David Attlee
Binance Pool, a mining subsidiary of Binance, launched a $500 million lending project to support the crypto mining industry. It will provide loans to private blue-chip Bitcoin crypto miners.
According to the official blog post from Oct. 14, the Binance Pool will provide access to a $500 million loan fund on several conditions, which include an 18-to-24-month term, 5% to 10% interest rates, and some physical or digital assets as a security. The company will look at a wide range of metrics, including current performance, mining power and security quantity, to define the borrower’s creditworthiness.
Binance Pool will also launch cloud mining products, directly purchasing the cloud mining hashing power from Bitcoin mining and digital infrastructure providers.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, a Binance spokesperson clarified the criteria for defining a potential borrower as a “blue-chip:”
“One of the requirements is that the applicant must be classified as a Binance VIP user and connect at least 500 PH/s to the Binance Pool for a minimum of 24 months after the loan is issued.”
The company did not specify the maximum amount of a single loan, referring to the specifics of each applicant’s situation.
Binance continues its expansion strategy even in the bear market. In September, it registered with New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and opened local offices in the country.
As October began, the exchange opened up two offices in Brazil, doubling the size of its local team since Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s visit to the country last Spring. Reportedly the company is still backing Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover bid of social media platform Twitter.
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Judith BannermanQuist
Oscar award-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins has sold out his debut NFT collection The Eternal Collection in under 10 minutes.
The collection, created in partnership with Orange Comet, Inc., an NFT and Web3-focused design agency, features 1,000 original cinematic art pieces inspired by different performances from the actor’s long career.
According to Orange Comet, the body of work “conceptualizes an interpretation of the vast character archetypes Sir Anthony Hopkins has portrayed over his illustrious film career drawing its potent energy from his stimulating body of art.”
The creative visuals and animations with titles like The Jester, The Lover, The Ruler, The Rebel, The Giver and The Eternal each represent various archetypal characters played throughout the Hollywood actor’s career.
Orange Comet alleged that the collection’s sellout was the fastest in OpenSea’s history, though Cointelegraph was unable to confirm the claim prior to publication.
The celebrated actor thanked the NFT community in a tweet stating that he still couldn’t believe the news of the collection’s sell-out.
The 1,000 one-of-one NFT images come with randomly selected utilities ranging from receiving autographed art books featuring the actor's paintings and drawings, to getting the opportunity to engage in a conversation with Anthony Hopkins via Zoom, to random selections of personalized NFTs with a message from Hopkins airdropped into the buyers' wallets.
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Brayden Lindrea
South Koreans could soon allow its citizens to use blockchain-based digital identification (ID) instead of physical cards as soon as 2024, as the nation further embraces blockchain technology.
According to an Oct. 17 report from Bloomberg, a plan from the government will see digital IDs embedded as an app within mobile devices in the future, working in a similar fashion to physical resident registration cards.
The digital IDs are expected to launch in 2024, with around 45 million citizens expected to adopt the technology within two years.
An economist at Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute Hwang Seogwon said the digital IDs could be used in finance, healthcare, taxes and transportation, while the director-general of Korea’s Digital Government Bureau Suh Bo Ram said the technology could help businesses that haven’t yet transitioned fully online.
The plan would also see the government adopt a decentralized identity system, meaning the government will not have access to information stored on phones, including the digital ID being used, how they’re used and where, according to Suh.
Such technology isn’t new to the tech-savvy nation, which ranks first among all nations in applying technology to life, business and government, according to the Portulans Institute, an American think-tank.
It also wouldn’t be the first blockchain-based digital ID solution put into effect in the country either.
In Aug. 2020, over one million South Koreans had implemented a blockchain-powered driver’s licence, which operates via Korea’s PASS smartphone application.
Shortly after, in September 2020, a South Korean government agency — Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) — began pilot testing on a similar system.
While South Korea is seen leading the way in all things blockchain and Metaverse, other nations are expected to soon follow.
A Jun. 2021 study from market research firm ReportLinker estimates that the blockchain identity market will grow a further $3.58 billion by 2025 — a compounded annual growth rate of 71%.
However, Brenda Gentry, blockchain adviser and CEO of Bundlesbets.com, recently told Cointelegraph that no matter how capable and decentralized the ID management system is, it’ll still require recognition from government authorities or corporations:
“If the issuing authorities don’t recognize the validity of the blockchain IDs, then the same cannot be used for availing a majority of public services. This in my opinion is the biggest limitation.”
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This Daily Dose was brought to you by Cointelegraph.
