BNB Chain is set to undergo its ZhangHeng upgrade later this month.
The upgrade will address blockchain exploit risks, and no new BNB tokens will be issued.
BNB Chain to undergo a major hard fork later this month
BNB Chain, the blockchain of the Binance ecosystem, is set to undergo its “ZhangHeng” upgrade later this month.
According to the development team, the upgrade will massively improve security features for users.
The BNB team believes that network security remains a cause for concern within the cryptocurrency industry. The hard fork is set to take place on 19th July 2023. at 6:00 UTC.
In the Web3 ecosystem, hard forks are permanent changes in the way networks operate, and they are carried out via software upgrades.
The hard fork will not result in the issuance of new BNB tokens. Furthermore, two-thirds of all BNB Chain validators will need to upgrade their nodes to process blocks once the upgrade is complete.
The hard fork will protect BNB Chain and its users
The network developers revealed in the BEP-255 proposal that user balance changes will be tracked in each block and reconciled to pinpoint issues. If there is a reconciliation error, the BNB Chain will enter a panic mode, and the blockchain will stop producing new blocks.
The developers added that;
“If a reconciliation error occurs, the blockchain will stop producing new blocks, impacting downstream services such as bridges, deposits, and withdrawals on exchanges. This drastic action is necessary to protect the chain and its users, so core developers and community members should investigate the issue as soon as possible.”
This latest cryptocurrency news comes following an interesting couple of months for BNB, the native coin of the Binance ecosystem. BNB’s performance has been erratic since the start of the year, with Binance facing multiple regulatory pressure globally.
BNB began the year trading at $245 per coin and rallied to its 2023 high of $354. However, BNB has lost more than 30% of its value over the past 30 days, thanks to its regulatory challenges in the United States and Europe.
At press time, the price of BNB stands at $246 per coin, down by less than 1% over the last 24 hours.
We’re delighted about the recent unveiling of IBM and Adobe’s dynamic partnership to help brands accelerate their content supply chains using generative AI. Our longstanding partnership with Adobe allows us to offer an unparalleled range of services to meet the evolving needs of the marketing and creative community.
So, what does this partnership mean in practical terms? There are 3 fundamental elements that IBM iX®, the experience design group within IBM Consulting, offers to Adobe customers to help them confidently launch campaigns, experiences and products with precision and reach customers faster using generative AI.
3 key benefits for clients:
Content production and digital images: Hundreds of human hours are spent on content production, which limits the ability to focus on the creative and personalization process. Brands using Adobe Firefly to enhance content production will have access to IBM Consulting experts who can help them effectively implement design and creative generative AI models. The AI enhancements can help save time and unlock a world of limitless creative possibilities.
End-to-end content workflows: Optimizing the content supply chain and the workflow is critical when realizing the value of generative AI. For example, when brands come up with brilliant ideas, the end-to-end process can be unwieldy. IBM Consulting helps customers using Adobe’s Workfront technology to optimize the end-to-end process flow. That means marketing and creative teams can launch effective campaigns and maximize their impact on the business more quickly.
Building an enhanced personalized experience: Building rich customer personas and customized journeys that are then actioned through well-designed systems, targeted visual content and relevant messaging, is how brands create differentiated experiences. IBM Consulting will integrate Adobe’s AI-accelerated Content Supply Chain solution with each client’s customer data, brand guidelines and IP. This provides enterprises the security they need when creating and using highly personalized content that it is consistent with their company’s brand.
Establishing guardrails for AI adoption: trust, transparency and brand consistency
Organizations wanting to apply AI models need to establish appropriate guardrails. The AI used must be transparent, governed and trusted. The data foundation must also be right to address bias and ensure consistency of brand voice. That means thinking about generative AI holistically across people, processes and technology. It’s not just about the technology, it’s about teaching people the right skills in AI and creating a culture where they’re empowered to ask tough questions about the data.
IBM as client zero and our Center of Excellence
We have a deep understanding of the Adobe technology suite and these new services are built on our own marketing transformation journey. We used the IBM Garage™ methodology to deploy the Adobe suite and alongside the technical work, IBM iX design experts helped optimize processes and envision new marketing skills and roles that would support transformation. and alongside the technical work IBM iX design experts helped optimize processes and envision new marketing skills and roles to support the transformation.
Our Center of Excellence for Generative AI has 1,000+ consultants with specialized generative AI expertise and it sits alongside our larger AI and analytics practice, which has deep expertise and experience from thousands of client engagements.
Connect with your Adobe or IBM customer success partner to discuss how we can help you successfully implement generative AI across your enterprise to experience faster time-to-market, reduced costs and increased productivity. Imagine a content supply chain that flows seamlessly, delivering high-quality content to your audience faster than ever before.
The US published weak jobs and inflation data this month.
The Fed could now hike rates less times than expected.
A dovish tone could be a good thing for Chancer and other cryptocurrencies.
American stocks jumped to a multi-month high while the US dollar index slipped to the lowest level since April 2022 on Thursday. Similarly, US bond yields and the CBOE VIX index turned red after the US published encouraging inflation data. These numbers, coupled with last week’s soft jobs data, could have an impact on cryptocurrencies, including Chancer.
US inflation and jobs data
The US published mixed jobs numbers last week. A report by ADP showed that the American economy added over 400k jobs in June, the highest figure in years. A separate report by the statistics bureau revealed that the country’s economy added over 209k jobs during the month. The official report was relatively soft than expected.
The US then published soft consumer inflation data on Wednesday. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the headline consumer price index (CPI) dropped from 4% in May to 3.0% in June. Core inflation also continued falling during the month.
Therefore, inflation is moving near the 2% target rate and this trend could happen faster than expected. For one, global shopping costs have plummeted while China has moved close to deflation. China is a big exporter to the United States.
These numbers will have an impact on all financial assets because of their impact to the Federal Reserve. Most economists now believe that the Fed will deliver another 0.25% rate hike this month and then pause indefinitely. In a note, an analyst at Point72 said:
“What we’re seeing is consistent with the market scaling back tightening expectations for after the July meeting, but it doesn’t seem that it should be pricing in scope for rate cuts this year.
A change of tune by the Fed will be a good thing for assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Chancer token sale continues
Another big crypto newsof the week is that Chancer developers introduced more ways to buy the token. In addition to BUSD, the developers added Ethereum, Tether (USDT), and Binance Coin as options to buy the token. This is an important move because it gives users diverse ways to invest in the token.
???????? The moment you’ve been waiting for is here! ????????
You can now purchase $CHANCER using $ETH, opening up a whole new world of possibilities! ????????
Get in on the action, secure your tokens, and ride the wave to incredible profits! ????????
Chancer’s token presale is going on well. For one, thousands of people have already bought the token, bringing the total amount raised to over $748k. The total amount of Chancer token sold stands at over 74 million.
For starters, Chancer is a platform that seeks to disrupt the sports betting and prediction market using the blockchain technology. It is a global platform that will make it possible for people to bet on international sports using cryptocurrencies.
At the same time, Chancer will enable any member to create their own markets and livestream them using the platform’s tools. For example, a user can create a market of a local game and then let a global audience bet on it. The user will take a cut of all the amounts placed in that market.
Chancer is now selling tokens as the developers prepare to launch the testnet in the coming months. You can buy the $CHANCER token here. Also, you should read the Chancer white paper to know more about the project, Most importantly, we recommend that you excise caution when investing in Chancer and other token presales.
According to a recent report by VentureBeat, Google Play has updated its policies to allow blockchain-based digital content, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other tokenized digital assets, in its app store.
The move is in response to the growing interest in NFTs and their unique user experiences. Google has been working with Web3 game makers such as Mythical Games to bring blockchain gaming recognition to the masses.
Google Play’s Blockchain And NFT Policy Update
Previously, blockchain game companies had difficulty distributing their games, as they often relied on the open web for distribution. As part of the new policy, developers must be transparent with users about tokenized digital assets.
According to the report, if an app or game sells or enables users to earn tokenized digital assets, developers must declare this. Additionally, developers may not promote or glamorize any potential earnings from playing or trading activities.
The new policy is expected to create a level playing field for developers and promote user trust and responsible usage of blockchain technology. Google Play will roll out the policy to all developers on its platform later this year, with a select group of developers testing and iterating the new user experience.
Furthermore, Google emphasizes the importance of maintaining user trust and has clarified that apps that have not met gambling eligibility requirements cannot accept money for a chance to win assets of unknown real-world monetary value, including NFTs.
Developers Can Now Bring Blockchain-Based Apps To Google
Google Play’s recent policy update to allow blockchain-based digital content has opened up new opportunities for developers to create engaging and immersive user experiences. As part of this update, Google Play is now in talks with industry partners to further improve its support for secondary markets.
Mythical Games, a Web3 game maker, recently released Nitro Nation World Tour, a racing game that features NFTs. The game hit nearly a million downloads in June, proving a growing interest in blockchain gaming. With Google Play’s policy update, more developers can now bring their blockchain-based apps to the platform.
However, there are still some rules that developers must follow. For example, cryptocurrency exchanges and software wallets must be conducted through certified services in regulated jurisdictions.
Furthermore, apps integrating tokenized digital assets, such as NFTs, must comply with Google Play’s Real-Money Gambling, Games, and Contests policy. NFTs cannot be used to wager or stake in exchange for the opportunity to win prizes of real-world monetary value.
Google Play’s policy update is a positive development for developers looking to create engaging and immersive experiences through blockchain technology.
As blockchain technology evolves, platforms like Google Play must continue to support innovation while maintaining user trust and safety. With further improvements to support blockchain-based app experiences, the possibilities are endless.
Total crypto market capitalization regains the $1.15 trillion mark, as seen in the 4-hour chart. Source: TOTAL on TradingView.com
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView.com
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius has commenced legal action against Stakehound for failing to pay back $150 million in digital assets, including staked Ethereum (ETH), Polkadot (DOT), and Polygon’s MATIC, which it entrusted to the staking platform in 2021, according to a July 11 court filing.
“StakeHound continues to wrongfully withhold or otherwise deprive Celsius of possession of all of these valuable Native Tokens.’
Celsius alleged that StakeHound refused to return the entrusted funds when it went bankrupt last year, adding that the staking platform filed an arbitration agreement against it in Switzerland, saying it had no obligation to return the fund.
Celsius alleges StakeHound lost keys to 35k ETH.
According to the court filing, the staking platform claimed it lost the keys to Celsius 35,000 ETH in 2021, which means it has no obligation to repay. At the time, StakeHound blamed Fireblocks for losing the keys and sued the custodian.
Celsius argued that the arbitration violates U.S. Bankruptcy Code, where section 362 prevents a creditor from taking any legal action or collecting debt against anyone that filed for bankruptcy.
The bankrupt firm wants the court to compel StakeHound to return the funds and pay damages for breach of contract.
“StakeHound should be required to turn over to Celsius the tokens in its actual or constructive possession or otherwise provide the Native Tokens in exchange of the stTokens, and pay actual and exemplary damages, attorneys’ fees, and pre- and post-judgment interest arising from its breaches of duty and willful misconduct, and should be enjoined from continuing to pursue arbitration against Celsius in violation of the automatic stay.”
StakeHound had yet to file a defense for the allegations against it as of press time.
Celsius’s bankruptcy efforts
Meanwhile, the lawsuit marks Celsius’s latest efforts to recover some funds stuck across other platforms. Since filing for bankruptcy, the bankrupt lender has devised plans to make its creditors whole.
Recently, the lender got the court’s approval to liquidate its altcoins for Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH. However, a Kaiko report stated that the lender’s liquidation process might exert more pressure on the crypto market.
According to Arkham Intelligence data, Celsius currently holds $598.67 million in digital assets, with its CEL native token accounting for about $100 million of this fund.
The post Celsius files lawsuit to recover $150M crypto assets from StakeHound appeared first on CryptoSlate.
The token’s demand has been fueled by a proprietary trading service and AI craze
$ASI could rise to $0.1 in 2024 as more investors join ActualizeAI
Days after a successful presale in phase 1, investors are back on AltSignals ($ASI) in the second stage. Phase 2 of the presale has raised more than $1.15 million, representing approximately 51.12% of the tokens. The quick presale underlines strong investor interest in the token of the trading signal service, despite the price rising slightly to $0.01875 in the second phase.
AltSignals AI angle exciting for investors
AI has nearly been a buzzword in 2023, with analysts predicting it to be a game-changer for numerous industries. The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 started the craze as enthusiasm also gripped crypto and stock markets.
In trading, AI has been touted as a game-changer as it aids in machine learning, predicting modelling, and sentimental analysis to generate quality trading signals. AltSignals is tapping into the power of AI to supercharge trading results. The trading signal service has previously used a highly successful algorithm to generate signals for its over 52,000 traders.
Dubbed AltAlgo™, the algorithm has produced over 3,782 trading signals, with accuracy rates averaging 64%. Owing to the increase in AI application, AltSignals want to take the game higher and make its platform a go-to place for new and seasoned traders in stock, forex, crypto, and CFD markets.
What is AltSignals’s AI trading service’s value proposition?
AltSignals AI trading service will be dubbed ActualizeAI. The team looks at ActualizeAI as the ideal iteration to expand the scope of the trading instruments covered and increase the accuracy of the signals. Investors will become ActualizeAI members by buying $ASI, the token that will power the trading community and become the medium of exchanging value.
One of the benefits of owning $ASI is access to quality trading signals by the AltSignals team. With the early success of AltSignals since its founding in 2017, there has been a lot of enthusiasm that the AI service will grow investors’ earnings. Investors also benefit from the appreciation in the value of $ASI as the AI trading service continues to garner popularity.
ActualizeAI members acquire trading-related skills by participating in tournaments and competitions on the platform. They also get to accumulate $ASI for winning competitions against other traders.
Other utilities that $ASI carries include participation in community governance which gives holders the decision-making power in the affairs of the platform. There are also exclusive presale opportunities and access to AI-powered products for ActualizeAI members.
Will $ASI reach $0.1 in 2023?
$ASI is a token with a lot of potential, given that $AltSignals has been in existence and has organically built a trusted trading community. Coupled with the growing popularity of AI, the potential for the token to rise by up to $0.1 is strong.
A prediction of $0.1 in 2023, however, looks too soon since it means the price must rise by 1,000%. As the token starts listing in the third quarter, investors should expect substantial price increases, with a prediction of three-digit percentage rises more likely.
Predictably, a 1,000% is likely in 2024. This is when all the developmental activity of ActualizeAI will have occurred, opening the doors to more investors.
Should you buy $ASI this week?
$ASI is in its second presale phase, and the price is rising at each stage. With less than 50% left to end phase 2 of the presale and the price to rise, it could be the right time to buy the token.
Also, $ASI is geared toward listing on Uniswap in the third quarter. Listing on an exchange means the token will be opened up to more investors, giving it a chance to skyrocket in price. This means that buying now presents a better opportunity for investors as the token’s value is still low.
Artificial intelligence is used in healthcare for everything from answering patient questions to assisting with surgeries and developing new pharmaceuticals, benefitting both patients and healthcare systems.
How does artificial intelligence benefit healthcare?
According to Statista, the artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare market, valued at $11 billion in 2021, is projected to be worth $187 billion in 2030. That massive increase means we will likely see considerable changes in how medical providers, hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and others in the healthcare industry operate.
Better machine learning (ML) algorithms, more access to data, cheaper hardware and the availability of 5G have contributed to the increasing application of AI in the healthcare industry, accelerating the pace of change. AI and ML technologies can sift through enormous volumes of health data—from health records and clinical studies to genetic information—and analyze it much faster than humans.
AI can help make healthcare operations more efficient
Healthcare organizations are using AI to improve the efficiency of all kinds of processes, from back-office tasks to patient care:
Administrative workflow: Healthcare workers spend a lot of time doing paperwork and other administrative tasks. AI and automation can perform many of those mundane tasks, freeing up employee time for other activities. For example, doctors and other clinicians can dictate notes hands-free, giving them more face-to-face time with patients. AI computer-assisted documentation can provide clinicians with suggestions that keep medical records as thorough as possible. AI can also help with accurate coding, information sharing between departments and billing.
Virtual nursing assistants: One study found that 64% of patients are comfortable with the use of AI for around-the-clock access to answers that support nurses provide. AI virtual nurse assistants—which are AI-powered chatbots, apps or other interfaces—can answer questions about medications, forward reports to doctors or surgeons and help patients schedule a visit with a physician. This sort of routine monitoring and scheduling takes tasks off the hands of clinical staff, who can then spend more time directly on patient care, where human judgment and interaction matter most.
Dosage error reduction: AI can help identify errors in how a patient self-administers medications, leading to better patient health outcomes and reduced healthcare costs and hospitalizations. One example comes from a study in Nature Medicine, which found that up to 70% of patients don’t take insulin as prescribed. Using an AI system of wireless sensing, a tool that sits in the patient’s background (much like a Wi-Fi router) can flag errors in how the patient administers an insulin pen or inhaler.
Safer surgeries: In some instances, AI allows surgeons to operate in tiny spaces instead of doing open surgery. AI-enabled robots can work around sensitive organs and tissues, reducing blood loss, infection risk and post-surgery pain. Robotic surgery often means less scarring and shorter recovery times than traditional surgery.
Fraud prevention: Fraud in the healthcare industry is enormous, at $380 billion/year, and raises the cost of consumers’ medical premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. Implementing AI can help recognize unusual or suspicious patterns in insurance claims, such as billing for costly services or procedures not performed, unbundling (which is billing for the individual steps of a procedure as though they were separate procedures), and performing unnecessary tests to take advantage of insurance payments.
AI can improve the healthcare user experience
A recent study found that 83% of patients report poor communication as the worst part of their experience, demonstrating a strong need for clearer communication between patients and providers. AI technologies like natural language processing (NLP), predictive analytics and speech recognition can lead to healthcare providers having more effective communication with patients, which can lead to better patient experience, care and outcomes. AI can, for instance, deliver more specific information about a patient’s treatment options, allowing the healthcare provider to have more meaningful conversations with the patient for shared decision-making.
AI can also improve accessibility. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 28 million Americans didn’t have health insurance in 2020, and even those with insurance don’t always have coverage for every type of screening they need. The COVID-19 pandemic made the situation worse, as a disproportionate number of people in lesser-advantaged communities lost jobs, all or some of their incomes, and health insurance. Due to the pandemic, the federal government relaxed some regulations, such as certain HIPAA restrictions, allowing doctors to treat patients and prescribe medication using telehealth, which is possible through advances in computing and AI. Now telehealth is recognized as a valuable technology that can bring medical care to many people right in their homes.
AI can increase efficiency in healthcare diagnoses
According to Harvard’s School of Public Health, although it’s early days for this use, using AI to make diagnoses may reduce treatment costs by up to 50% and improve health outcomes by 40%.
One use case example is out of the University of Hawaii, where a research team found that deploying deep learning AI technology can improve breast cancer risk prediction. More research is needed, but the lead researcher pointed out that an AI algorithm can be trained on a much larger set of images than a radiologist—as many as a million or more radiology images. Also, that algorithm can be replicated at no cost except for hardware.
An MIT group developed an ML algorithm to determine when a human expert is needed. In some instances, such as identifying cardiomegaly in chest X-rays, they found that a hybrid human-AI model produced the best results.
Another published study found that AI recognized skin cancer better than experienced doctors. US, German and French researchers used deep learning on more than 100,000 images to identify skin cancer. Comparing the results of AI to those of 58 international dermatologists, they found AI did better.
AI in healthcare organizations can mean better health monitoring and preventive care
As health and fitness monitors become more popular and more people use apps that track and analyze details about their health, they can share these real-time data sets with their doctors to monitor health issues and provide alerts in case of problems.
AI solutions—such as big data applications, machine learning algorithms and deep learning algorithms—can also analyze large data sets to assist in clinical and other decision-making. AI also detects and tracks infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, tuberculosis and malaria.
AI connects disparate healthcare data
One benefit the use of AI brings to health systems is making gathering and sharing information easier. AI can track patient data more efficiently than humans can. Through AI and machine learning, health organizations can connect disparate information that previously might not have been gathered and analyzed, allowing a more unified look at patients’ health.
One example is diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10% of the US population has diabetes. Patients can now use wearable and other monitoring devices that provide feedback about their glucose levels to themselves and their medical team. AI can gather that information, store and analyze it, and provide data-driven insights from vast numbers of people, unlike anything available before. Leveraging this information can help determine how to better treat and manage diseases.
Organizations are also using AI to help improve drug safety. The company SELTA SQUARE, for example, is innovating the pharmacovigilance (PV) process, a legally mandated discipline for detecting and reporting adverse effects from drugs, then assessing, understanding and preventing those effects. PV demands significant effort and diligence from pharma producers because it’s performed from the clinical trials phase all the way through the drug’s lifetime availability. Selta Square uses a combination of AI and automation to make the PV process faster and more accurate, which helps make medicines safer for people worldwide.
In some cases, AI reduces the need to test potential drug compounds physically, which is an enormous cost-savings. High-fidelity molecular simulations can run on computers without incurring the high costs of traditional discovery methods.
AI could also be used to predict toxicity, bioactivity, and other characteristics of molecules or create previously unknown drug molecules from scratch.
AI governance in healthcare
As AI becomes more important in healthcare delivery and more AI medical applications are developed, ethical and regulatory governance must be established. Issues that raise concern include the possibility of bias, lack of transparency, privacy concerns regarding data used for training AI models, and safety and liability issues.
“AI governance is necessary, especially for clinical applications of the technology,” said Laura Craft, VP Analyst at Gartner. “However, because new AI techniques are largely new territory for most [health delivery organizations], there is a lack of common rules, processes and guidelines for eager entrepreneurs to follow as they design their pilots.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) spent 18 months deliberating with leading experts in ethics, digital technology, law and human rights and various Ministries of Health members to produce a report called Ethics & Governance of Artificial Intelligence for Health. This report identifies ethical challenges to using AI in healthcare, identifies risks, and outlines six consensus principles to ensure AI works for the public’s benefit:
Protecting autonomy
Promoting human safety and well-being
Ensuring transparency
Fostering accountability
Ensuring equity
Promoting tools that are responsive and sustainable
The WHO report also provides recommendations that ensure governing AI for healthcare both maximizes the technology’s promise and holds healthcare workers accountable and responsive to the communities and people they work with.
Future and potential of AI in the healthcare ecosystem
AI provides opportunities to reduce human error, assist medical professionals and staff, and provide patient services 24/7. As AI tools continue to develop, there is potential to use AI even more in reading medical images, X-rays and scans, diagnosing medical problems and creating treatment plans.
AI applications will continue to help streamline various tasks, from answering phones to analyzing population health trends (and, likely, applications yet to be considered). For instance, future AI tools may automate or augment more of the work of clinicians and staff members. That will free up humans to spend more time on more effective and compassionate face-to-face professional care.
IBM and AI in healthcare
When patients need help, they don’t want to (or can’t) wait on hold. Healthcare facilities’ resources are finite, so help isn’t always available instantaneously or 24/7—and even slight delays can create frustration and feelings of isolation or cause certain conditions to worsen.
IBM Watson Assistant AI healthcare chatbots can help providers do two things: keep their time focused where it needs to be and empower patients who call in to get quick answers to simple questions.
IBM Watson Assistant is built on deep learning, machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) models to understand questions, search for the best answers and complete transactions using conversational AI.
See IBM Watson Assistant in action and request a demo
Memecoins and artificial intelligence have been some of the most popular themes this year. New meme tokens like Pepe and Keke have grown from nothing into some multi-million dollar cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, AI companies like Nvidia and C3.ai have seen their shares jump by double digits. Shiba Menu, a new meme coin that is at the intersection of meme coins and AI, has also raised over $449k in the past few days.
What is Shiba Menu?
Meme coins are unique cryptocurrencies that started to boom in 2021. Their performance did well after the success of Dogecoin, a proof-of-work coin that was promoted heavily by Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet. Since then, many meme tokens have come up, with the most popular ones being Shiba Inu, Floki Inu, and Dogelon Mars.
Several meme coins have come up this year, with the most successful ones being Pepe and Keke. Pepe has gone from nothing to becoming a meme coin valued at over $500 million. It has created many millionaires along the way.
Shiba Menu (SHMU) is a new meme coin that is seeking to capitalize on the ongoing success of meme coins and artificial intelligence. According to its white paper, Shiba Menu is an AI-powered, self-marketing cryptocurrency. It will use AI to come up with marketing strategies, including writing its own PR.
Unlike many other meme coins that have no meaningful utility, Shiba Menu will create its utility over time. For example, it will be the only meme coin that can create its own marketing materials like PR and multi-platform marketing materials.
Potential catalysts for Shiba Menu
There are three main potential catalysts for Shiba Menu. First, there is a likelihood that cryptocurrencies will do well this year. This probability will increase if Bitcoin manages to move above the important resistance at $31,200. If this breakout happens, there is a likelihood that other tokens will rise as well.
As I wrote in this articleon Tuesday, analysts at Standard Chartered expect that Bitcoin could jump to $120k. If this happens, there is a likelihood that other coins and tokens, including Shiba Menu will rise as well.
Second, Shiba Menu could rally because of the meme coin hype. After the success of key tokens like Pepe and Shiba Inu, many traders are constantly in search of the next big thing. After raising over $400k in a few weeks, there is a likelihood that the token will generate hype.
Finally, Shiba Menu is taking advantage of two hyped industries like AI and meme coins. Traders love such assets, as evidenced by the recent performance of key assets like Nvidia. You can buy Shiba Menu using this link.
Is Shiba Menu a good buy?
Investing in token presales and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) is always risky and calls for caution. As such, while I expect Shiba Menu to thrive, I recommend caution. This means that you should only invest a small portion of your funds into the token. Doing this will give you exposure to the upside while limiting your potential risks.
The NEAR cryptocurrency’s hit in price seems to have made its way to the NEAR Foundation’s treasury. According to the foundation behind NEAR’s layer-1 blockchain, it saw a $200 million decline in its treasury at the end of the second quarter of the year.
NEAR Foundation’s Treasury Value Tanks In Q2
The Near Foundation’s treasury value dropped by over $200 million in the second quarter of 2022 alone. The foundation’s Q2 edition of its transparency report showed that the NEAR treasury now stands at $900 million, led by a fall in the price of NEAR tokens. In comparison, the Near Treasury totaled $1.1 billion in Q1 2023.
At the #NEAR Foundation, transparency is at our core.
At the end of the second quarter, the treasury held $349 million in fiat reserves, $315 million in NEAR tokens, $90 million in loans and investments, and a net total of $16 million in fiat and 1 million NEAR tokens was deployed to the ecosystem.
While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum saw some renewed investor interest in the second quarter, many altcoins witnessed a plunge in price, and NEAR was one of them. NEAR, the native token of the blockchain plunged in value from $1.99 at the beginning of the quarter to $1.38. In comparison, NEAR skyrocketed in price in the first and second quarters of last year, reaching more than $20 at its peak.
The crypto market is volatile, so treasury balances can change quickly. Despite the Q2 treasury plunge, the NEAR Foundation remains in a position to fulfill its mission to accelerate the development of the decentralized NEAR ecosystem.
“Amidst a turbulent market, the NEAR Foundation’s vision and mission remain the same: we believe in building a better web — the open web,” the report mentioned.
Developers attribute the decline in the treasury to the current headwinds in the industry, such as the SEC action against Binance and Coinbase. However, to minimize the risk of loss, non-NEAR assets, therefore, have been limited, with fiat reserves held in highly-rated Swiss bank accounts.
The NEAR blockchain prides itself as a blockchain operating system for an open web. However, the ecosystem has certainly been through some rough patches in the past. Last year, the foundation shut down its algorithmic stablecoin USN after suffering a collateral gap of $40 million.
Throughout Q2, the Near ecosystem saw 1.1 million monthly active accounts with 42 new strategic partners coming on board. The NEAR token is currently trading at $1.31, down more than 60% over the past year.
Featured image from Binance Academy, chart from TradingView.com
Tech giant Microsoft and cross-chain protocol Axelar have partnered to advance blockchain technologies.
Axelar has joined Microsoft’s Azure marketplace.
The partners will leverage the Azure cloud technology to enhance user experience across Web3.
Microsoft and cross-chain protocol Axelar have announced an enterprise partnership that will see the two collaborate on interoperability and Web3 integration across Web2 systems.
The tech giant and the crypto platform will work towards developing blockchain onramps to support all types of users, from global enterprises to Web3 startups.
Axelar joins Microsoft’s Azure markeplace
In anannouncement on July 11, Axelar said the partnership will also explore how to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) within the public blockchains ecosystem. The collaboration sees the blockchain company join Microsoft’s Azure marketplace.
Axelar and Microsoft are pleased to announce a partnership for better integration of Web3 & traditional internet systems. The partnership will explore ways public blockchains can can help secure trust and speed integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in mainstream use cases. pic.twitter.com/XfKat1PIT0
As a result of this partnership, Microsoft customers can use the Azure marketplace to access Axelar’s blockchain solutions. Thousands of Microsoft’s cloud computing partners use the Azure Marketplace for software discovery and integration.
Microsoft and Axelar also eye hybrid blockchain initiatives, including ones targeted at connecting private and public blockchains. The plan is to leverage the Azure OpenAI services to bring new experiences to Web3 users.
Daniel An, the director of business development at Microsoft Web3 & AI, noted that the collaboration will boost further adoption of blockchain technology. He said:
“We are excited to collaborate with Axelar to accelerate blockchain integration and deliver valuable solutions to our customers. By leveraging our strengths and expertise, we can empower organizations to embrace blockchain technology and transform their operations.”
The Aave DAO community members are set to start voting on whether to deploy the GHO stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain. The members will commence the vote later today.
Aave is one of the leading cryptocurrency platforms in the world, allowing users to earn yields on their staked tokens. GHO is the stablecoin developed by the Aave team.
Users can mint the GHO stablecoin against a diversified set of crypto assets. According to the development team, GHO holders will continue to earn interest on the supplied collateral, similar to the other lending services on Aave.
The proposal, if approved, would introduce GHO through so-called “facilitators.” thus, making it possible for Aave version 3 (V3) to mint the stablecoin against token holdings available on the platform.
The proposal stipulates that;
“If approved, the introduction of GHO would make stablecoin borrowing on the Aave Protocol more competitive and generate additional revenue for the Aave DAO by providing to the DAO treasury 100% of the interest payments made on GHO borrows.”
GHO has been available on the Ethereum blockchain since February
This latest cryptocurrency news doesn’t come as a surprise, as the GHO stablecoin has been live on the Ethereum blockchain’s Goerli testnet since February. So far, there have been no major bugs that affected the stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain.
AAVE, the native coin of the Aave ecosystem, is up by more than 3% in the last 24 hours. At press time, the price of AAVE stands at $72.74 per coin.
The Aave team pointed out that it would allow users to mint GHO tokens against their supplied collaterals once the stablecoin launches on the Ethereum network.
The GHO stablecoin would be backed by a wide range of cryptocurrencies chosen by users. Furthermore, borrowers would continue to earn interest on their collateral assets.
Similar to other algorithmic stablecoins, GHO would be pegged at $1. However, with GHO, users would be required to supply collateral (at a specific collateral ratio) before they can mint GHO.
In addition to that, when users repay their loans, the GHO protocol burns that user’s GHO stablecoins.
Applications are critical to the business. IT knows it, and the business knows it. Yet today, IT organizations lack visibility into the specific business processes those applications deliver and the context of how those processes are connected and impacted by the underlying container, cloud and infrastructure platforms they manage.
Our customers have told us that it is imperative for SRE teams to have the tools they need to detect, identify and act on business operations incidents before they impact end-users. Relying on siloed tools and tribal knowledge to fill this gap doesn’t work. It only forces teams into a highly reactive mode of operations, becoming aware of the business impact after it’s reported by the business team.
Business monitoring
The importance of business monitoring cannot be overstated. In today’s digital age, businesses are heavily reliant on their technology infrastructure. Any hiccups in the IT ecosystem can lead to significant damage to operations, resulting in lost time and revenue.
Applications are used by both IT and business teams. And with downtime costs of up to $250K per hour on average, organizations need the visibility and context to understand the implications of any issue or incident so they can easily be prioritized based on importance. An SRE needs to see—and understand in context—how an application issue impacts the business processes it touches.
Announcing IBM Instana Observability Business Monitoring
That’s why we are so excited to announce IBM Instana Observability Business Monitoring, an automated solution designed to provide organizations with an end-to-end view of their business processes and applications. It enables teams to proactively monitor business KPIs without having to wait for reactive reports. This solution provides automatic and continuous detection of running processes executing in Business Automation (BA) tools. It captures every instance of the business process and the underlying IT requests on which it executes by using Instana’s 100% capture of trace data so that no business or IT data is missed.
IBM Instana Business Monitoring extends observability to business processes to provide real-time business context for IT. With Instana, an SRE can see automatically see what the business sees, adding critical context that bridges the gap between business and IT events. It ensures teams understand how specific business processes are connected to—and impacted by—their logical and physical dependencies across mobile, web, applications and infrastructure, making it easier to prioritize issues based on business impact. Instana’s unique approach makes it the only business-process-aware observability product in the market today.
With Instana Business Monitoring, you can do the following:
Automatically detect running business processes without requiring complex instrumentation.
Capture 100% of trace data without sampling that could miss important context.
Track business processes end-to-end through the IT stack.
Figure 1: IBM Instana Business Monitoring shows business processes in context.
With this announcement, IBM Instana now connects business and IT context by observing business processes in the context of their logical and physical dependencies across mobile, web, applications and infrastructure. Purpose-built for cloud-native, yet technology-agnostic, the platform automatically and continuously provides high-fidelity data—one-second granularity and unsampled end-to-end traces—a requirement for today’s modern, highly dynamic and business-critical applications.
With IBM, all teams, including Product Owners, Developers, DevOps, SRE, CloudOps and ITOps, get access to the data they need in the context that matters to them. With additional business context, these teams are now empowered to better prioritize their work to find and fix issues even faster.
