FreeCryptoCurrency.Me

Bots, bullying and bum information. Billions of people use social media despite sometimes feeling dispirited by the experience; toxicity often in full display.

One crypto startup with tens of millions of smartphone users mining their native token is aspiring to change that reality by launching a new social media app which incentivizes positive behavior while disincentivizing what’s deemed negative by users.

Created by Pi Network and dubbed Fireside Forum, the initially text-based social platform is enlisting a model where users can spend tokens rewarding and elevating posts they like or invest them in penalizing the posts they don’t. The company’s aim is the Pi Network model will help suppress content considered spam, misleading, toxic or all of the above.

“Web3 should solve some of the drawbacks or flaws of web2 social media, namely the overload of information, misinformation, trolling and internet violence,” said Pi Network co-founder Chengdiao Fan, who has a Stanford PhD in social computing.  “Using powerful tools that are available in web3 — blockchain and cryptocurrency — and using them as a mechanism to create disincentives and incentives, and a balance between the two, will in a sense automatically moderate behavior.”

Just as users can tout content produced by their online counterparts, people can also earn rewards when their posts are popular.

Since starting Pi Network roughly five years ago in 2018, its founders said they have been dreaming of building a social media platform devoid of the many elements that often spoil users’ experience on traditional networks like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

“It’s been proven that when people add even a small economic incentive or disincentive into their actions then all of a sudden they become a lot more rational,” said Pi Network co-founder Nicolas Kokkalis, also a Stanford PhD.

Pi Network has so far expanded its ecosystem by signing up 45 million “engaged” users who have downloaded its app in order to mine its Layer 1 token. The company’s founders said they define “engaged” users as people who have downloaded their app, signed in and then mined tokens.

The company bills itself as a “utilities-based ecosystem for third-party apps on a mobile web platform,” which “offers a mobile-first mining approach, with low financial cost.” Currently, Pi Network’s token does not currently does not trade on an outside exchange and is only useful within the company’s ecosystem.

“We are currently in a phase we call the ‘enclosed mainnet,’” said Kokkalis. “During this phase we are migrating people from the mobile app to the blockchain while at the same time they are performing a decentralized KYC (know your customer) application that we have built.”

The company uses a KYC process geared in large part to making sure its users are actual people; a step implemented in order to weed out the bot-run fake accounts that often frustrate users on Twitter.

Twitter alternatives

Pi Network is not the only blockchain-enabled social media app attempting to take on the establishment. Lens Protocol lets users mint their profile as an NFT while maintaining ownership of their “connections, posts and data.” Users are also able to seamlessly move from one platform to the next while taking their profile and data with them, according to the company.

Mastodon, while not a blockchain-based app, has marketed itself as both a “decentralized” social media platform and direct competitor to Twitter. The platform had more than 10 million registered users as of March, according to Statista.

Fan called Twitter’s recent decision to charge some users subscription fees “validation” as traditional internet companies are beginning to realize what she and her co-founder Kokkalis said they have known for a long time: charging users can help to ensure authenticity.

Pi Network has three million users who, after passing the company’s KYC and migrating to the blockchain, in part by using a digital wallet, will initially be able to sign up for Fireside Forum, the founders said.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The core team of Trust Reserve (formerly CNHC Group), which issues two stablecoins, was detained by police in China on May 29, according to PANews.

The team dropped out of contact that day and some family members were notified. The news agency visited the project’s office and found a notice that said “judicial seizure.”

Trust Reserve issued a CNY-backed stablecoin and a HKD-backed stablecoin.

In March, the stablecoin issuer raised $10 million in a Series A+ funding round led by KuCoin Ventures, with participation from Circle and IDG Capital. At the time, the company had around 60 employees with plans to hire more.

This comes alongside rumors that the Multichain core team may have been detained in China. The protocol still has partial downtime and there have been no updates from the core team in China for over a week.

Trust Reserve and KuCoin Ventures didn’t immediately respond to The Block’s request for comment.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

“I don’t really see a compelling reason to pause rate hikes,” Fed’s Master said, validating the recent hawkish repricing of interest rate expectations in the U.S.

Also: Bitcoin and volatility have a tricky relationship. BTC steadies below $28K after dip.

Investors awaited a House vote on the debt ceiling deal, scheduled for Wednesday.

China is set to benefit from “restrictive” crypto rules in the U.S. that are “inadvertently” driving innovation offshore, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in an editorial published by MarketWatch on Tuesday.  

“The U.S. and other democratic nations are up against digital systems promoted by an ambitious adversary, China,” Armstrong wrote, mentioning the Alipay and Tencent payment systems.

“With the recent launch of its digital yuan, China aims to directly challenge the U.S. dollar and its role in global commerce.”

Armstrong said it should come “as no surprise” that Hong Kong has been positioning itself as a new crypto hub. His comments came amid a flurry of speculation that China could be warming to the sector after state broadcaster China Central Television broadcasted a segment about cryptocurrencies that featured the Bitcoin logo earlier this month.

While the country prohibited the use of cryptocurrencies in 2021, it released a web3 white paper to promote the industry’s development earlier this month, according to reports. 

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, meanwhile, last week released conclusions about proposed regulatory requirements for virtual asset trading that are set to become effective on June 1.

“It’s not only China that can see the possibilities,” Armstrong wrote. “Crypto, like the internet before it, has the potential to modernize finance.”

Coinbase, in a long-running dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its desire for new crypto rules, has been taking its public outreach to the public, running a new TV ad in Washington, D.C. in which Armstrong said he worried the U.S. could face a national security issue like it saw after many advancements in 5G technology and semiconductors were offshored. 

“It’s important for American technology leadership and national security that this industry be built (at least in part) in America,” Armstrong wrote. “If we fall short today, the next generation of Americans will pay the price.”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The underperformance stems from hidden costs of rolling futures contracts every month as they expire called the “contango bleed,” exacerbated by this year’s rebound in BTC price.

Bybit has become the latest crypto exchange to depart the Canadian market, with the company following in Binance’s footsteps in the wake of regulatory developments. 

“Bybit has made the difficult but necessary decision to pause the availability of our products and services,” the company said in a Tuesday blog post. “It has always been Bybit’s primary objective to operate our business in compliance with all relevant rules and regulations in Canada.”

The company, which cited the regulatory environment in the country, said it would stop accepting account opening applications by any identified Canadian residents and existing nationals on May 31.

Last December the Canadian government announced new requirements for crypto firms to operate in the country, including keeping customer assets separate from company assets, and using a third-party custodian. The government began implementing those rules in the midst of the FTX collapse, in which the firm allegedly used customer funds to plug holes in its sister company’s balance sheet, created by bad investments.

The Canadian Securities Administrators also announced that they view stablecoins as possible securities or derivatives, similar to how U.S. regulators view those digital assets, and began prohibiting margin or leverage trading for any Canadian client.

Firms were told to register and comply with those rules in order to continue operations in the country.

Existing customers affected by the changes will not be able to make new deposits, enter into new contracts, or increase current positions from July 31, though they will be able to withdraw and reduce positions. 

“Canadian Customers who are implicated by these measures should take steps by September 30, 2023, 8AM UTC to wind down and manage their positions,” the company said.

Binance, the worlds largest crypto exchange, said earlier this month that it would pull out of the market because of new rules.

“New guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges makes the Canada market no longer tenable for Binance at this time,” the company said on May 12. “We put off this decision as long as we could to explore other reasonable avenues to protect our Canadian users, but it has become apparent that there are none.”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The startup offers on- and off-ramps that could make it easier for new users to interact with Web3 projects.

MoonPay insiders including co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright received $150 million during the crypto payment startup’s Series A raise in late November 2021, according to report from The Information, which cited an unnamed source.

During the 2021 Series A, MoonPay announced it had raised $555 million at a valuation of $3.4 billion with investors including Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management participating. But some of the money, rather than going to the company, was instead used to buy shares from existing shareholders like Soto-Wright.

“MoonPay raised $405 million by selling shares to investors, and the remaining $150 million represented shares cashed out by insiders in a secondary transaction,” according to an anonymous source cited by The Information. Those insiders included Soto-Wright, according to the report.

MoonPay confirmed the Series A funding round included secondary sales, something that was not previously made public, according to the report. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Block.

A few weeks after the Series A funding round, Soto-Wright purchased a $38 million mansion in Miami, a residence he’s used to host swanky parties like the one held during last year’s Art Basel art festival.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.