What the numbers say: The daily transactions on the Bitcoin network reached a new all-time high on May 1 by hitting the 492,220 level. The lowest transaction volume was seen on April 20, with 293,080. Following this point, the network experienced a steady increase in daily transactions and renewed its previous record of 406,000 day by day after April 28. Relevance: The record high transaction levels on the network were attributed to the rise in the Ordinals inscriptions. Daily inscriptions also simultaneously reached a new record high on May 1, seeing 372,832. The data regarding Ordinals inscriptions showed a similar steady increase, especially after April 27. The total inscription number to date has also reached 3,130,802. What it means: Ordinals are digital assets permanently attached to a satoshi, or 1/100,000,000 of a full Bitcoin (BTC). These NFTs have gained massive popularity over the last several months. The number of Ordinals inscriptions saw a sudden jump to the 240,000 level on March 1, up from 679 on Feb. 1. Brands that should care: The rising popularity of Ordinals NFTs has caused several NFT-related firms to jump on the bandwagon. In late February, Yuga Labs, the firm behind the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, introduced its first-ever Ordinals NFT collection, TwelveFold. The company generated $16.5M from the auction of the collection within the first 24 hours. NFT marketplace Magic Eden also recently launched a new fully audited NFT marketplace and a creator launchpad for Ordinals NFTs.
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A user of the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the platform with allegations that the firm violated privacy laws in Illinois. The filing was submitted to a California District Court. More: - Coinbase requires users to upload pictures of a valid ID and a self-portrait to conduct its Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols.
- The platform's mobile app also uses biometric data, including fingerprint and face scan, to verify users while logging into their accounts.
- Besides, the exchange creates a map of the user's face by scanning the photographs to match the self-portrait with the face on the ID.
- The lawsuit claims these practices violate certain aspects of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
- BIPA mandates firms to obtain permission from users while collecting their biometrics and to provide details regarding the purpose for collecting these data, how long it would be stored, and how the company would permanently destroy it.
- The proposed case says that Coinbase has no written policy available to the public related to these details, and it has illegally collected and stored the biometrics of thousands of Illinois residents.
- In addition to the attorney fees and court costs, the lawsuit seeks damages of $5,000 for each deliberate BIPA violation or $1,000 each if the court concludes that the claimed breaches were not willful.
Zoom Out: - KYC is a common regulatory process generally implemented by financial services providers, including banks and crypto exchanges, to identify and verify their customers by asking for some key personal information and documents.
- The process aims to improve trust in the industry, help service providers to assess the risks, and combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
- Dubai-headquartered crypto exchange Bybit has recently made the KYC identity verification measures mandatory for all products and services, and Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has required customers to make KYC verification in all services since 2021.
- Coinbase has already been in a legal battle in the U.S. since late April when it filed a petition requesting the court to force the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to create a clear framework for digital assets.
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The 279-year-old luxury art auction house Sotheby's has launched a new on-chain NFT marketplace where digital art collectors can directly buy secondary NFTs. The initiative was introduced through Sotheby's Web3 arm, Sotheby's Metaverse. More: - The platform's on-chain structure will be powered by the Ethereum and Polygon networks, and users will be able to pay for NFTs only with these networks' native tokens, ETH and MATIC.
- The marketplace will automatically pay artists based on the royalty rate they select.
- The artists whose works will be on sale on the platform will be exclusively curated by Sotheby's experts and rotate at regular intervals, differently from other secondary NFT marketplaces.
- The platform will launch with 13 leading digital artists, including Tyler Hobbs, Hackatao, Claire Silver, XCOPY, Diana Sinclair, and Pindar van Arman.
Zoom Out: - Sotheby's made its first foray into the NFT market in April 2021 by auctioning off the work of a pseudonymous digital artist, Pak.
- Since then, the famous art house has carried through many record-breaking NFT sales and generated over $120M in total.
- Sotheby's Metaverse also announced its plans to debut a digital art gallery featuring various rooms curated by different artists and collectors through the metaverse platform Oncyber in June.
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Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit has started offering an in-house crypto lending service dubbed Bybit Lending. The new offering allows users who deposit a particular amount of crypto through the lending service to receive interest payouts. More: - Lenders can currently receive interest payments of up to 16.46% per hour.
- The loaned crypto funds can be deposited without lock-up periods and redeemed when wished.
- On the other hand, borrowers can use these funds by taking out loans to benefit from various trading options on Bybit.
- To protect lenders' interests, borrowers must post an amount of collateral assets equal to or larger than the loaned amount.
- Bybit CEO and co-founder Ben Zhou said they aim to offer users a way to generate returns and provide advanced traders with access to capital from lenders.
Zoom Out: - With its latest move, Bybit joined other major crypto exchanges, including Binance, OKX, and KuCoin, offering crypto lending services.
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Crypto exchange Crypto.com has launched an AI-powered chatbot named Amy that will act as a useful companion on the platform. The new chatbot will give platform users real-time information about certain cryptocurrencies. More: - Amy will also answer questions about prices and listings.
- Crypto.com underlined that its chatbot aims to help users capture new investment opportunities in the crypto market and is not intended to give investment advice.
- Amy is powered by the GPT model behind OpenAI’s popular AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT.
- The tool was trained on case studies involving cryptocurrencies.
- The project in the beta testing phase will be able to be used by select Crypto.com users for a while before being put into common use in the upcoming weeks.
- The platform also plans to make the Amy chatbot available on its mobile app.
Zoom Out: - AI has become a rising trend in the crypto industry over the last several months as rival crypto exchanges, including Bybit and OKX, integrated AI-powered tools into their platforms.
- Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, also recently launched a new AI-driven chatbot, Sensei, powered by ChatGPT on its Web3 education platform, Binance Academy.
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Australian crypto exchange CoinJar's CEO and co-founder Asher Tan has announced the platform's plans to expand its business to the U.S. Tan said they see opportunity in the U.S. where other exchanges see regulatory risk. More: - The platform has published a job posting for an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance officer to facilitate its expansion.
- The successful candidate will be responsible for implementing procedures to guarantee compliance with all relevant regulations, including the AML measures, and will report to the firm's Head of Legal and Compliance and the Board.
- CoinJar's CEO underlined that their focus on regulatory compliance would also help them operate in other difficult environments in terms of regulations.
- CoinJar, founded in Melbourne in 2013, was one of the first crypto exchanges in the Aussie market.
- The company also received a license in the U.K. in 2021 to operate in the country.
- The exchange has around 500,000 customers worldwide.
Zoom Out: - The U.S. has recently become famous for its strict regulatory approach toward the crypto industry.
- Over the last several months, many crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, Bittrex, and Binance, came under increased scrutiny by the U.S. regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
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- Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has sent an official reprimand letter to the founders of the new crypto exchange OPNX launched by the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrow Capital's (3AC) founders.
- Popular NFT marketplace Blur has launched a peer-to-peer (P2P) perpetual NFT lending protocol dubbed Blend.
- Crypto exchange Poloniex has agreed to pay a $7.6M fine to settle the charges that it violated the sanctions against Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria between January 2014 and November 2019.
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 |  | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
Join us on May 11th and 18th for a hands-on overview of how to analyze and improve the performance of your LLMs. | |
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