Bitcoin Crosses One Billion Transactions; ED Cracks Down on E-Nugget App

Bitcoin Completes One Billion Transactions on Global Exchanges

Bitcoin completed one billion transactions on May 5 at block number 842,241. The most expensive asset on the crypto chart, managed to achieve this feat after 15 years of being into existence. In the backdrop of this development, the asset's price currently stands at $63,582 (roughly Rs. 53 lakhs) according to CoinMarketCap. Market analysts believe that a continued upward movement from this level could signal positivity, but further confirmations will depend on how the market behaves in the next few days. 

Ether has been trading around the price point of $3,200 (roughly Rs. 2.66 lakh). For most part of this week, Ether recorded more profits than losses. Market experts predict that a potential short-term bounce could occur if it breaks above $3,100 (roughly Rs. 2.58 lakh), but failing to hold the current support at $2,900 (roughly Rs. 2.42 lakh) could trigger a sell-off. 

The values of Tether, Binance Coin, Solana, Cardano, Tron, Chainlink, Near Protocol, Polygon, Litecoin, and Leo rose on Thursday. Meanwhile Ripple, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Avalanche, Polkadot, Uniswap, Cosmos, Stellar, and Monero emerged among loss-making altcoins on the cryptocurrency charts. 

ED Confiscates Rs. 90 Crore from Scammers' Cryptocurrency Wallets

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized Rs. 90 crores from digital wallets held by scammers. These wallets belonged to top crypto exchanges – Binance, ZebPay, and WazirX. The news has brought to light that these exchanges may not be doing an apt job in identifying suspicious users. An FIR filed at the Park Street Police Station of Kolkata became the lead for the ED to investigate the violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED is now probing an online gaming scam app called 'E-Nugget' that masqueraded as a gaming platform and "promised" users high returns on their investments. "Information gathered from Binance and other exchanges led to the freezing of funds totalling nearly Rs 90 crore available in 70 accounts,” officials familiar with the matter have said.  

Google Cloud, Solana Labs Team Up to Boost Blockchain Gaming

Google Cloud has teamed up with Solana Labs to help the Web3 firm bring blockchain in the front of game development. As part of this partnership, Solana Labs will upload a gaming suit GameShift on Google Cloud. GameShift lets developers integrate non-custodial wallets alongside quick and scalable tools to create and distribute in-game assets.

The game development infrastructure also brings along credit card payments and bank payout services to the platform. It also offers management and transaction of fee payments.

“Many game studios built on Google Cloud want to tap into the creative potential of Web3 technology, but the inherent technical complexities have been a major barrier to broader adoption,” commenting on the development, this is what Jack Buser, Director for Games at Google Cloud had to say.  

Blockchain, Crypto Wallets Grab Vodafone's Attention

David Palmer, the lead of Blockchain initiatives at Vodafone has hinted that blockchain networks, crypto wallets, smartphones, and SIM cards may all come together for a big Web3 twist to Vodafone's services around the world.

“By 2030 we are expecting over eight billion mobile phones to be in operations, many of those being smartphones that act as the touch point for people to use apps, conduct businesses. Essentially, in those mobile phones will be SIM cards. So, we've focused on linking the sim card to digital identity, linking the sim card to blockchains, and using the cryptography we have in those sim cards for that integration,” Palmer said during a recent interview.