Smart accounts, enabled by the launch of the new ERC-4337 standard, are now available on Ethereum and are expected to help mainstream adoption by finally making crypto user friendly. Ethereum Foundation security researcher Yoav Weiss made the surprise announcement at WalletCon in Denver that the core contracts for ERC-4337 — known by blockchain developers as “account abstraction” — have passed an audit by Open Zeppelin and will be made available on every Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible network including Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche and Gnosis Chain. New users will no longer need to learn about complicated seed …

Around the world, personal financial stress is peaking. A recent study in America found that more than three in four people feel anxious about their financial situation. This is seeding anti-risk mentalities and prompting fears around the safety of long-term savings, including retirement funds. However, that shouldn’t mean hiding money under the floorboards. Nor should it necessarily mean handing over the reins to a low-growth pension fund, which at current rates of inflation, are likely to be losing value. It means being smarter about assessing all options and diversifying. And that requires freedom. That’s what Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) …

Bye-bye bear market blues; welcome to the network, Bitcoin (BTC) believers. Over the past week, the number of Bitcoin wallet addresses containing one BTC or more increased by 13,091. The total number of “wholecoiners” surged to 865,254. The number of whole coiners has rocketed during the downward price action, highlighted by the hockey stick growth on the Glassnode graph: Christian Ander, the founder of the Swedish Bitcoin exchange BT.CX told Cointelegraph that "This is good for the ecosystem that it’s growing from the ground up because want the economy to be bottom up.” Ander continued: “People have a strong belief …

Motivations for buying Bitcoin (BTC) are numerous: hedging against inflation, financial independence or even hopes for a Lamborghini and life in the sun. For “Mr. ERB,” a blogger and Bitcoin enthusiast, it’s all about retiring early. ERB keeps a detailed account of his finances on his “Early Retirement by Bitcoin” blog and spoke to Cointelegraph about his retirement plan. He told Cointelegraph that he first “got interested in Bitcoin in summer 2017” when a coworker briefly brought up the decentralized peer-to-peer currency. However, in a familiar story for Bitcoiners when they first enter the space, “The price was about 2,000 …

The US Department of Labor (DOL) has told 401(k) investors to "exercise extreme care" when dealing with cryptocurrencies and other digital assets citing fraud, theft, and financial loss as “significant risks”. In a compliance report, released on Thursday, the DOL offered a stark warning to employers that seek to increase their 401(k) exposure to cryptocurrencies, stating that any significant crypto investments within company-sponsored retirement accounts may attract legal attention. A 401(k) is a retirement savings plan offered by most American employers that extend tax advantages and long-term financial security to those that opt-in. Regarding the legislation surrounding 401(k) investments, the …

For international travelers still able to cross borders amid an ongoing pandemic, using cryptocurrency to prove they have the means to sustain themselves abroad is a relatively new concept. Many countries around the world are closed to visitors in an effort to protect their residents from COVID-19, but some have continued to allow students, retirees, and others seeking medium- to long-term stays through immigration. Under normal circumstances, entrants are sometimes required to present evidence of funds, both to show they have the necessary savings to provide for themselves and are less likely to work illegally. The definition of this “Evidence …

Anchor, the flagship savings protocol of the Terra Luna (LUNA) ecosystem, has seen its reserves decline by 35.7% in the past seven days according to Terra.Engineer. Since the beginning of December, the amount of Terra USD Stablecoin (UST) held in the "terra1tmnqgvg567ypvsvk6rwsga3srp7e3lg6u0elp8" smart contract has declined by over 50%, with only $35.7 million remaining. As a savings protocol, users deposit their UST assets via their wallets and earn up to 20% yields as their principal is lent out to borrowers, who pay interest on the loan amount. Borrowers must deposit collateral to ensure the lender can get their money back …

German savings banks are reportedly planning to allow customers to invest in major digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) directly from checking accounts. Savings banks in German-speaking countries, also known as Sparkassen, are working on a pilot to launch an in-house cryptocurrency wallet and exchange next year, local business magazine Capital reported Dec. 13. The pilot project is subject to approval by Sparkasse committees early next year, while the banking association aims to develop related services at the beginning of 2022. An expert group from German IT service provider S-Payment is reportedly designing the concept for the project. …

Soon after becoming the first United States lawmaker to accept a part of his salary in Bitcoin, Suarez wants to dedicate a part of his retirement savings to Bitcoin based on “a personal choice,” he said in an interview with Real Vision: The long-standing mayor of Miami Francis Suarez has now announced plans to take a part of his 401(k) payout in Bitcoin (BTC) just a month after he started receiving salary in BTC. “I just think it is a good asset to be invested in. I think it’s one that’s obviously going to appreciate over time. It’s one that …

Ethereum-based (ETH) decentralized finance, or DeFi, risk management marketplace Risk Harbor will soon take over control of Terra's Ozone Protocol, according to a press release published on Thursday. Ozone is a decentralized insurance mechanism that provides coverage in the event of technical failures on the Terra DeFi ecosystem. The latter is a dual-token platform that features its governance token LUNA and stablecoin Terra USD (UST), which has an exchange rate of 1:1 with the U.S. dollar. UST has no underlying USD reserves backing it. Instead, it's collateralized via an algorithm by LUNA, and users can earn rewards by using LUNA …

South Korea’s public pension fund, the Korean Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU), is reportedly looking to gain exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) via a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF). KTCU, one of the largest institutional investors in South Korea, is considering investing in a pure Bitcoin ETF or Bitcoin-linked ETFs in the first half of 2022, local news agency The Korea Economic Daily reported Monday. According to the report, KTCU is considering investing in several Bitcoin ETF products, including those by South Korean asset management firm Mirae Asset Global Investments. The company launched two ETFs tracking the value of Bitcoin futures via its …

A retirement investment platform for small businesses has launched the Alt401(k) — enabling mainstream investors to include cryptocurrencies in their portfolios. ForUsAll has entered into a partnership with Coinbase Institutional to provide this service — and through this 401(k), employees can transfer up to 5% of their balances into a secured account where they can buy cryptocurrencies directly. Overall, nearly 40 different cryptocurrencies are supported, and employees get portfolio monitoring tools and the education required to make them feel comfortable with this asset class. According to ForUsAll, over 60% of professional investors now say crypto has a role to play …