Recently, it was announced TON Applications Chain (TAC) is creating a new L2 network for The Open Network blockchain ecosystem. The TAC will be compatible with EVM, so applications built under the popular Ethereum standard can be easily transferred to or built specifically for the TON ecosystem. In return, developers will receive access to the huge Telegram audience and 'real-world' use cases and tasks. But is this move initiated by TON or it constitutes an organic merge of the two ecosystems? First, CoinDesk and others reported that the project was developed by the team behind the TON blockc ..read more

A new report from market intelligence firm SkyQuest predicts that the blockchain identity management market will grow from $2.37 billion in 2023 to a massive $293.39 billion in 2031. The flaws in the current leading online identity solutions have left them vulnerable to the rise in sophisticated cybercrimes thanks to A.I. This is pushing organizations to switch to self-sovereign identities. “Cybercrimes have also been on the rise due to technologies like machine learning, which can produce daily versions of viruses and malware. Sophisticated cyber threats cause harm to business entities ..read more

Crypto markets have passed a couple of FUD weeks with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies graphs in nosedive. The dip was instigated by the German authorities selling seized bitcoin and resulted in significant liquidations. However, not everyone panicked. One on-chain researcher recently noticed that Binance increased its Bitcoin reserves by adding 41,000 coins to its existing reserves of 580,000 BTC. The move was made during the Bitcoin price dip when many were panic-sellling. And, Binance did the same earlier in the year. During the same period, Bitfinex added around 13,000 BTC to its reser ..read more

Cryptocurrencies are becoming an integral part of contemporary finance, with the number of users expected to rise to 1 billion this year alone. The development of solutions that reduce the friction of interacting with decentralized assets is essential to the sector's growth.  While most of those solutions target individual users, OPAGO Pay has created a full-fledged service for merchants who want to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.  In an email conversation, OPAGO's co-founder Michael Dülk told Observers, "Our motivation is to remove the technical, r ..read more

As AI grows, so does its Intellectual Property (IP) problem. So, to make it smoother for AI tools to use original content, Story Protocol is developing the world's first IP blockchain. Announced last week, Story Network is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that claims to ensure creators' rights without restricting the dynamic ways in which content evolves online. Co-founder S.Y. Lee describes Story as a "solution to tokenize the multi-trillion-dollar asset class of intellectual property, making it programmable, sovereign, and liquid— transforming the internet into an IP Legoland." The bloc ..read more

Beware of the fake news - disinformation experts warn. The web is flooded with incorrect information and conspiracy theories following the assassination attempt of former U.S. President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania this Saturday. With both left and right weaponizing the incident for political gain, information experts have alerted social media users about deep fake images and AI-generated "proofs," suggesting that they consult several information sources before reaching conclusions.  While the internet's immediacy has simplified many aspects of everyday life, including informa ..read more

For all the key details of new Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) projects in the banking world, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, stablecoins, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) updates, the Observers 'Banking and CBDC Roundup' has you covered. CBDC Updates Canada's Central Bank published a paper discussing a hypothetical economy without public money (cash or CBDC). The researchers argued that such a monetary system would be prone to fragmentation, with different types of private money trading below or above par, leading to to loss of uniformity of money. Canadian central bank ..read more

Usual, a novel stablecoin protocol, has recently announced the launch of its mainnet. The protocol is introducing a new stablecoin dubbed USD0, aiming to compete with industry leaders like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. The core philosophy driving Usual is to “give back the power to the users,” by allowing them to decide how the protocol’s revenue should be distributed. Traditionally, leading stablecoin issuers such as Tether and Circle have made substantial profits by investing user funds in government bonds. For instance, Tether reported profits exceeding $4.5 billion in the first quarte ..read more

A surge in demand and interest in a project always attracts the attention of bad actors, and Telegram, with its trending mini-apps, is no exception. Degens and newbies who recently stormed into the crypto world on the ‘tap-to-earn’ wave easily get caught into well-known traps led by a thirst for money and FOMO. Discounted Telegram Stars Reportedly, recently launched in-app coins, Telegram Stars, is being used to steal users’ data, including access to the Wallet. Scammers offer users different ways to purchase coins, bypassing the App Store and Google Play platforms, which charge a 30% commiss ..read more

After a protracted and messy battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (and no shortage of rejected applications and delayed decisions,) exchange-traded funds based on Ether's spot price could finally hit the market soon, giving investors another option besides Bitcoin. Right now, issuers and regulators are in a back and forth as they work together on S-1 forms, ironing out details that include fees and expense ratios. It's unclear whether this will take days or weeks, leaving the crypto markets on tenterhooks as to when they'll gain approval. This would be a significant develop ..read more