Saudi Arabia has disclosed investments in nearly 40 US venture capital firms, including some deep in crypto, blockchain and Web3-related investments, Blockworks reports.
Sanabil, the venture arm of the Saudi sovereign wealth vehicle Public Investment Fund, commits around $2 billion annually into multiple funding rounds to develop businesses with novel business models, according to its website.
The fund now lists investments in the likes of Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), Coatue Management, KKR and Peter Thiel-backed Valar Ventures.
Funds associated with Web3 and blockchain: A16z, Polychain Capital, Griffin Gaming Partners, 500 Startups, 9Yards, B Capital, Collaborative Fund, Costanoa, Craft Ventures, Dragoneer, Greenoaks Capital, Human Capital, ICONIQ Capital, Insight Partners, KKR, Legend Capital, Race Capital, Soma Capital, TCV, Techstars, Third Point Venture, Uncorrelated, Valar Ventures, Valor Equity Partners and Village Global.
Dogecoin (DOGE) surged more than 35% after Elon Musk's Twitter replaced the social-media platform's familiar blue bird atop its homepage with the cryptocurrency's iconic Shiba Inu dog logo, Yahoo Finance reports.
DOGE got as high as $0.1046 versus around $0.077 right before the logo change. Before Monday, its price last exceeded 10 cents in December, according to CoinDesk data.Musk has frequently touted DOGE, suggesting the meme coin may offer better payments functionality than bitcoin (BTC). In January the Financial Times reported that Twitter was designing a system to permit payments through the social-media platform. While Musk, who is the CEO, wanted Twitter "first and foremost" to be for fiat currencies, he sought the ability to add cryptocurrencies – a story that gave the price of DOGE a lift.
A recent study conducted by the analytics company Juniper Research estimated that payments via central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could reach $213 billion by 2030, Crypto Potato reports.
The firm believes governments across the globe will use the product to boost financial inclusion and improve the monetary condition of emerging economies.
Juniper Research experts analyzing the fintech and payments market believe CBDC transactions could skyrocket from $100 million in 2023 to $213 billion by 2030 (a staggering 213,000% increase).
The specialists said the financial product is still in its early days, adding that global centralized authorities will focus on it to improve digital settlements and enable additional monetary services. However, they might also use it to obtain control over the consumers’ finances and supervise their activities.
The research further determined that by 2030, 92% of the total value transacted via CBDCs will be paid locally. At a later stage, the tool could start settling cross-border settlements.
More than $1 billion of ether (ETH) has been permanently lost due to software bugs and human error. The revelation comes from a study by Conor Grogan, Coinbase’s director of product strategy and business operations.
The report revealed that 636,000 ether, or about $1.15 billion at current market prices, has been rendered inaccessible. This represents 0.5% of total ETH supply. Per Grogan, the lost ether includes coins sent to incorrect addresses and those lost due to smart contract bugs and other programming issues.
Most of the lost coins, or 513,746 ETH, were lost during the 2017 Parity wallet issue. The flaw was triggered by a user and led to a loss of $280 million at that time.
Over 85,000 ETH became inaccessible due to buggy smart contracts, which automate transactions and agreements on the Ethereum network. They have been responsible for many high-profile losses in the past.
Moreover, some 24,000 ETH were sent to Ethereum’s so-called “burn address,” a destination for which no one holds the private key. This can occur when users mistakenly send coins to an incorrect address or when smart contracts are programmed with errors.
The remaining lost ether is distributed among various bugs, mishandled transactions, and wallet issues. Despite advances in wallet software and user education, human error remains a significant factor in the loss of cryptocurrency.
The Central Bank of UAE launched the CBUAE Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Strategy, one of the nine initiatives of the CBUAE’s Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme, Gulf News reports.
CBDC is a risk-free form of digital money issued and guaranteed by the central bank and serves as a secure, cost-effective and efficient form of payment and a store of value. As part of the UAE's digital transformation, CBDC will address the challenges of domestic and cross-border payments, enhance financial inclusion and the move towards a cashless society.
The first phase of the strategy, which is expected to complete over the next 12 to 15 months, comprises three major pillars, the soft launch of mBridge to facilitate real-value cross-border CBDC transactions for international trade settlement; proof-of-concept work for bilateral CBDC bridges with India; and proof-of-concept work for domestic CBDC issuance covering wholesale and retail usage.
Bitcoin price surged on March 19 to surpass the $28,000 zone, marking a 16% boost in value in the past seven days, according to Cointelegraph’s MarketPro data.
At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency was trading at $28,063, a 2.4% increase in the past 24 hours. The price reached $28,459 at its highest point during the day before trading at $26,877 during the day’s low.
Overall this week, Bitcoin has gained over 37% against the U.S. dollar. Bitcoin’s market capitalization added $194 billion in 2023, representing a 66% gain year-to-date, outperforming Wall Street banks stocks, especially with fears of a global banking crisis rising. Bitcoin is up about 65% so far this year, versus the S&P 500’s 2.5% gain and Nasdaq’s 15% decline in 2023.
Source: Cointelegraph
