Mediaboss Marketing

In its newly launched Fortune Crypto 40 benchmark, the media firm ranked the top 5 firms in the crypto space in each of the eight categories.

The categories include centralized finance (CeFi), traditional finance (TradFi), Venture Capital, Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Data, Infrastructure, decentralized finance (DeFi), and Protocols.

To find the top 40 firms, Fortune used various empirical metrics along with surveys of over 200 financial executives conducted by Researchscape. Fortune claims the results are impartial and rigorous.

The benchmark ranked the Ethereum Foundation as the top protocol, followed by Bitcoin. Polygon Labs, which develops Ethereum scaling solutions, and Solana Foundation, the non-profit responsible for developing the Solana ecosystem, ranked third and fourth, respectively. Offchain Labs, the firm behind Ethereum scaling solutions provider Arbitrum, secured the fifth position in the Protocols category.

Coinbase topped the CeFi category, followed by Binance and Kraken. Mike Novogratz-led Galaxy Digital and USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin issuer Circle grabbed the fourth and fifth positions in the benchmark.

PayPals integration with MetaMask placed it at the top of the TradFi category, which ranked the top 5 firms innovating with blockchain technology. Stock trading platform Robinhood, which enables crypto trading, came in second, followed by JP Morgan Chase, which launched its own blockchain Onyx.

Fidelity, which received flak for allowing pensioners to invest part of their retirement funds in Bitcoin, ranked fourth, while Visa secured the fifth position.

Polychain Capital ranked first in the VC category, followed by Animoca Brands and Andreessen Horowitz. The last two spots in the category went to Pantera Capital and Blockchain Capital.

As the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea secured the top position in the NFT category. Yuga Labs, which launched some of the top NFT collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club, ranked second.

Sky Mavis, creator of the popular NFT game Axie Infinity, and generative art NFT platform Art Blocks ranked third and fourth, respectively. RTFKT, which Nike acquired in 2021, is the fifth NFT firm in the benchmark.

In the data category, Chainalysis ranked first, followed by Coin Metrics and The Graph. Dune and Messari secured the two other spots.

The Fortune benchmark also included crypto firms that offer infrastructure for the industry. Non-custodial wallet provider Ledger topped the category. Bitcoin mining giant Genesis Digital Assets, not to be confused with the Digital Currency Group lender that filed for bankruptcy, secured the second spot.

Bitcoin mining chip developer Bitmain ranked third, followed by Alchemy, which provides plug-and-play tools to build products and services on blockchains. Crypto payment solution MoonPay ranked fifth in the infrastructure category.

Fortune listed Uniswap Labs, Lido, MakerDAO, Aave, and Curve as the top five contenders in the DeFi category. It is worth noting that all the DeFi applications are built on Ethereum.

In fact, according to DefiLlama data, these are the top five DeFi applications in terms of total value locked (TVL). The five DeFi applications have over $31 billion in TVL at the time of writing, as per DefiLlama.

Furthermore, the Fortune benchmark includes a high number of Ethereum-based applications, not to mention that two out of the five top protocols are Ethereum scaling services.

But the focus on Ethereum may have been a result of the fact that Ethereum controls nearly 70% of all DeFi activity.

Disclaimer: Our writers' opinions are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of CryptoSlate. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article. Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.

Original post:

Fortune Crypto 40 selects Ethereum as top protocol, Bitcoin ranks second - CryptoSlate

Ether rose last week as investors looked ahead to the Ethereum network's next big tech upgrade. The second-largest crypto asset by market cap hasn't had the kind of rally it did leading up to its migration from a proof-of-work to proof-of-stake protocol in September. This week it added more than 4%, outperforming bitcoin, which gained less than 1%, and the major stock indexes. It gained 12% in March, though that was upstaged by the various forces that pushed bitcoin up 22%. Last year it rallied in the weeks leading up to the upgrade. ETH posted a 70% gain in July alone. It fell about 20% shortly after the upgrade was complete . The upcoming change, known both as the "Shanghai" upgrade and, more recently, the "Shapella" upgrade, is scheduled to take place April 12 and will allow investors to withdraw staked ether from the network for the first time ever. It's meant to strengthen Ethereum's proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, which it migrated to in September's "Merge" event, which ultimately would allow more liquidity to ether investors and stakers. "The upgrades represent a significant step for the Ethereum network, and while tough to say what ETH flows may look like post-upgrade, more liquidity will exist all else equal," said Alex Markgraff, analyst at KeyBanc. "Greater liquidity could be a catalyst for a change in institutional participation while simultaneously presenting commercial opportunity for staking providers." It's also meant to extend the migration that took place in September, meaning it should make the network faster, more scalable and more energy efficient than if it was a proof-of-work protocol. "This upgrade is a significant milestone in Ethereum's shift to proof-of-stake," said Andrew Ballinger, head of staking solutions at Canadian investment fund manager 3iQ. "The liquidity that comes with it will allow for greater participation in staking and as a result enhanced network security." ETH.CM= 1M mountain Ether (ETH) Here's what investors need to know about the next Ethereum update: Withdrawing your 'locked up' ETH While the Merge turned Ethereum into a proof-of-stake network and gave investors a bigger opportunity to earn passive yield on their ETH holdings through staking which includes locking tokens up on the network for a period of time Shapella will make it possible for investors to "unstake," or withdraw, their ETH. "Up until this point, staked assets were locked up indefinitely, and those who wanted to participate in the network and generate yield on their ETH holdings often had to get comfortable with an indefinite timeline for liquidity," Ballinger explained. There are several reasons someone might want to unstake their funds at any given point. Investors who may want to engage with other parts of the network, like buying NFTs or participating in a decentralized finance protocol, may be unable to with their funds locked up. Some staked their ETH before the emergence of liquid staking protocols emerged, Ballinger pointed out. Owen Lau, an analyst at Oppenheimer, noted that short-term traders may simply want to unstake their ETH to sell it especially at a time like now, when crypto prices including ether have been rising. However, he added, they're more likely to get an even bigger return by keeping their funds locked up. (When you stake your crypto, you contribute to the proof-of-stake system that keeps decentralized networks like Ethereum running and secure; you become a "validator" on the blockchain, meaning you verify and process the transactions as they come through, if chosen by the algorithm. The lock-up of your funds serves as a sort of collateral that can be destroyed if you as a validator act dishonestly or insincerely. For more, check out our staking primer here .) "Providing liquidity for staked ETH will allow a significant group of institutions and traders, who have been sitting on the sideline, the ability to finally participate in the network," Ballinger said. "And greater participation in ETH staking strengthens the security of the Ethereum network as a whole." Potential ETH selling pressure Many market participants have speculated that there will be a wave of negative sell pressure on the market as previously locked funds on Ethereum are released. Data from CryptoQuant suggests any sell pressure would be low, however. Typically, selling pressure emerges when market participants are sitting on extreme profits. Currently, however, the majority of the ETH staked (54%, or 9.7 million ETH) is currently at a loss, the firm said. The average depositors of the largest staking pools are also currently at a loss, according to the data. Ballinger pointed out that unlocking won't happen on day 1 of the update either. It could take as long as 30-60 days for participants to exit, due to the two-day "unbonding" period (the amount of time a blockchain delegator waits before they can move or sell their tokens) and a variable exit queue that changes based on the number of participants in line, he said. "Given there's a limited amount of participants that can exit in a day, this sell pressure will not be as instant or violent as advertised by some commentators," he said. "We still may see some sell pressure on the price of ETH, but it will come over a period of weeks a much healthier resolution for the Ethereum network."

The rest is here:

What crypto investors need to know about Ethereum's 'Shanghai ... - CNBC

Bitcoinbitcoin, ethereumethereum, and other cryptocurrencies have been thrust back into the limelight this year and are now at a "pivotal moment."

Subscribe now to Forbes' CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor and successfully navigate the bitcoin and crypto market roller-coaster

The bitcoin price added around 70% over the first three months of the year, making it among the best-performing assets even as U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren begins building an "anti-crypto army."

Now, as the U.S. banking crisis begins to recede, JPMorgan analysts have said the bank chaos vindicated many bitcoin, ethereum and crypto believersand issued a bullish bitcoin price prediction as a "hedge to a catastrophic scenario."

It's at the beginning of a bull run you need up-to-date information the most! Sign up now for the free CryptoCodexA daily newsletter for traders, investors and the crypto-curious that will keep you ahead of the market

"For crypto supporters, the U.S. banking crisis exposed the weaknesses of the traditional financial system given banks' maturity mismatch is susceptible to bank runs," JPMorgan strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, wrote in a note seen by Barron's.

"Crypto supporters have been arguing for a long time that the crypto ecosystem is superior, not least because deposits are held in entities such as stablecoins which as a digital form of money market funds are 100% backed with high-quality liquid assets and are thus less susceptible to runs."

The JPMorgan analysts' bitcoin bullishness is at odds with the bank's chief executive Jamie Dimon, who called crypto a "decentralized Ponzi scheme" in Septemberthough the bank is making crypto moves of its own.

Bitcoin is now just over a year away from its next supply cut, known as a halving, which will increase bitcoin's cost of production and potentially boost its price. The next bitcoin halving, its fourth, is currently scheduled for late April 2024 and will see the bitcoin block reward issued to miners who maintain the network drop from 6.25 bitcoin to 3.125 bitcoin.

"This would mechanically double bitcoin's production cost to around $40,000, creating a positive psychological effect," Panigirtzoglou said. "This is because bitcoins production cost has historically acted as an effective lower bound."

Panigirtzoglou also predicts that the sudden growth of bitcoin-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called ordinals this year could provide another price support as they boost bitcoin miner revenue.

"This is because metadata such as text, images can be inscribed on the bitcoin network itself, without relying on smart contracts as seen with other blockchains, where NFTs are created through smart contracts," Panigirtzoglou said.

Sign up now for CryptoCodexA free, daily newsletter for the crypto-curious

The surging popularity of bitcoin ordinals has improved sentiment for the wider NFT and crypto market.

"The recent movement in bitcoin is also positive for the NFT market, as all boats rise with the tide," John Stefanidis, the chief executive of NFT-based gaming platform Balthazar, said alongside an NFT market report. "Its likely to have a positive impact on the overall sentiment of the market. Bitcoin is currently trading at above $28,000, which we havent seen since June last year."

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends, and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its emergence as a niche technology into the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for CityAM, the Financial Times, and the New Statesman, amongst others. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me on billyATbillybambrough.com.Disclosure: I occasionally hold some small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Continued here:

Shock JPMorgan Price Prediction Reveals Catastrophic Doomsday Scenario May Be Just The Start For Bitcoin And Ethereum - Forbes

Ethereum Classic's ETC/USD price has increased 3.99% over the past 24 hours to $21.69. Over the past week, ETC has experienced an uptick of over 2.0%, moving from $21.21 to its current price. As it stands right now, the coin's all-time high is $167.09.

The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for Ethereum Classic over the past 24 hours (left) to its price movement over the past week (right). The gray bands are Bollinger Bands, measuring the volatility for both the daily and weekly price movements. The wider the bands are, or the larger the gray area is at any given moment, the larger the volatility.

The trading volume for the coin has tumbled 2.0% over the past week while the circulating supply of the coin has risen 0.19%. This brings the circulating supply to 140.42 million, which makes up an estimated 66.64% of its max supply of 210.70 million. According to our data, the current market cap ranking for ETC is #25 at $3.05 billion.

Powered by CoinGecko API

This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.

2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Go here to read the rest:

Cryptocurrency Ethereum Classic Rises More Than 3% In 24 hours - Benzinga

In the constantly evolving and largely unstable cryptocurrency market, opting for credible crypto tokens is the only way to beat volatility. Tokens that are termed credible are coins that possess large-scale utility and have proven themselves in the charts. Credible tokens are naturally the best coins to invest in.

Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA) are examples of tokens that aspire to be termed credible crypto coins. Despite the favorable market dynamics, these tokens continue to compete to break out of the bear.

Then, we have the stunner and new fan favorite, DigiToads (TOADS). Dubbed by experts as one of the best coins to invest in, DigiToads drives investors nuts as the killer presale is predicted to go even higher.

Get caught up with crypto happenings and the DigiToads presale with this article.

DigiToads (TOADS) is leaving little room for comfort as it continues to subdue the industry. As investors attempt to recover from the tokens 700k surge, it shocks investors as it heads to $1 million. This tokens 60% surge could become 100% in the crypto week and take its seat as one of the best cryptos in history.

This tokens incredible, fast-paced growth is what the metaverse needs in this bear market. DigiToads (TOADS) is a special token because of its lighthearted approach to hitting the ecosystemmemecoins. Memecoins are known to attain great heights in the market, and a wonderful example is the Dogecoin (DOGE) project.

The TOADS presale has explicitly given DigiToads a place among some of the best cryptos. The traction this token will gain in the coming weeks will result in an insane surge in its price. Investors seeking to bag this token should buy it now while its still available at a discounted rate.

>> Buy DigiToads Now <<

The second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), is rising this week. This decentralized computing platform has achieved shocking sustainability over the years. Regardless of the markets unavoidable volatility, this crypto is yet to succumb to the bearish trend. With the capability of running a variety of DApps and services on its platform, Ethereum is one of the best DeFi crypto projects.

Ethereums native token, better known as ETH, is an extremely efficient token that runs the projects blockchain. Developers can utilize the token to create DApps as well as new tokens. Ethereum has overpowered the markets volatility as its token prepares to hit the $3000 mark. Even now, Ethereum (ETH) remains a top choice for investors.

The past week has been blessed for Cardano (ADA), as it painted the market green. Cardano has followed in Ethereums footsteps since its inception. It was designed to be an evolutionary Ethereum parody with better features. Its one of the best DeFi crypto projects, as it sweetens the crypto experience.

This next-generation token, Cardano (ADA), has always provided ease in the evolution of blockchain. With its amazing flexibility and scalability, this token has successfully changed the DeFi game. The past week has been good for Cardano, as it has been in steady green. Its no surprise that ADA is trying to catch up with ETH; experts say it just might.

Its crystal clear that while the bear market bullies numerous tokens, some tokens bully the bear. DigiToads sends shockwaves across the ecosystem as its presale heads toward $1 million. This token has its eyes set on the prize; DigiToads cant be stopped.

For More Information on DigiToads visit the website, join the presale or join the community

Disclaimer:This is a paid release. The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily represent those of Bitcoinist. Bitcoinist does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of information available in such content. Do your research and invest at your own risk.

Read more:

Ethereum (ETH) And Cardano (ADA) Face-off Amidst Market Volatility, Experts Predict Further Growth For - Bitcoinist