release and we are excited for our users and developers to build and use applications across Bitcoin and Ethereum,” said co-founder and CTO Max Sanchez.

About Hemi Labs

Hemi Labs is the creator of the Hemi Network (“Hemi”), a modular Layer-2 network for superior scaling, security, and interoperability, powered by Bitcoin and Ethereum. Instead of approaching Bitcoin and Ethereum as siloed ecosystems, Hemi views them as components of a single supernetwork, unlocking new levels of programmability, portability, and potential. Hemi Labs envisions a new, converged Internet ecosystem that is secure, interoperable, and ready for the many challenges of a Web3 that is imminently colliding with the Internet at large.

Users can learn more at https://hemi.xyz/.
Blog: https://hemi.xyz/blog/
GitHub: https://github.com/HemiLabs
Docs: https://docs.hemi.xyz
Discord: https://discord.gg/hemixyz
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HemiLabs/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/hemi_xyz
Telegram (News): https://t.me/hemi_news
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