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Good morning. Heres whats happening:

Prices: Bitcoin regained its perch above $30K, but its rally stalled; ether hovers near $2,100.

Insights: Longer-term narratives, such as bitcoin's recent store-of-value story matter but price depends on traders' shorter-range, often fickle sentiments.

CoinDesk Market Index (CMI)

1,323

+30.4 2.3%

Bitcoin (BTC)

$30,341

+959.4 3.3%

Ethereum (ETH)

$2,100

+25.0 1.2%

S&P 500

4,154.87

+3.6 0.1%

Gold

$2,018

+23.7 1.2%

Nikkei 225

28,658.83

+144.1 0.5%

BTC/ETH prices per CoinDesk Indices, as of 7 a.m. ET (11 a.m. UTC)

Bitcoin Rises Over $30K and Then Pauses

Crypto markets started promisingly on Tuesday, with bitcoin re-establishing its foothold above the psychologically important $30,000 threshold.

But the BTC rally stalled around $30,300 by midday, and the largest cryptocurrency by market cap was up just 3.3% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin had dipped as low as about $29,100 on Monday before rebounding, as investors seemed to regain some of their prior zest for assets that hold value even as concerns about the banking industry have faded.

In an interview with CoinDesk TV's "First Mover" program, Kaiko senior research analyst Dessislava Aubert called the current rally "macro driven" and said that its ongoing strength would depend on liquidity.

The rally "started with the [U.S. Federal Reserve] providing emergency liquidity to banks in the United States," Aubert said. "So definitely, liquidity is playing a huge role."

She added: "We have seen that markets are expecting great cuts in the second half of the year. So there is still a lot of uncertainty around whether this will be the case or not. Ultimately, it will depend on how U.S. monetary policy turns out."

Story continues

Ether climbed above $2,100 for the second time in three days before dipping below the threshold and then rising again. The second-largest crypto by market capitalization was recently changing hands at about $2,100, up about 1.5%. A post-Ethereum Shanghai upgrade sell-off has yet to materialize.

Other major cryptos were solidly green, with ICP, the token of blockchain-based, smart contracts platform Internet Computer, recently rising 15% to trade at about $6.80. XRP, the native crypto of the blockchain-based, payments-focused platform XRP ledger, was up more than 3%. The CoinDesk Market Index, which measures the performance of the overall crypto market, was recently up 2.7% and in significant uptrend territory on a one to five scale.

Equity indexes spent the day largely running in place as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 were all within a few fractions of a percentage point of where they stood at the close of trading Monday. Gold ticked upward to $2,017, but was still down from its near record highs of last week when assets that held value were in vogue. The yield on two- and 10-year Treasury edged up slightly but last week's surge has stalled.

In an email to CoinDesk, Anthony Georgiades, co-founder of Pastel Network, a decentralized blockchain for non-fungible tokens (NFT), cryptos and Web3 technology, attributed bitcoin's plunge under $30,000 to "converging elements," particularly the looming prospect of an inflation-focused Fed continuing its diet of hawkish interest rate hikes. But he also noted a loss of public confidence in the dollar and banking system.

"People ... are seeking a decentralized safe haven asset that is an inflation hedge," he said.

He added: "There are also macroeconomic conditions to consider. With an easing [consumer price index] and recessionary signals, the market seems to be pricing in potentially dovish Fed policies, which could lead to a risk-on craze. Bitcoin has found itself in somewhat of a paradoxical environment, and there may be price fluctuation to weather until the Feds short and medium-term monetary policies become clearer."

Bitcoins 'Store-of-Value' Narrative Is Real but Not a Price Mover

Markets are noisy, chaotic things that we human beings instinctively try to imbue with order and reason. This generally involves searching for explanations as to why prices are trending up or down or what triggered a sharp move.

Often there is an obvious explanation an earnings surprise or an unexpected corporate action. Sometimes the cause isn't so easy to see flows of funds, an evolving user base, steady product development and so on.

Noelle Acheson is the former head of research at CoinDesk and Genesis Trading. This article is excerpted from her Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, which focuses on the overlap between the shifting crypto and macro landscapes. These opinions are hers, and nothing she writes should be taken as investment advice.

With bitcoin (BTC), its even harder to discern what is driving sentiment shifts at any given time because it doesnt have earnings, there are no corporate actions, regulation isnt the threat it is for some other crypto assets and the narratives are multiple and varied. There isnt even universal agreement as to what bitcoin is, let alone what drives its price.

But our search for reason amid chaos encourages us to latch on to something that makes sense, and if it is a narrative that justifies our interest while highlighting a timely concept, then so much the better.

Store of value

One phrase were hearing a lot of these days is store of value. It tends to mean different things to different people, but in general, it refers to an asset that holds its value relative to a broad basket of other assets over a long stretch of time.

In spite of its short-term price volatility and sharp bear markets, bitcoin is a store of value because it is the only asset traded on liquid exchanges today with a programmatic and verifiable hard cap. With other hard assets (those with limited supply) such as gold, diamonds or real estate, we dont know the supply cap, nor do we know how much is currently in existence.

Plus, with other hard assets, the price influences the potential supply. For instance, if gold were to surge from $2,000 to $20,000 per ounce, new extraction methods would become viable, boosting the theoretical cap. Bitcoin is the only asset traded on liquid exchanges for which the price has no influence whatsoever on the supply. It is the hardest of hard assets.

Whats more, the supply of its most common denominator the U.S. dollar has been increasing over the decades, and more recently at an astonishing pace. We are likely about to embark on another wave of monetary easing, involving lower interest rates and the incentivization of credit to overcome declining economic growth and consumption.

An increase in the supply of USD above what economic growth can absorb will all other things being equal decrease its value relative to other assets, and following basic math, if the value of the denominator drops, that of the ratio increases. Bitcoin is a store of value and a hedge against currency debasement.

Read the full story here:

12:30 p.m. HKT/SGT(4:30 UTC) Japan Industrial Production (YoY/Feb)

2:00 p.m. HKT/SGT(6:00 UTC) Great Britain Consumer Price Index (YoY/Mar)

6:45 a.m. HKT/SGT(22:45 UTC) New Zealand Consumer Price Index (YoY/Q1)

In case you missed it, here is the most recent episode of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

Coinbase CEO Leaves Door Open to Relocating; Bitcoin Reclaims $30K

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong indicated that the crypto exchange would consider moving away from the U.S. if the regulatory environment for the industry does not become clearer. Jason Gottlieb, Morrison Cohen LLP partner and chair of the firm's digital assets department, weighed in. Plus, Kaiko senior research analyst Dessislava Aubert broke down XRP's rally in the last month. And, Arkham Intelligence is one of CoinDesks Projects to Watch 2023. Arkham founder and CEO Miguel Morel joined the conversation.

Ethereum Unstaking Requests Now Face About a 17-Day Wait: The queue stood at 14 days late last week, but its lengthened as more exit requests piled in from validators on the blockchain. Also, staked ether deposits outpace withdrawals for the first time since last weeks Shanghai upgrade.

Rocket Pool Made It Cheaper to Stake ETH Through Its Platform Following Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade: The staking protocol gave users access to their staking rewards and lowered the barrier of entry to create an Ethereum validator.

Developers Stay Resilient Through Harsh Crypto Winter, Report Says: According to Alchemys Q1 2023 "Developer Report," Ethereum SDK installations reached an average of 1.9 million installs per week, a 47% year-over-year increase.

The Biggest Crypto Bull Cycle Is Upon Us: Bernstein: Macro catalysts are lining up for bitcoin, a new report from the brokerage firm said.

Continued here:

First Mover Asia: Bitcoin Rally Stalls Above $30K; Ether Hits $2.1K - Yahoo Finance

In this weeks newsletter, read about how Mastercard launched an accelerator program for musicians powered by nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and how online safety groups urged Meta to refrain from allowing minors into its new metaverse. Check out what happens to NFTs when a collector dies, and, in other news, find out how publishers are looking for alternatives to play-to-earn gaming. And dont forget this weeks Nifty News, featuring Bitcoin (BTC) miners earning from Ordinals and Reddit facing backlash for Gen 3 avatars.

Payment processing company Mastercard announced an artist accelerator program with a Web3 twist. The program aims to help musicians by giving them access to artificial intelligence tools and other experiences. However, it will only be accessible to those with the limited-edition Mastercard Music Pass NFT.

The NFT is free for musicians and fans until the end of the month. The company partnered with Polygon to make the initiative happen. According to Raja Rajamannar, Mastercards chief marketing and communications officer, this program helps users understand and trust how blockchains and digital assets are used.

Continue reading

Cointelegraph spoke with various professionals to find out what will happen to NFTs when a collector dies. According to Oscar Franklin Tan, the chief legal officer of NFT platform Enjin, smart contracts are flexible enough to transfer NFTs upon the owners death, but the death needs a way to be linked to the contract.

Meanwhile, Ajay Prashanth, an executive at NFT insights platform bitsCrunch, echoed Tans comments. Prashanth said that setting up smart contracts to automate NFT transfer after death is technically feasible. However, it requires connecting to legal documents that certify the death.

Continue reading

Online safety groups have sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, urging the company to cancel its plans to invite teenagers and young adults to use its metaverse application, Horizon Worlds. According to the activists, Meta must assess the risks of allowing the youth into the metaverse.

The groups also urged the company to wait for peer-reviewed research on metaverse risks to make sure that kids and teens would be safe. According to the letter, children are likely to face privacy issues and harassment within the metaverse.

Continue reading

Cointelegraph went to the NFT.NYC 2023 event in New York to get exclusive insights from the conference. One of the topics discussed was play-to-earn gaming and how companies are shifting their strategies during the crypto winter.

Minoru Yanai from Japanese manga and anime design company Minto said that companies are now looking at play and fun and even earn or swap. He added that publishers and developers are now focusing on sustainability and flexibility.

Continue reading

Data from Dune analytics showed that Bitcoin miners had earned over $5 million from Bitcoin Ordinals as BTC transaction fees from inscriptions increased by 240% in the last month. Meanwhile, Reddits third batch of NFTs, commonly called Gen 3, faced backlash over botting issues. Redditors claimed that they missed out on the sale due to spam bots swooping in almost instantly.

Continue reading

CHECK OUT COINTELEGRAPHS NFT STEEZ PODCAST

Thanks for reading this digest of the weeks most notable developments in the NFT space. Come again next Wednesday for more reports and insights into this actively evolving space.

Read the rest here:

Heres what happens to NFTs when you die: Nifty Newsletter, April 1218 - Cointelegraph

Digital assets are typically restricted to their native blockchain networks, and existing methods of transferring tokens from one blockchain network to another are highly vulnerable to hacking or involve using a trusted third party.

However, multichain tokens enable users to transfer their assets to another blockchain directly without giving up custody of their tokens.

Experts in the blockchain space believe that cross-chain tokens can positively impact the industry by enabling greater user participation over multiple networks.

Marius Ciortan, director of product engineering at Bitpanda and Pantos, a European crypto exchange, told Cointelegraph, Multichain tokens can establish a more fluid and connected environment in the context of decentralized finance.

Ciortan continued, Multichain tokens, for example, can aid in developing more efficient decentralized exchanges by allowing users to trade assets across several blockchain networks. This can aid in improving liquidity and decreasing fragmentation in the DeFi ecosystem.

Multichain tokens can also help connect blockchain networks, assisting developers in deploying their applications on multiple blockchains. Hoon Kim, chief technology officer at Astar Foundation, a layer-1 smart contract platform, agreed, telling Cointelegraph, More asset and liquidity interoperability means more interdependence between ecosystems. This can expand the network to allow more innovation and increase the risk of failure when one asset loses its value.

But if an asset wants to increase its demand, we can see a future where more and more projects will aim to inject their assets into multiple networks and increase their utility, Kim said.

Facilitating communication and interoperability among various blockchain networks heavily relies on interoperability protocols. However, interoperability protocols in the blockchain domain present several challenges that require resolution in order to ensure the seamless operation of the blockchain ecosystem.

The absence of standardization poses a significant obstacle to interoperability protocols. There are many different exchange protocols, and each one has a different design and framework. This means that the environment is full of different networks that don't work together.

Since there isn't much unity, it's hard for developers to make apps that can run on different blockchain networks and still work. Because of this, people who work in software development have to learn how to use different exchange standards, which can take a lot of time.

Scalability is another obstacle to interoperability protocols. Most interoperability protocols are specifically engineered to manage a restricted quantity of transactions, potentially impeding the flow of data in networks that experience high traffic levels.

As a result, the issue of scalability may lead to sluggish transaction processing, elevated fees and network overcrowding.

Recent:Crypto regulation: Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

To tackle this challenge, it is imperative to devise interoperability protocols capable of managing large quantities of transactions and expanding proportionately with the increasing adoption of blockchain technology.

Security is another noteworthy obstacle for interoperability protocols. The interconnectivity of blockchain networks is associated with an elevated likelihood of security breaches and hacks. The absence of security considerations during the design of an interoperability protocol can lead to exploitable vulnerabilities of which malevolent entities can take advantage.

Developers have stressed that it is imperative to design interoperability protocols with resilient security characteristics capable of safeguarding against potential attacks and upholding the authenticity of the blockchain ecosystem.

Ciortan said, One of the biggest challenges we have seen across all interoperability projects in recent years is ensuring the system's security. Validation of events across multiple chains is a difficult task, and it takes a lot of work and research to develop a system that is robust enough to achieve this goal reliably and can stand the test of time.

The challenge of addressing the complexity of interoperability protocols is a crucial matter that warrants attention. The intricacy of interoperability protocols necessitates a profound comprehension of cryptography, networking and distributed systems.

To get around these problems, the blockchain community has to work together to develop standards and best practices for interoperability protocols.

Kim also believes security is one of the major challenges concerning interoperability in the blockchain space. Kim said:

Centralized bridge protocols can be vulnerable to hacking, data breaches or other cyber attacks. If the central intermediary or other components of the bridge infrastructure are compromised, it can result in loss of assets, data leaks or other security breaches that can have serious consequences for users.

Since multichain token systems work by users swapping their tokens directly, without any intermediaries or bridges, this can help to address some of the challenges with traditional interoperability protocols.

The Pantos group has created a novel benchmark called the Pantos Digital Asset Standard (PANDAS). The standard is the principal facilitator of tokens operating across multiple blockchain networks. Based on years of study, the Pantos team has developed a framework that allows tokens to interact smoothly with various blockchains.

Because Pantos is more of an infrastructure layer than a bridge, the PANDAS standard enables developers to deploy their existing tokens and newly created tokens on several blockchains without doing any maintenance work. This indicates that their tokens are on several chains and may be freely moved from one chain to another.

PANDAS does this via smart contracts, which are agreements that carry out themselves when specific circumstances are satisfied. In this scenario, the cross-chain transfer is made possible because of the smart contracts and a network of nodes.

For instance, if someone has an Ethereum-based token and wants to trade it on a BNB Chain DEX, they do not have to depend on a bridge to move a wrapped token to a different chain since they can utilize the Pantos technology to transfer their token to a new chain natively.

Pantos has been developing several validation procedures for a considerable period of time. The ultimate validation method is currently unreleased to the general public; however, it will constitute an enhanced iteration of the oracle-derived methodology.

The approach facilitates enhanced scalability and decreased gas fees while maintaining the system's security standards. Oracles are primarily utilized as instruments for making inquiries. For example, the oracle on a blockchain can be queried by any Pantos client to verify a transaction on a different blockchain.

The Oracle verification process is founded on a combination of threshold signature schemes and distributed key generation (DKG) protocols developed by Dan Boneh, Ben Lynn, and Hovav Shacham computer scientists at Stanford University. These cryptographic techniques facilitate the authentication of signatories' legitimacy by users. The Boneh-Lynn-Shacham threshold signature allows users to verify that a signer is authentic, and DKG enables multiple parties to contribute to the calculation of a shared public and private key set.

The process is executed with a dual focus on economic and logistical efficiency, achieved through consolidating multiple signatures into a singular signature. In addition, the act of verifying a solitary signature can function as proof that the necessary minimum number of signatories backs the signed correspondence.

Pantos produces a decentralized private key, wherein the oracle nodes possess distinct private key shares, despite lacking ownership of the distributed private key. A public key, in essence, can be deemed analogous to a decentralized private key. Utilizing the private key shares possessed by the oracle nodes, the network can effectively consolidate their discoveries and generate an encoded message that can subsequently be deciphered using the public key.

Related:Building communities and ensuring NFT success: Insights for artists

If the oracle nodes undergo modification, all components, including the private key shares, the distributed private key and the public key, may undergo alteration. Typically, producing new keys necessitates oversight from a trustworthy individual in a position of authority. In contrast, Pantos employs DKG protocols to dispense with the requirement for a dependable authority.

Multichain token systems have the potential to revolutionize the blockchain industry and make DeFi more fluid and connected. By allowing users to transfer assets directly between blockchains without relying on intermediaries or bridges, multichain token systems provide an additional and efficient method for users to engage across multiple blockchain networks.

Read more:

Connecting DeFi: How multichain token systems can improve liquidity - Cointelegraph

The Strategic alliance lays the foundation for the digital trading of real estate.

New York, NY: April 18, 2023 Inveniam Capital Partners Inc. (Inveniam), a leading fintech company offering proprietary data solutions to digitize and automate the middle-office for private assets, today announced a strategic alliance with Cushman & Wakefield, a leading global real estate services firm, to deliver a tech stack that will further the global trading of private market assets with real-time data surveillance.

Cushman & Wakefield will use the proprietary Inveniam.io data operating system which is based on patented blockchain technology. This will transform the way asset data is credentialed, extracted, structured and delivered for clients providing better data quicker.

The value being added by the Inveniam platform to our Valuations and Advisory business is only the beginning, said Sal Companieh, Chief Digital & Information Officer, Cushman & Wakefield. Our continuing V&A Digital Transformation will provide many other opportunities to benefit our clients across multiple businesses that depend in different ways on reliable data.

Real estate asset appraisals and transactions can often be inefficient, involving unnecessary intermediaries and duplication of processes. Inveniams proprietary solution enables Cushman & Wakefield to assess the value of real estate assets more quickly and efficiently, creating a framework for real-time global trading with a high degree of transparency.

Cushman & Wakefields utilization of our technology is another signal that private markets are evolving toward performing more like public markets, said Patrick OMeara, Inveniams Chief Executive Officer. Our technology will help Cushman & Wakefield deliver digital middle-office capabilities with the potential to rapidly accelerate the tokenization of real estate assets.

Many major financial institutions are looking to digitize and tokenize the trading of private real estate on secondary markets. That effort begins with digitizing the middle-office, said Rob Skinner, Executive Managing Director, Cushman & Wakefields US Lead for Valuation & Advisory.

About InveniamInveniam is a fintech company with offices in New York City and Detroit. Founded in 2017, Inveniam built Inveniam.io, the data operating system for delivering access, transparency, and trust in the value and historical performance of private market assets. Inveniam.io leverages big data and proprietary blockchain technology to provide high-functioning asset data in a distributed ecosystem. Inveniams data layer can drive real-time pricing of infrequently traded private assets and accelerate diligence. Inveniam holds numerous patents pertaining to the ingestion of data into smart contracts.For more information, visit https://inveniam.io

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Cushman & Wakefield teams up with Inveniam.io as the global ... - Cushman & Wakefield

Once a nonfungible token (NFT) trader dies, their digital collectibles may be forever lost in the blockchain if they do not have a handover plan. Because of this, lawyers believe that its best to craft a way to pass on their assets in case of death.

From a legal standpoint, creating an estate plan, which is simply arranging the management and disposal of properties in preparation for future incapacity or death, seems like a good approach. Jaime Herren, a wealth services lawyer, told Cointelegraph that this might be the best step that NFT owners can take to make sure their NFTs are passed on to their loved ones after death. Herren explained that:

The attorney also explained that if the right plans are already in place, beneficiaries will not need to take any more affirmative actions. All they need to have is a wallet that will receive and hold the tokens. Herren explained that if the NFT owner dies while a comprehensive plan is in place, the executor or trustee will be the one to ensure that their NFTs will be transferred to the beneficiaries. However, this also requires NFT collectors to give these executors and trustees instructions to access your wallets.

Obviously, from the estate planning perspective, the worst thing you can do is hold your blockchain assets in a cold wallet with only a brain key. That is the dreaded situation validating tales of lost permanently lost crypto-fortunes, Herren added.

According to recent data by blockchain analytics firm Glassnode, about 2.7 million Bitcoin (BTC), worth around $76 billion,have not been touched in a decade. Crypto influencer Anthony Pompliano believes that its possible that these assets are either being held by disciplined investors or are already forgotten and lost.

Cointelegraph also asked those working in the NFT space if theres a possibility of automating the transfer of NFTs to specific wallets after death. When asked about this topic, Oscar Franklin Tan, the chief legal officer of NFT platform Enjin, shared that this remains more of a legal than a tech issue. Tan explained that:

Tan also added that until government death certificates become accessible via blockchain oracles, the death still needs to be linked by a trusted third party, like a lawyer, to verify the death. An on-chain transfer on death will, in concept, still trigger legal consequences of death, such as inheritance taxes, he added.

Related: Answering a morbid question: What happens to your Bitcoin when you die?

Ajay Prashanth, the head of ecosystem growth at NFT insights platform bitsCrunch, echoed Tans comments. Prashanth, who is also a software engineer, said that setting up smart contracts to automatically transfer NFTs after death is technically feasible.

However, practical challenges and legal considerations need to be addressed in implementing such a system. He explained that after enlisting the help of legal personnel to verify the proof that the collector passed away, its necessary to set up the smart contract to connect with the legal documents.

The process entails defining beneficiaries in the smart contract code or connecting the smart contract to a different legal document, such as a will, that specifies the desired beneficiaries, he explained. This will allow the smart contract to find the correct recipients and receive specific instructions on what to do after verifying the death, such as transferring the NFTs.

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The rest is here:

What happens to your NFTs when you die? - Cointelegraph