On Monday, decentralized finance, or DeFi, protocol Compound Treasury announced that it received a credit rating of B- from S&P Global Ratings. As told by the team at Compound, this represents the first time a major credit agency has issued a rating for an institutionalized DeFi protocol. The S&P Global Ratings' investment suitability scale ranges from AAA (extremely strong) to D (in default). A score of B- indicates the issuer can meet financial commitments, though vulnerabilities to business, financial and economic conditions persist. Regarding Compound's rating specifically, S&P Global cites the uncertain regulatory regime for stablecoins such as USD Coin …

There’s been a tremendous amount of hype and misinformation about nonfungible tokens (NFTs) since they appeared on the scene in 2014, particularly since the total market for them passed $24 billion. You can’t open a news feed without an article about nonfungible tokens popping up. These inevitably contain the obligatory “An NFT is a” paragraph for newcomers… and for readers who’ve consumed a dozen similar articles but still don’t get it. If you’re among the latter, you’ve come to the right place. NFTs really can be important and useful, and they’re evolving to become more so. But NFT evangelists and …

The United States continues to be a global leader in embracing the cryptocurrency industry thanks to the work of Sen. Patrick Toomey, with the White House being at the forefront of crypto regulation. Last year, President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill — and it included some new legislation that would impact the crypto sector. And more recently, the U.S. president announced a “whole-of-government” approach to regulating cryptocurrency in an across-the-board executive order directing multiple government agencies to answer specific questions on cryptocurrencies. The U.S. for the last year has clearly been seeking to help make the …

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) nip in the bud several issues concerning their centralized counterparts such as concentration of liquidity in the hands of a few players, compromise of funds in case of a security breach, closed control structure and more. One issue, however, that has refused to subside is front-running. Unscrupulous players are still finding ways to defraud unsuspecting traders. If you have received less than expected when placing a trade on a DEX, there is a pretty good chance of you getting hit by front runners. These bad actors exploit the automated market maker (AMM) model to make profits at …

As the Fair Data Society puts it, we are laborers in the data economy. Our personal data — basically, the digital blueprint of our lives — gets collected by platforms we interact with, most often in a non-transparent way. At best, it is used to improve our user experience. At worst, our privacy gets breached, monetized and even weaponized against us. It all started with the emergence and growth of the user-generated web, as seemingly free social media networks, search engines and companies saw a new opportunity of profiting and went into the business of gathering, storing, analyzing and selling …

The nonfungible token (NFT) sector has undergone a surge in popularity over the past year and a half as projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks captured the attention of the general public. While the idea of fetching a six-figure payday for the latest trending digital art piece has been a major factor in the attention placed on the sector, the truth is that the crypto industry has only scratched the surface of what NFT technology is capable of. Here’s a rundown of some of the next frontiers in the development of NFT technology that has the potential to …

Japanese conglomerate Sony Electronics collaborates with blockchain video delivery network Theta Labs to launch nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that can be viewed in mixed reality through Sony's Spatial Reality Display, a monitor that lets people perceive things in 3D without using traditional 3D accessories. The Spatial Reality Display tracks eye movement and adjusts the display as the viewer moves, giving users a 3D viewing experience. With this, Mitch Liu, co-founder and CEO of Theta Labs, believes that NFTs and metaverses now have a “huge potential” for 3D visualization. Liu also noted that at the moment, the NFT industry is comprised of …

Polkadot (DOT) price ticked higher in the past 24 hours on anticipations that its new cross-chain communications protocol would solve a long-standing problem in the blockchain sector. DOT price gains 12% on XCM launch Bulls pushed DOT's price to $16.44 on May 5 from $14.72 a day before, gaining a little over 12% as they assessed the launch of XCM, a messaging system that allows parachains — individual blockchains that operate in parallel inside the Polkadot ecosystem — to communicate with each other. As Cointelegraph reported, future updates in the XCM protocol would see parachains exchanging messages without relying on …

In his monthly crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers emerging technologies within the crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain space, as well as their roles in shaping the economy of the 21st century. With the news that Meta plans to take a nearly 50% cut of virtual asset sales in Horizon Worlds, it will not be surprising if independent artists and content creators turn away from the Metaverse entirely. Or at least from its Meta rendition, no matter how excited the company might be about the creator economy. It’s one thing to pay this much when the …

The Northern Virginia county of Fairfax has already invested a part of its pension funds in crypto and blockchain startups. Now, it’s mulling over deeper involvement with decentralized finance (DeFi) yield farming. The Fairfax County Police Pension System’s chief investment officer Katherine Molnar said on Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference that the system aims to fund two new crypto-focused hedge fund managers in the next three weeks. The next few days will see a decision made, which, if approved, would be the first time pension fund money was used in DeFi. According to Molnar, Fairfax has already committed …

The Market Report with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss what they believe are the top three most bullish coins one should take a closer look at. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up: the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as each makes his case for the most bullish cryptocurrency right now. …

The crypto community and Wall Street converged last week in Nassau, Bahamas, to discuss the future of digital assets during SALT’s Crypto Bahamas conference. The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference (SALT) was also co-hosted this year by FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, kicked off Crypto Bahamas with a press conference explaining that the goal behind the event was to merge the traditional financial world with the crypto community: “Crypto Bahamas combines the crypto native FTX audience with the SkyBridge asset management firm audience. We are bringing these two worlds together to create a …