India’s homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart will use Polygon’s chain development kit (CDK) to launch a Web3 loyalty program. 

On Dec. 2, Polygon and Flipkart announced a strategic partnership to effectively position the e-commerce platform into Web3 and the metaverse. This included initiatives such as Flipverse for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), eDAO for metaverse and the FireDrops NFT marketplace.

Building on this partnership, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal announced on Dec. 7 that Flipkart will use Polygon CDK to scale its FireDrops Web3 loyalty program.

Main announcement for today@Flipkart, the largest ecommerce and one of the largest payments companies in India is launching an…

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Developers of Bitcoin side-chain MicroVisionChain (MVC) have unveiled a BRC-20 decentralized exchange (DEX) as part of its roadmap for Q1 2024.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, MVC chief operating officer Jason Kwok claims to have developed a “1:1 mapping relationship” with Bitcoin on its sidechain. “This essentially creates a parallel version of your Bitcoin assets, such as BRC-20, on MVC,” said Kwok, explaining that the bridge allows users to swap BRC-20 token assets on the MVC sidechain, thus bypassing the high transaction and gas fees required to deploy decentralized applications (DApps) on the Bitcoin mainnet.

“MVC shares the same underlying architecture as Bitcoin, which… Read more on Cointelegraph

BBVA Switzerland, a Swiss branch of one of the largest Spanish banks, has announced it will use Ripple-owned tech firm Metaco’s Harmonize platform for its crypto custody operations with institutional investors. 

According to the press release published on Dec. 7, BBVA, which has been providing Bitcoin and Ether custody since 2021, migrated its infrastructure to Harmonize to achieve more agility and security:

“In this environment, transaction validation is more agile and crypto assets are held in custody according to the highest security standards required by regulators.”

Harmonize will let the bank connect to other blockchains, apart from Bitcoin and Ethereum, which means the…

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Bitcoin (BTC) struggled to hold above $43,000 into Dec. 8 as an altcoin surge put Ether (ETH) in the spotlight.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingViewETH, SOL step up as Bitcoin takes liquidity

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed ongoing BTC price consolidation as ETH/USD added up to 7.6% in around 24 hours.

Bitcoin, having tapped new 19-month highs of $44,490 earlier in the week, now troubled market participants as both ETH and Solana (SOL) stole attention.

$BTC Binance Spot Bids sold into and filled it seems

Decent OI wipe here (Binance / Bybit Open Interest & Delta) pic.twitter.com/0CfnxCzL41

— Skew Δ (@52kskew) December 8, 2023

Eyeing…

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El Salvador has launched a new citizenship-by-investment program that grants a residency visa and pathway to citizenship for 1,000 people willing to stump up a $1 million Bitcoin (BTC) or Tether (USDT) investment in the country.

The Central American country’s price tag for citizenship, however, appears far more expensive than those in neighboring Caribbean countries — which start at $100,000.

El Salvador’s government and stablecoin issuer Tether announced the program on Dec. 7, dubbed the “Adopting El Salvador Freedom Visa Program.”

It offers 1,000 citizenships to wealthy investors who pledge a “$1 million in Bitcoin or USDT investment,” starting with a $999 non-refundable…

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Bitcoin (BTC) will hit a new all-time high in late 2024 on the backdrop of a long-feared United States recession and regulatory shifts after the next U.S. presidential election, asset manager VanEck predicts.

On Dec. 8, VanEck made 15 crypto predictions for 2024, including price forecasts, timings of a spot Bitcoin ETF launch, the impact of the Bitcoin halving, and emerging dominant crypto platforms.

VanEck 15 Crypto Predictions for 2024

Prediction #1. The US recession will finally arrive, but so will the first spot #Bitcoin ETFs. Over $2.4B may flow into these ETFs in Q1 2024 to support Bitcoin’s price.

— VanEck (@vaneck_us) December 7, 2023

VanEck is among several firms including…

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Bitcoin (BTC) miner Hive Digital Technologies says the move to acquire a fleet of Bitmain mining rigs last year has already paid for itself, due in large part to a significant increase in the price of Bitcoin. 

In a Dec. 8 statement, Hive Digital wrote that it had been acquiring mining rigs since the collapse of FTX, a decision it believes will put it in a favorable position for the upcoming Bitcoin halving, currently slated for April 2024.

276.3 Bitcoin produced from ASIC and GPU mining operations, representing an average of 66.7 Bitcoin Per ExahashProduced an average of 9.2 BTC per dayEnded the month with 4.18 EH/s of mining capacity,… pic.twitter.com/4pWYah2NfD

— HIVE Digital… Read more on Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) options open interest reached an unprecedented milestone, surging to a staggering $20.5 billion on Dec. 7. This remarkable achievement signifies the active involvement of institutional investors in the cryptocurrency space. Unlike futures contracts, BTC options come with predetermined expiration prices, offering valuable insights into traders’ expectations and the markets’ sentiment.

At the forefront of the Bitcoin options market stands Deribit, boasting an impressive 90% market share. The exchange currently holds a substantial $2.05 billion open interest for options expiring on Jan. 26. However, it’s worth noting that a significant portion of these bets may lose their…

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